For car owners who have been putting off purchasing additional car insurance, this year could be the year to buy, and buy cheap. As late as 2013, insurance companies were plagued by fraudulent claims resulting from whiplash injuries. But since then, several investigations have been conducted to uncover fraudsters, making it more difficult to make false claims on car related injuries. This has indirectly resulted in a depression of car insurance premiums, as less money is spent on fraud claims, insurance companies can now afford to lower premiums to as much as 14% compared to 2013 rates. Some pundits ascribe this fall in car insurance premiums to competitive pricing between insurance companies. Unprecedented low premiums are available despite increasing cost in personal injury claims and a bump in reinsurance cost. This unusual dip in premiums should be seen as a small window of opportunity for car owners to buy cheap. Industry experts predict that market forces will soon raise car insurance premiums to more normal levels in a matter of months
Fraudulent whiplash injury claims have been a big problem in the UK, earning the country the title of whiplash capital in 2011. The Association of British Insurers had dubbed the UK as the "whiplash capital of Europe" in 2011 when there had been 141 successful claims of whiplash injury due to car accidents in that year alone. Fraudulent claims support a whole industry of lawyers, ambulance chasers, and management firms making a living off cash for crash accidents all over the UK. Many of these fraudsters would then put on a show of exaggerated injuries for the courts to win injury claims. These fraudulent claims win court awards for victims of car injuries, that are ultimately paid for by car insurance clients.
At one point it was estimated that the courts would receive some 1,200 whiplash claims within a single day. This is a preposterous amount considering that the number of car accident injuries far exceeded those of workplace injuries. The problem with whiplash is that it is the kind of injury that is difficult to diagnose, but easy to fake as the injury's main symptom is pain. This makes whiplash a favorite of fraudsters who drain NHS resources with treatments they do not need except for show in court. The payout towards injury claims are then passed on to the end consumer who pay for insurance premiums. Since the crackdown on false claims, insurance companies can now afford to divert their funds away from supporting and fighting off fraud, which is good news for car insurance buyers.
