Graham Hill, Car Finance Expert, Explains Changes In Law That Will Speed Up Insurance Payouts

Saturday, 27. March 2010

A few months ago I announced proposed changes to insurance claims procedures that should speed up undisputed insurance claims. The good news is that the new rules come into effect from April 30^th. The new rules should speed up payout and reduce legal costs on personal injury claims between £1,000 and £10,000 resulting from a motor accident. This covers around 80% of all personal injury claims so good news. Where fault is not disputed liability must be admitted within 15 days. This obviously puts pressure on those making claims to get their claims in quickly. According to Jonathan White, head of corporate personal injury at Corclaim, this should in time lead to a drop in premiums. If a claim ends up in court under the new rules solicitors costs are capped at £2,350, currently they average around £4,000 and can be as high as £15,000 even though liability has been admitted. The key to this is to report accidents as soon as you can, ideally within hours, and if you are at fault, or the other party has admitted fault, make sure that the insurer knows and that way payouts will not be delayed. It is believed that payouts could be within 6 to 8 weeks, quite unheard of for personal injury claims. Time will tell. By Graham Hill