Motorinsurance claims dropped by 32 percent
THERE was a drop of 32 per cent in the number of insurance claims submitted in County Wexford during the first seven months of this year according to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI).
As a result of the drop, and similar decreases in claims in other areas of the country, the MIBI believes a strategy it introduced to fight insurance fraud is having a positive impact.
The 32 per cent drop related to claims involving uninsured or untraced vehicles in Wexford during the first seven months of 2018. During that period the MIBI received a total of 23 claims from Wexford which was a drop of 11 claims compared to the same period last year.
Speaking about the figures, Chief Executive Officer of the MIBI, David Fitzgerald said the reduction in claims in Wexford is a positive step in the right direction.
‘Admittedly, these figures represent only a snapshot in time and some of the county-by-county numbers are too small to draw any significant conclusions from,’ said Mr Fitzgerald.
However, he said they provide ‘a useful barometer of the general MIBI claims environment’.
‘We do believe a significant portion of this decrease is because of the increased scrutiny we are placing on fraudulent claims,’ said Mr Fitzgerald.
Last year the MIBI introduced a comprehensive plan to make it as difficult as possible for fraudulent claims to succeed. The Fighting Fraud plan included measures to put the full weight of the organisation’s internal and external resources behind investigating suspicious claims and working with the Gardaí to look into such cases. The measure also included legally contesting claims and bringing them to trial to be scrutinised by the courts.
Mr Fitzgerald said that since adopting the ‘Fighting Fraud’ strategy, which includes a zero tolerance approach to fraud, there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of claims where the evidence does not back up the case being made.
‘Fraudsters are starting to get the message that if they want to make a fictional claim to the MIBI then they will have to be prepared to have that claim put through microscopic examination,’ he said.
‘Any such claims from Wexford or any other part of the country will be thoroughly investigated by the MIBI working in co-operation with the Gardaí,’ he added.