‘Fighting Fraud’ plan linked to fall in motor claims
The Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland has claimed its new ‘Fighting Fraud’ strategy has contributed to an 8% fall in motor insurance claims.
From January to July this year, MIBI received 1,572 claims, a drop of 144 when compared to the same period in 2017. Last year, it introduced, what it described as, a comprehensive plan to make it as difficult as possible for fraudulent claims to succeed.
“This included measures to put the full weight of the MIBI’s internal and external resources behind investigating suspicious claims, working hand in hand with the gardaí to look into these cases as well as legally contesting such claims and bringing them to trial to be scrutinised by the full power of the courts,” it said.
In the first seven months of 2018, the MIBI has received fewer claims from 18 of the 26 counties.
It said the largest drop came from Louth with 34 fewer claims received by the end of July. That was followed by Dublin (down 33) and Kildare (down).
Of the eight counties which recorded an increase in claims, the largest was in Laois, which recorded eight additional claims in comparison with 2017.
David Fitzgerald, chief executive of the MIBI, said it was positive to see the number of claims starting to reduce.
“Admittedly these figures represent only a snapshot in time and some of the county by county numbers are too small to draw any significant conclusions from,” said Mr Fitzgerald.
“However, considering these statistics cover over half a year’s worth of data, they are a useful barometer of the general MIBI claims environment and this shows a noteworthy drop in the total number of claims.”
Mr Fitzgerald said a more detailed look at the claims received had led MIBI to believe a significant portion of the decrease was because of the increased scrutiny it was placing on fraudulent claims.
“According to our handlers, since we adopted our ‘Fighting Fraud’ strategy, which involves a zero-tolerance approach, there has been a noticeable decrease in the number of claims where the evidence does not back up the case being made,” he said.
“Fraudsters are starting to get the message that if they want to make a fictional claim to the MIBI then they will have to be prepared to have that claim put through microscopic examination.
“They will be thoroughly investigated by the MIBI working in co-operation with the gardaí and if the evidence still doesn’t add up, they will be brought before the courts.
“The days of easy settlements for nonsense claims are definitely over.”
Mr Fitzgerald said MIBI wanted to make it clear to the public that those who have a real claim have nothing to worry about.
“The MIBI has always been a pro-victims’ organisation and when the claim is real and justified we support the claimant,” he said.
“However, protecting victims also means reducing fraud as much as possible.
“We want to ensure that malicious individuals who make the roads more dangerous by staging fake accidents find it harder and harder to succeed.
“That is in the interests of everyone using Irish roads and it is a strategy we are committed to pressing in the months and years to come.”
