whiplash insurance claims linked to car crashes are rising again   adding £93 to the average premium, new figures show the rise is being driven by lawyers trying to drum up business through cold calls and nuisance text messages new figures from the insurance firm aviva suggest the number of personal injury claims linked to road accidents will have risen by nine per cent in the the year to april 2015 around 80 per cent of these will include a claim for whiplash, which is a far higher proportion than other comparable nations in europe this will add up to 840,000 pay outs worth £25billion a whiplash sufferer lawyers using nuisance text messages and cold calls are driving up claim numbers  aviva says it is evidence of a damaging ‘compensation culture’ it believes a high proportion of the claims are bogus and blames ambulance chasing claims management companies and law firms the insurance firm’s data shows that 96 per cent of personal injury claims it received last year were brought by third parties the government has put in place measures to try and tackle the menace, including introducing a cap on the legal fees surrounding claims as part of the laspo act a new regime that vets and accredits medical experts who assess whiplash injury claims has also been set up by the government under an organisation called medco however, aviva say these do not go far enough and it wants an end to cash windfall payments to people claiming a whiplash injury instead, it says insurers should – in the first instance – be required to offer sufferers medical treatment whiplash involves the sudden hyperextension (right) followed by immediate hyperflexion (left) of the neck, resulting in damage to the muscles, ligaments and tendons  the firm’s chief executive, maurice tulloch, said there has been a failure to address the excessive numbers of minor motor injury claims and the escalating costs surrounding them ‘the uk’s compensation culture is at the root cause of the £93 cost of whiplash claims paid by motorists within their insurance premiums,’ he said ‘customers have told us they are fed up with compensation culture and all its trimmings: the nuisance texts and calls from claims management companies, excessive lawyers’ fees and fraudsters abusing the system for their own financial gain’ mr tulloch said: ‘we are here to help our customers when they need it, and pay genuine claims quickly but we must address how to best treat the excessive number of fraudulent, exaggerated and minor whiplash claims which are driving up the cost of insurance ‘sadly, we are now witnessing a resurgence in the number and cost of whiplash and soft tissue injury claims despite some very positive developments, such as the laspo act, which helped reduce customer premiums aviva chief executive maurice tulloch: ‘customers have told us they are fed up with compensation culture' 'the introduction of a new system for sourcing medical reports in soft tissue injury claims is also a step forward’ aviva says the length of time between an accident and a whiplash claim should be reduced from three years to one and it argues that any claim should be backed up with medical evidence that the symptoms have lasted for more than three months where someone can demonstrate real and lasting symptoms, they would be offered treatment rather than money where problems persist, the insurer says cash payments would be offered against a set tariff aviva claims its proposals could cut motor insurance tariffs by an average of £50 a year mr tulloch said: ‘it is possible to cut the cost of motor insurance and ensure those who have suffered genuine injuries get the care or compensation they deserve ‘we believe that everyone is entitled to fairly priced insurance to protect what is important to them introducing these reforms is a challenge but we will not hide away from this   the uk’s motorists deserve even more affordable motor insurance’ aviva says the large number of whiplash claims has driven up premiums here to an average of £372 a year they are some 40per cent less in france and 50per cent cheaper in germany at the same time, the proportion of insurance claims which include whiplash are much lower in these two other countries, where legal fees are also less
last year 25billion aviva
rise driven by lawyers using nuisance text messages and cold calls  840,000 whiplash pay outs worth £25billion made in last year, say aviva  insurance firm claims it is evidence of damaging ‘compensation culture’