Yet another article was printed recently in the British on-line press pages, this time laying blame for the ever-increasing car insurance premiums at the lawyers door-step. It claimed that lawyers were to blame by creating the “compensation culture” that we supposedly find ourselves in today. Now to myself the article was slanted from the start, it was completely one-sided. Whatever happened to good old fashioned journalism where the author would research the facts first.
The article even had the words “ambulance chasing lawyers” in its headline. I’m so glad that these on-line news articles allow for comments from its readers, this in my opinion is where the balance is restored.
Insurers blame personal injury claims for helping to drive the average car insurance policy up by nearly 5.9%. So, its the lawyers fault, right, for creating the mythical compensation culture?
Erm … No. Road traffic accidents are increasing because of a number of reasons but the most painstakingly obvious of these is that our roads are congested. More cars equals more chance of accidents happening. What about the car itself? These modern chariots are now so computerised and state-of-the-art technology behind them that it costs a small fortune to repair them. Young drivers have been heavily targeted by insurance companies. Most 17 year-olds will pay over a few thousand pounds to insure only third-party a car which at book value is worth only a couple of hundred pounds.
Lets look at the insurance companies themselves. You pay your premium for years on end without ever having to claim. The moment something goes wrong you turn to your insurers and expect them to honor the contract. The insurance company drags its feet. They contest this, scrutinize that and on it goes. And still they blame the personal injury lawyers.
Until the insurance companies sort out their own proceedings on how they deal with ordinary people making claims by starting with eradicating the time-wasting tactics they employ. Then, and only then, will we see progress. And until then articles will appear with the good old insurers deflection rule of “blame the lawyers” in its headlines.