Car insurance: Fraudulent personal injury claims on the rise, say GPs
Thursday, 12 January 2012 01:03
An increasing number of Britons are trying to make fraudulent claims on their car insurance by making up or exaggerating injuries.
This is the suggestion of a new poll by LV=, which asked hundreds of GPs all over Britain about recent cases they have seen.
Some 60 per cent said they believe there have been more people feigning injuries over the past two years in order to do this, while 87 per cent reported examining at least one person who had been completely making their complaint up.
More than half of the respondents said they had been targeted by claims management firms who were trying to get hold of patients' details last year, while one in five reported that this happens at least once a week.
It is not just doctors who are being targeted either, as the research found that 60 per cent of people injured in a car accident over the past 12 months had been contacted by claims organisations trying to persuade them to use their services.
This could be tempting more Britons to try and make money from accidents whether they were really hurt of not.
LV='s John O'Roarke warned: "Attempting to make a compensation claim when you do not have an injury is against the law and could lead to a hefty fine or prison sentence."
This comes after a committee of MPs called for more stringent measures to check whiplash claims and a ban on referral fees for lawyers and insurers.
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