AXA wants to "deepen understanding"

Car insurance company AXA has again spoken out against what it believes is the exorbitant cost of whiplash claims.

The insurer, which receives thousands of car accident compensation claims each year, said that although it understood there were many deserving and genuine whiplash claims made each year, many are actually fraudulent.

As such, it said, there should be better systems in place to ensure that those claims which are genuine can be differentiated from those which are not.

"There needs to be a comprehensive medical evaluation of muscle damage following a typical low impact road traffic accident, as it is these incidents that are driving the increase of personal injury claims which have caused motor premiums to rise," said Paul Evans, chief executive of AXA.

He added, "Such an evaluation will help deepen our understanding of minor soft tissue injuries so that those who are injured by the negligent acts of others receive the timely and fair compensation they are due – and spurious claims can be filtered out and rejected without incurring unnecessary cost."

Only weeks ago AXA became the first insurer in the UK to say that it would stop receiving referral fees, for referral fees are not the primary problem.