Half of all whiplash claims are fraudulent, two insurance experts have told a group of MPs.
Insurance firms and customers are being exploited by a huge rise in the number of fake whiplash claims, according to David Brown of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and David Powell of Lloyd’s insurance market association.
This means that half of the £2 billion per year paid out to claimants is based on exaggerated or falsified symptoms, which are easy to fake and hard to disprove, according to the Daily Mail.
Experts told legislators that the incidence of whiplash is significantly higher in the UK than in other countries such as Germany, where lawyers fees are significantly lowered for car crash compensation cases.
Mr Powell said: “It has nothing to do with German necks being stronger than British necks.
“If you have a more stringent test, you will get more of the fraudulent claims challenged and more fraudsters put off.”
Mr Brown believes the rise in payouts is being driven by a “claim manufacturing” industry, which pushes drivers involved in accidents to exaggerate their symptoms to gain more compensation – thus raising the cost of car insurance.