Motorists pay 10% of all insurance to lawyers
DRIVERs are handing over 10p in every £1 they pay in car insurance premiums to personal injury lawyers, a trade body said yesterday.
Personal injury claims following road accidents add an average of £40 a year to the cost of car insurance, says the Association of British Insurers.
Its survey of 50,000 low-value claims found that although the average injury claim following a road accident was £2,430, insurers had to pay a further £2,100 in legal fees.
Excessive legal costs are a symptom of a civil litigation system that is broken and in urgent need of fixing.
Nick Starling, the ABI’s director of general insurance and health, said: “Excessive legal costs are a symptom of a civil litigation system that is broken and in urgent need of fixing.”
The ABI is calling for fixed legal fees for all personal injury claims, as well as capping the amount of money lawyers can take under no-win no-fee deals.