Those
lawyers who act for the victims of motor accidents are bracing themselves for
some of the most far reaching changes that we have ever seen. I don’t propose
to repeat the details of the cuts which I mentioned last week.
Now one of
the points made by insurers is that the number of claims and the amount
of costs paid out is the reason why insurance premiums are so high. We have
been told that we will see a reduction in motor premiums as a result of the
cuts. Indeed the government, who have given the insurers everything they have
asked for, have virtually made that a promise –
Of course,
no-one I know, is holding their breath. The first signs of what to expect have
come at the ABI Motor Claims Conference this week. According to the website litigation futures there was a
heated discussion during which the Chair of The Motor Accident
Solicitors Society (MASS) asked when we were likely to see the much vaunted
reductions. John O’Roarke of LV=
insurance company simply said that premiums have already come down and we might see about 3% but - “I’m
not hopeful of much more”.
So this is the way it is going to be. We are seeing huge
cuts in the rights of victims to bring claims but when it comes to premium
reductions we may have a long wait.
This again shows that the insurance industry and their
friends in government have no real interest in making driving cheaper for us
all. That is just an effective way of selling their plans, especially to the
populist press. To add insult to injury we have learned that motor insurers
Admiral made £6 per car it insures from referral fees –
Mr. O’Roarke also showed a remarkable lack of understanding
of the concerns of lawyers who are genuinely worried that the cuts will put
them out of business and lead to redundancies. He talked about stopping
claimant lawyers from buying - “another house in Barbados”. It is difficult to
imagine a statement more insensitive and more removed from the real world. I
have been overwhelmed in the last week with calls and emails from concerned
solicitors who do not know what the future holds. This is the real world and it
is a long long way from holiday homes in the sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment