Compensation Culture

[Steve Walker]

Good news here:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14846666

 

The government is to ban referral fees in personal injury claims in an attempt to curb the "compensation culture".

 

It says the current system in which personal injury details are sold on by insurance companies to lawyers has led to rising insurance costs.

 

Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly said honest motorists were seeing their premiums hiked as insurers covered the costs of ever more compensation claims.

 

About time. The previous government should have done this as soon as it became obvious what the consequences of its "no win no fee" legislation were.

[Andy_1984]

Thats good news. OFT are looking in to insurance premiums too

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/persona...-jump-40pc.html

[Now there's a right un.]

Is it really good news?

How many people out there are injured and only realise they can claim compensation when they are cold called by a legal firm?

 

Imagine your Gran having a fall because of bad road maintenance and not knowing she had the right to claim.

A Solicitor calls and as a result she is paid £8,678.59 without incurring any cost. Do you begrudge her the payout?

If you have any decency you would answer no.

 

 

There is always a reason Government changes legislation, step back and see the whole picture.

 

 

I welcome the OFT investigating premiums.

Even with so called claim culture the insurance companies make a nice sum year on year.

[kirisute]

its a fine line; for instance i got rear ended by a Land Rover only wednesday afternoon. probably written off my poor old V reg Astra!

Now my back is hurting a little and ive had a headache for the past 2 days..but im sitting here wondering whether to contact my insurance and tell them or whether it will simply make me look like money grabber.

compensation culture has gone wild for sure; but by the same token there are instances where genuine people can benefit. the system needs to be backed by a system of proper checks and "common sense"..thats the only way you will make changes for the better

[corydoras]

Good news here:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14846666

 

 

 

About time. The previous government should have done this as soon as it became obvious what the consequences of its "no win no fee" legislation were.

What's wrong with "no cure, no pay"?

[Chris Goddard]

its a fine line; for instance i got rear ended by a Land Rover only wednesday afternoon. probably written off my poor old V reg Astra!

Now my back is hurting a little and ive had a headache for the past 2 days..but im sitting here wondering whether to contact my insurance and tell them or whether it will simply make me look like money grabber.

compensation culture has gone wild for sure; but by the same token there are instances where genuine people can benefit. the system needs to be backed by a system of proper checks and "common sense"..thats the only way you will make changes for the better

 

 

DON'T think about it too long!! I waited a month mainly as I was not sure I could claim! But due to a slipped disc and at present into my tenth year of NOT being able to work due to this and getting a LOT worse. My advice, make a claim NOW JUST in case!! You don't HAVE to take compensation, but may regret it if you do nothing! Please don't be soft about ti if you ARE due it then your doctor will say you are. If there is nothing wrong NOW then he or she should also say the same thing. BUT whi can see what the future holds?? Wish I had my time again!

[Steve Walker]

What's wrong with "no cure, no pay"?

 

It opened the floodgates to the mass of compensation claims for (often) spurious injuries and made us a more litigious society. It has resulted in, amongst other things, the sort of culture of cowardly corporate arse-covering that we used to laugh at America for - remember Robin Williams in Hook twenty years ago, proclaiming that Neverland was an "insurance nightmare"? It has put everyone's motor insurance up by a considerable margin, and it has resulted in the invention of "cash for crash" scams. The idea of making litigation more affordable for those who are not rich is not a bad one, but the checks and balances necessary to contain the greed of the ambulance chasers and the cupidity of those with no moral objection to a bit of speculative compo-chasing were not put in place.

 

Imagine your Gran having a fall because of bad road maintenance and not knowing she had the right to claim.

A Solicitor calls and as a result she is paid £8,678.59 without incurring any cost. Do you begrudge her the payout?

If you have any decency you would answer no.

 

My (late) grandmother, having an excess of decency herself, would have told the ambulance chaser where to stick it.

[Steve Walker]

Even with so called claim culture the insurance companies make a nice sum year on year.

 

Missed this bit - some reading:

 

Private motor insurance could finally make profit in 2009

 

"London – A new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor reveals that the UK private motor insurance market could finally make a profit in 2009 after 14 years of unprofitability."

 

Car insurers eye 2011 return to profit - Deloitte

 

"(Reuters) - Britain's car insurance sector will return to profitability in 2011 after two years of steep losses, provided it can push through more price rises without losing customers, accountants Deloitte said on Tuesday."

 

The only company that seems to regularly make any money out of car insurance is Admiral group. Frankly, I'm surprised anyone else bothers.

[Andrew]

And the next to be targeted is those damned telly adverts, one after the bloody other, claim, claim and more claim lawyers. Easy money for them. The " client gets a pittance from the PPI claim and the lawyer gets treble the amount in fees i would wager.

 

The other day THREE on the trot came on the telly. GGGGGGRRRRRRRRRR

[barry luxton]

No personal injury, but a motor claim all the same. Me wife text me to tell me a motor bike pulled out from a side turning without even looking today, the only thing injured was the car. The guy apologised to her profusly and said he would prefer not to go through the insurance route to repair the car.

 

She did the right thing by saying to him, let me husband make the decision. I thought about it for half a milisecond and declined, spoke to our insurance co and started the ball rolling. They checked and found that the bike is insured, however something was not quite right, they told us that it was no concern to us.

 

I can't see the point of having a decent insurance policy, then take a chance on someone not being 100% and further, not reporting the incident to your insureres, who ever is at fault.