Van insurance news
24/07/2009

Improved fraud detection fails to curb costs

It has been revealed that insurance fraud is costing the UK economy around £1.9 billion a year, adding about £44 to the cost of premiums for cover such as van insurance.

There is more bad news too, with the Association of British Insurers estimating that around £5.2 million of fraud goes undetected each day.

And van insurance fraud falls with the category of the most common and most costly type of fraud: motor insurance fraud.

However, the ABI did say that it had improved its fraud detection systems, which had had the unintended consequence of prompting an increase in the number of people lying in order to obtain cheap quotes.

Nick Starling, the ABI's director of general insurance and health, commented, "There is no hiding place for insurance cheats. Honest customers should not have to pay for the fraudsters.
"Closer scrutiny of proposal forms and claims, as well the exchange of information through industry-wide databases, is tightening the net on the cheats."
He also said that the punishments for van insurance fraud could be severe. "Getting a criminal record, as well as difficulty in obtaining and more expensive insurance and credit problems await anyone who sees insurance as a soft touch," he said.