December 2005
The following is a copy on an article in today?s Sunday Telegraph by Teresa Hunter in the Money and Jobs section. It is not available online, so I have retyped it for the Backroom.
The cost of motor cover and other insurance will fall under radical plans to overhaul the personal injury claims system.
The Association of British Insurers will next week call for an independent arbitration system to replace the court cases that decide personal injury claims today. The ABI reckons this will significantly reduce the £2bn a year that insures pay in legal fees and other costs.
The proposed new system will be similar to the Personal Injuries Board set up in Ireland last year. That body has already slashed claims costs by three quarters, as well as putting an end to lengthy legal battles and high lawyers? bills.
The soaring cost of personal injury claims, which in the motor section alone top £10bn, has been pushing up premiums in recent years.
Companies face big bills if someone is hurt in a road accident, a train crash, an accident at work or following medical procedures. For every £1 paid in compensation, insurers pay 40p to lawyers to meet legal costs. It is estimated that some £200 of the average premium goes towards covering the risk of having to meet a personal injury claim.
Whereas today each claim is decided individually, the new arbitrator would establish benchmarks for each category of injury. In Ireland, for example, a whiplash injury to the neck which recovers within a year is worth £9,400, while a similar back injury is worth £11,000.
Ian Crowther of the AA said: ?These new proposals will aim to take personal injury claims out of court and take lawyers out of the loop altogether, thereby cutting costs significantly. There?s no doubt that the soaring cost of PI claims has been a significant contributor to insurance premium inflation. If they could be brought under control, premiums could be cut.?
But insurers can expect resistance from the legal profession. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers said the plan would leave injured people in the hands of insurers ? whose first duty is to their shareholders. It said its own research showed that initial offers of compensation by insurers were on average half of the final agreed settlement, and that two thirds of defendants initially deny liability.
The ABI claimed that the proposed reforms would not cut compensation to genuine claimants. It added: ?Many guenuine claimants are deterred from claiming because the system is slow and expensive. We believe the new system will dramatically speed up the average time it takes to settle the average personal injury claim. Similar reforms in Ireland have led to compensation being paid to claimants three times more quickly and four times more cheaply than under the litigation system, with no decrease in compensation paid to claimants.?
It seems to be a good idea to me, what do you think?
--
Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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Hi,
I currently have a fault on my X reg 2000 406 Rapier Estate (90). On the instument panel the fuel gauge does not work, it sits right at the bottom (empty) end of the gauge and never moves. However the oil temp gauge displays how much fuel I have eg goes to the 'hot' end of the scale when I fill up with diesel and goes down as I use it.
Any ideas what may be causing this or better still how to rectify it.
Thanks
Regards
Max Read more
...yes there is still oil in the engine....:-)
Mk2 Shogun No plate lights. I needed to replace a bulb in one of these lights and after removing badly rusted retaining screws, the whole light assembly fell to bits. How do I get inside this to replace the light/bulb holders.Do I approach through the back (cargo door) or can I remove the handle/light housing from the outside of this door? I can't be the only person on the planet to have this problem - can I? Many thanks, Adrian.
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news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/45180...m
Some details of roads closed.
Due to smoke it was suggested that Mway will be closed for the morning rush hour.
Weather forcast is also not helpful.
Any other sources or updates for any who might be affected? Read more
See:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=37...0
or rolling news channels such as BBC News 24 (which has brought superb coverage and helicopter pictures), ITV News Channel or Sky News; ITV also broke into programmes at lunchtime to carry its news channel reports.
I wouldn't belittle the "black clouds" currently affecting a very large area as mere smoke...
{Please continue discussion in the other thread which is already covering this subject. DD}
Hi, I used to use this site many moons ago and since I have forgotten my password I've reregistered. I've been looking around the site and notice that many of the people I used to know and enjoy chatting to have gone.
One of my favourites to read was the moderator mark who sadly seems to have gone.Does he still contribute to the site? I tried searching for his threads which were usually informative and amusing but it doesn't work. Not forgetting Honestjohn and dagerous dave of course who I see are still around.
Anyway for fear of being labelled a spammer I'll get to the point. I'm looking to buy a 4 wheel drive hatchback/estate. It must be less than 5 years old, under 14K and reasonably quick. I'm not overly bothered about economy as I only do 10K miles a year. Any thoughts or recommendations? Read more
Audi S4 Avant.
276BHP - 4 wheel drive
They're fast!
new here so hello all :)
3 years ago i got fed up of driving new cars and bought a £1200 Volvo 850 2.5-20v. It didn't quite fit the image as I run my own business and the folks working for me all had cars 10x as much but it was an awesome car, eventually I gave in to the comments about it and bought a nearly new Skoda Superb....after 3 months I realise it's been a big mistake and I want to go back to the big old exec type of car. The Skoda is being handed to someone else who is very happy with it.
I now have a budget of £4k max. I want something along the lines of the 850. I want leather,auto,climate and I would like 30mpg average, the 850 did 32 average as I do a lot of m/way work in my 25k miles a year, also I'd like it to last at least 3 years.
it's not an easy choice as so much is in my price range, on my short list is S70T5,S40T4,S402.0T,Omega2.5
The advice here seems good so can anyone give any other suggestions, can cars like the Nissan QX, Lexus GS300 achieve 30mpg ?
Thanks in advance :) Read more
saab 9-5 ?
Just picked up a very sweet C180Kompressor. 52-plate and just over 50k miles; auto; HPi clear, FSH and new ticket. £8k. Is that a bargain or what? Should sell for close on £10k in the New Year. Happy days! Read more
I noticed a couple of SAAB 95 going remarkably cheap (maybe because the new model has recently launched?) - also saw a very tempting Subaru Legacy, just 2 years old with 12k on the clock - it went for sub-£8k which I think was a real bargain. In fact when my wife wants to replace her Primera I'll get her one of those - a great and much underrated car.
I have spotted a 330d se one owner 60k miles silver for around 10k. Basic se spec no leather or sat nav. This car has been home serviced from new? Is immaculate inside and out. Has had new tyres and pads. I'm tempted
Opinions Read more
For 10k I would by an "import"ed 330d if the mileage, spec and history was right - no qulms. A shedful of car for the money.
Some 3s (mine wasn't) were made in South Africa.
Hi all,
my Mondeo ST200 4dr <---- Limited edition 8), seems to have an intermitant problem. When I press the clutch to change gear, I notice the rev's dont drop. What ever rev's I'm at when I change it just stays there.
It's a tad embarasing waiting at a junction doing 5000 rpm.
Is this a common problem with the Ford Duratec engine? I seem to remember something being mentioned to me years ago when I had an ST24.
The car is a 2001 Y reg
Many thanks AdyBee... Read more
The problem is possibly not throttle hang if the revs stay high at whatever revs you were at before you press the clutch. Throttle hangs is normal and only lasts for a second or two when you change gear and is designed to make changing gear smoother. If yours is revving as high as 5000 revs at junctions then you have a problem. I had this on an 1800 Escort zetec. It could be one of two problems.
Try cleaning out the idle speed control valve. This maintains an even idle speed by varying quantities of air entering the engine though an auxilliary passage. The valve is controlled by the ECU. Take it apart and give it a good clean with carb cleaner from Halfords.
Also try resetting the ECU by disconnecting the battery (negative lead first)for an hour (make sure you know your radio code or use a memory saver) When you reconnect, the ECU has to relearn its values. Do this by starting the car and running it at as close to idle speed as possible until it reaches normal operating temperature. Then run it at 1200 rpm for about two minutes. Next drive it for about 5 miles of varied driving conditions.
You can also reset the ECU by removing two fuses but I can't remember which ones they are.
Try going to www.fordmondeo.org and look there. A good site.
At sleep this morning after a flight back from Shanghai, I was awoken by a huge explosion that shook the house for some seconds and set off countless car alarms. It really woke the neighbourhood too, litterally This was at 06:02 according to the bedroom clock. My wife and I could only imagine that an aircraft had crashed as over time there were more, smaller, explosions. By now very wide awake, we turned on BBC News 24 to hear eye witness reports that a fuel depot near M1 J8 has exploded. Does any BRer no more? Read more
You have a 1-2 hour window. buildings over 7 storeys have
fire fighting lifts i.e. a lift within a protected shaft that
the fire fighters can use to get to the fire. Under
7 storeys, they use the stairs.
>>
What happens if the building is exactly 7 storeys high? ;-)
Browse
In all fairness I do not think that these proposals would have much effect on the way that serious PI claims are dealt with. A tariff type scheme would only be appropriate for the more minor type of claims. Fraud will not be reduced unless the police/insurance companies are prepared to to invest significant sums (ultimately at our expense) in investigating and following up fraud of this nature. I recall reading recently about an insurance company (Norwich Union?) who had uncovered a large scale insurance fraud, but the police failed to investigate it as it was "not a priority"
There is also a fairly common philosophy that ripping off insurance companies is not really fraud. An example would be when a bag is stolen at an airport, and when the claim is made the bag is alleged to have contained all sorts of expensive things. I had a pretty wealthy friend at Uni who did this, and saw nothing wrong with it. Whe was red faced when the bag eventually turned up.
The attitude seems to be " I have paid all these premiums all these years, why not get a little of it back?"