Sunday, March 06, 2011

Whiplash Claim Advice ... watch out for the insurance company wolf in sheep's clothing

I am seeing more and more examples of insurance companies seeking to buy off road accident claimants with cheap nasty offers before they even get chance to seek legal advice.

The tactic is known in industry circles as third party capture. The objective of the insurer is very simple: to dispose of the claim quickly and preferably before the claimant speaks to a lawyer. The lie promoted by the insurers and supported by none other than the Association of British Insurers (ABI) is that they are putting money in the pocket of deserving claimants rather than paying out legal fees thus inflating claim costs.

This is pure bunkum! It cannot be right that insurers are able to shove money into the faces of hard up injured claimants and dangle the carrot of a quick and speedy settlement. Some insurance companies actually knock on the door of claimants with a chequebook in their hands to talk turkey.

In many instances this tactic goes badly wrong with injured people accepting settlements long before they have finished their treatment let alone recovered from their symptoms.

So watch out for this and report any abuse of the process. Our friends at APIL are only too happy to cross swords with the sanctimonious crowd at the ABI.