Third party claims settled quicker say actuaries

30/07/2010

More motorists are claiming for third party injuries, according to a preliminary report by an Actuarial Profession working party.

Data and evidence has been gathered from around 85% of motor insurance companies, with the panel still analysing much of the information, but the report’s authors said they can identify an increase in the speed at which the increased volume of claims are settled, as well as an increase in the amount being paid out.

David Brown, chair of the working party, said: "Overall, the trends don’t look positive for the private motor insurance industry. Although there are fewer accidents with third party claims, the number of accidents involving personal injury has been growing consistently since 2007 at about 9% per year.

“Equally startling is what we are seeing in the average costs of such claims. Average claims costs have always increased year on year, but inflation has really taken off since 2009 and now sits at 21% for settled claims. Certainly the industry is settling larger claims slightly faster and this may be driving some of the headline increase. With both numbers and average costs up, the cost of settling injury claims is now growing by 30% each year.”

Original Article: Legal and Medical