Claims are dropping, say insurers
THE number of motor insurance claims has dropped so far this year – in large part due to measures to combat fraud, industry figures have revealed.
More investigators have been hired and have found some frequent claimants are fraudsters who stage accidents to claim from the insurers.
According to figures by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland there has been an 8% fall in the number of claims, with 1,572 claims in the first seven months of the year, a drop of 144 from the same period last year.
David Fitzgerald, chief executive of the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland, has credited the reduction in claims to the anti-fraud it has rolled out. These involved allocating more resources to investigate potentially frequent claims.
‘It is positive to see that the number of claims is starting to reduce,’ he said. ‘Admittedly these figures represent only a snapshot and some of the county-by-county numbers are too small to draw any significant conclusions from.
‘However, considering these statistics cover over half a year’s worth of data, they are a useful barometer.
‘According to our handlers, since we adopted our strategy... there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of claims where the evidence does not back up the case being made.’
Mr Fitzgerald believes the message is getting through to fraudsters that false claims will be fought.
‘If they want to make a fictional claim to the MIBI they will have to be prepared to have that claim put through microscopic examination.
‘They will be thoroughly investigated by the MIBI working in cooperation with the gardaí and if the evidence still doesn’t add up, they will be brought before the courts.
‘The days of easy settlements for nonsense claims are definitely over.’
The MIBI compensates victims of road accidents caused by uninsured and unidentified vehicles.