Staged car crashes on the rise

A recent Government report has called for a crackdown on fraudulent staged car accidents which have caused motor insurance premiums to soar.

This report comes after evidence that ‘staged accidents’ - where motorists deliberately ‘crash for cash’ and submit false claims to gain insurance payouts - are on the rise.

The Transport Committee report urges the insurance industry to tackle fraudulent injury claims which are the cause for the rise in car insurance premiums. They also call for a dedicated police unit, funded by insurers to tackle this issue. The belief is that a police unit that concentrates on combating this kind of crime would have a positive impact on reducing the number of illegal claims and fraudulent staged accidents.

Committee chairman Louise Ellman said: ‘Wider access to justice is to be welcomed, but it has come at a significant cost, with far more personal injury claims being made than in the past. The police made plain to the committee that staged accidents are on the increase and that, so far, we have been lucky there have been no fatalities resulting from such incidents. That luck may run out unless the insurance industry acts rapidly to help the police target this kind of insurance fraud.’

The Automobile Association, which gave data to the transport committee's inquiry, said the rise in legal costs had added £40 a year to the average motor premiums, the biggest leap for at least 16 years.

Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, welcomed the idea of a special police unit. ‘With insurer control, such a unit could very quickly pay for itself. Fraud, particularly false personal injury claims, is in my view the biggest driver of premium increases,’ he said.

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