80% of RTA personal injury claimants to benefit from reforms
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has applauded the implementation of Ministry of Justice reforms aimed at speeding up road traffic accident personal injury claims.
The reforms apply to claims valued at between £1,000 and £10,000, or almost 80% of all motor personal injury claims.
The insurers’ body has been campaigning for a simpler, speedier and more cost-effective system for some time and the changes, introduced last week, should reduce the average settlement time from two years to no more than nine months, for claims occurring after 30th April 2010.
According to the ABI, challenging time limits for both insurers and legal representatives will ensure speedy progress; for example, an insurer must decide on liability within 15 working days of being notified of the claim.
In addition, standardised claim forms will reduce duplication of information, and legal fees will be fixed, hopefully reducing the 10% currently added to motor premiums to cover such costs.
The ABI’s director of general insurance and health, Nick Starling, says: “We expect that these changes will be the start of wider ranging reforms to ensure that more claimants benefit from a simpler and speedier compensation process, and we would like to see this new process extended to cover employers’ liability insurance claims.”
Category: ABI News, Car Insurance News, Insurance News
Visited 2264 times, 1 so far today
Comments (0)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
There are no comments yet. Why not be the first to speak your mind.