The devil’s in the detail for private motor insurance claims

Small businesses and individuals who own their own cars are being advised to get as much detail as possible in the event of an accident or incident – and help their insurance company keep their motor insurance premiums low.

Motor insurance premiums are rising rapidly for private individuals, with some – especially for younger drivers – going up by over 40% since last year. Although these increases are primarily aimed at private car owners, the increases in motor insurance may also apply to cars owned by small businesses that don’t have enough vehicles to qualify for fleet insurance.

We can access a whole range of motor insurance rates to help minimise any potential increases, but we also urge you to ensure employees involved in an accident get as much detail as possible – particularly the names, addresses of any passengers and details of any superficial injuries which may be apparent – to help fight any fraudulent claims.

The reasons for the motor insurance increases are:

insurers have been balancing their books over the last two years by releasing reserves. They have been paying out about £120 in claims and expenses for each £100 of premium collected. These reserves are now exhausted
some medium sized insurers have stopped issuing motor insurance policies, thereby reducing supply
more people are claiming for very minor injuries because of the recession and TV advertising encouraging compensation claims
there has been a huge growth in dubious claims from passengers suing drivers of cars for alleged injuries. These are difficult to contest
the number of uninsured drivers has increased, leaving those who are insured to pick up any claims as part of the compensation scheme set up by government.

The government has promised action against TV advertising on compensation chasing and introduced tough new measures on driving without insurance but these will take some time to take effect.

The increases are not being applied to Fleet insurance across the board but some of the issues apply and are increasing claims against businesses – with higher motor insurance premiums to follow.