Cameron meets insurers to tackle rising premiums

Prime Minister David Cameron is to meet insurers at 5pm today to discuss how to combat bodily injury claims and the resulting rise in premiums.

Representatives from Admiral, AXA, Aviva, Co-operative Insurance, RBSI and Zurich will attend the summit, along with the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

“I am determined to tackle this damaging compensation culture which has been pushing up premiums,” Cameron is expected to say. “I want to stop trivial claims, free up businesses from the stranglehold of health-and-safety red tape and look at ways we can bring costs down.”

Among the measures to be proposed is a speed limit for whiplash claims, so that only drivers travelling above a certain speed can make a claim, claims level thresholds and requirements for more medical evidence in whiplash cases.

Cameron is also keen to cut the £1,200 fee lawyers earn from personal injury claims.

In addition, the government is  examining the use of so-called smart boxes, also known as telematics, to monitor drivers and bring down premiums for more careful drivers.

The ABI and its members plan to highlight three key areas where action is needed to cut motor insurance costs. These are cracking down on the whiplash “epidemic”, improving the road safety of young drivers anf reducing legal fees as part of the planned ban on referral fees.

“This is a unique opportunity to highlight to the Prime Minister the unacceptable cost pressures that insurers are facing, and what needs to be done to ensure that the UK’s honest motorists get a better deal,” ABI director general Otto Thoresen said in a statement. “We welcome the personal interest of the Prime Minster in this and the Government’s willingness to consider radical reforms which will be necessary to tackle the UK’s compensation culture.”

According to the ABI the increasing level of whiplash claims in the UK is adding £90 to the average insurance premium.