Insurer’s good results show bodily injury woes are overplayed, says Thompsons Solicitors
Personal injury law firm Thompsons Solicitors has asked motor insurers to apologise for misleading the public after Admiral posted a rise in first-half 2013 profits.
The company argues that because the insurer was able to boost its profits by releasing reserves, the industry has overstated the problems caused by bodily injury claims, and has therefore been overcharging customers.
Admiral’s first-half group profit before tax rose 6% to £181.4m (H1 2012: £171.8m) thanks largely to £29.7m of reserve releases from old underwriting years in UK motor insurance.
The insurer said it had benefited from “positive claims experience during 2012 and the first half of 2013, which resulted in improvements in the projected ultimate loss ratios, especially for the 2010 to 2012 underwriting years.”
Thompsons head of policy and public affairs Tom Jones said: ““De-coded, Admiral is admitting it got its sums massively wrong on personal injury claims.
“Over the past few years, the insurers have been saying they couldn’t make profits from car insurance because of fraudulent claims and a supposed compensation culture in the UK. But now their profits reveal they have grossly exaggerated and are able to dish out huge payouts to their shareholders from the hundreds of millions unnecessarily collected from motorists.
“This is bad enough in itself, but what’s worse is that they’ve exploited the fear they have created to allow the government to introduce restrictions on access to justice for accident victims.
“We call on Admiral to apologise and, instead of enriching their shareholders, to reimburse their customers for overcharging.”
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