Revealed: The claims staff who use ‘dodgy’ whiplash cases to get £100 bonuses

  • Whistleblower reveals the pressure heaped on claims company staff to get results

By
Abul Taher

Last updated at 10:05 PM on 11th February 2012

An insurance claims worker has told how he and colleagues are under pressure to sign up as many ‘whiplash’ victims as possible so they can hit targets and claim a generous monthly bonus.

The whistleblower said employees were also encouraged to chase cases dating from up to  three years ago – even if there was no proof of injury except the word of the ‘victim’ – and to repeatedly call potential clients until they agreed to sign up.

The source contacted The Mail on Sunday because he said he was ‘fed up’ with the number of spurious personal injury claims he was witnessing. He does not want to be named for fear of losing his job, but is in his 20s and lives and works in the North West. 

Compensation culture: Insurance claims workers are being pressured to sign up as many 'whiplash' victims as possible. (Picture posed by model)

Compensation culture: Insurance claims workers are being pressured to sign up as many ‘whiplash’ victims as possible. (Picture posed by model)

For more than a month, The Mail on Sunday has been campaigning against bogus and exaggerated whiplash claims, which are believed to be responsible for raising insurance premiums by 40 per cent last year.

Last week, we revealed that one of the main reasons behind the increase in whiplash claims was the rise of claims management companies, which often encourage accident victims to make false claims.

There are 5,399 such firms in Britain, of which 707 have been shut down by the Government because of malpractice.

The whistleblower has been a claims handler at such a company for more than four years. He said his bosses would set monthly targets. If his team of ten signed up 100 personal injury claims a month, everyone would get a £100 bonus.

He said: ‘£100 is a lot of money if your yearly salary is between £12,000 and £16,000.

‘Everyone in the group will get the bonus when the target is reached, but if one person is not pulling their weight they will be taken aside by the managers and spoken to.’

He said if a customer refused to sign up for a whiplash claim on the first instance, they were called again and again and encouraged to make a claim. ‘We can’t tell them outright to make a claim, but we keep on reminding them and suggesting to them they might have whiplash.’

The employee added that while a customer was making one claim, they were asked if they had been victims of other accidents in the past three years, for which they have not made any personal injury claims.

‘If they say they have, then we encourage them to make a claim for those previous accidents as well. They are dodgy, because the injury would have healed, so there is no way of knowing if a claimant is telling the truth or not. The medical practitioners always give them the benefit of the doubt, and they end up making successful claims.’

Stop taking us for a ride! The Mail On Sunday has been campaigning against bogus and exaggerated whiplash claims

Stop taking us for a ride! The Mail On Sunday has been campaigning against bogus and exaggerated whiplash claims

Of his decision to speak out, the whistleblower said: ‘I felt I had to do something for the truth to come out. I wanted to do my bit. I am quite fed up with the industry now.’

Claims companies are increasingly used by motorists who think they can get a better and faster personal injury settlement if they have been involved in car crashes where another driver is at fault.

The worker said the whole claims management industry was based on referral fees.

The companies initially get their customers by paying referral fees to repair garages and insurance brokers. The whistleblower’s company has up to 30 brokers that send in details of an accident, for a reward of £200 a case.

Repair garages can earn up to £750 per case by supplying the details of accident victims directly to claims management companies.

Claims companies, in turn, make money out of referring cases to no-win, no-fee law firms, who pay on average £800 to £1,000 per case.

Pain in the... Potential customers were called again and again and encouraged to make a claim, the whistleblower said. (Picture posed by model)

Pain in the… Potential customers were called again and again and encouraged to make a claim, the whistleblower said. (Picture posed by model)

The claims handler said that as soon as his firm receives a call or detail of a customer, they have to ‘move very quickly’ to sign him up. ‘We’ll call him within the hour and get all the details of the accident, his insurance details and the details of the third party.

‘We’ll then arrange for the car to be sent to a garage, and start getting the repair work done.

‘All this quick work will persuade the motorist not to leave us – because there’s nothing stopping him doing so – and leaving us with a bill for garages and engineers.’

The claims handler said: ‘These referral fees are bleeding the industry dry, and everyone’s premium is being raised as a result.’

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
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The comments below have not been moderated.

If i was injured in work I would rather get an IPad 2 or £1000 plus my compensation if I have been injured than just go to my insurance company directly. They would probably rip you off and give you less than you are entitled to. They put premiums up year on year and put all their profits in offshore subsidiary companies. They pay no tax and are the real scoundrels. The government should concentrate in getting people off benefits not stop injured people getting iPads.

SHUT THEM ALL DOWN NOW! MAKE IT COMPLETELY ILLEGAL. SOME PEOPLE (EG POLICE) ARE PASSING INFORMATION TO OTHERS. THAT ALONE IS A BREACH OF THE DATA PROTECTION ACT. ILLEGAL!
GOVERNMENT STOP IT NOW!

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