Unclaimed comp goes to insurance company as profit?

Spec-Chum

Was involved in a "fender bender" couple of months ago where we stopped at a roundabout but the motorbike behind us couldn't be bothered and ran straight into the back of our car.

Details were exchanged, liability admitted by other party, and the was car repaired via insurance, all in a nice friendly fashion; all good.

However a claims company keeps calling us both (I was the passenger) to claim whiplash and we keep saying we don't want to, however, on the latest call today they claim that "the money has been put aside already and if you don't claim it it goes to the insurance company as profit".

Is there any truth to this? I'd rather have it than them...

paddyandstumpy

No, it's not true. What I think they are loosely saying is the insurer has 'reserved' an amount of money for potential PI claims.

If this isn't claimed then it goes back into the 'pot'. Anything left over in the pot at the end of the year is profit.

That's a very simplistic view of how the industry works.

paddyandstumpy

I didn't add though, where claims paid out exceeds income, rates will go up.

Crazy_Jamie

Spec-Chum wrote: »

Is there any truth to this? I'd rather have it than them...

No, there is no truth at all in the suggestion that money has been put aside for this accident and someone has to have it. If you were genuinely injured as a result of the accident, you have every right to claim damages for personal injury if you want to. If you were not injured as a result of the accident, any attempt to claim for whiplash would be fraudulent and, as such, highly inadvisable.

Manxman_in_exile

Was in a similar position a couple of years ago after a road collision.


I was not at fault and our insurers referred it to a claims management company. (This was not made fully clear to us at the time and we thought they were part of our insurers). They simply could not understand that I did not want to make a "whiplash" claim for non-existent injuries(*). In the end I had to stop answering the phone.


(*) They took me through some "diagnostic tests" over the phone and concluded that because I had some neck and back pain that I definitely had a cast-iron claim. But they never asked if the symptoms had been present before the accident - which they had been for over 30 years! They also tried to get me to claim for some seat-belt bruising that caused me no pain at all

mattk_180

They're just twisting words to try and make you claim so they can get their commission.