Four in 10 know someone who has made a bogus insurance claim

63% of those in the 18 – 24 age bracket say they know someone who has made a claim that wasn’t wholly truthful

Jonathan Hehir, Managing Director of CFM Group, insurance brokers for businesses throughout the country, said the survey “gives weight to our calls.” 

There is a landslide of support amongst Irish people for a major overall in the way insurance compensation claims are assessed in the courts with a new survey showing 80% want to see compensation pay-outs slashed.

The same survey, which was carried out by iReach and commissioned by CFM Group found that, of the 1,000 people surveyed, four in ten are confident they know someone who has made a false or exaggerated claim in the past.

Those in the 18 – 24 age bracket are far more likely to say they know someone who has made a claim that wasn’t wholly truthful – 63% compared to the national average of 40%.

Older people are much more likely to favour a cap on compensation (91% of those over 55 compared to 60% in the 18-24 age bracket) while women are slightly more in favour of capping compensation payments than men (85% of women versus 76% of men).

Jonathan Hehir, Managing Director of CFM Group, insurance brokers for businesses throughout the country, said the survey “gives weight to our calls.” 

“For a long time now, we have been calling for a complete review of the Book of Quantum and while the Government plans to replace it with new guidelines on the “appropriate” level of personal injury awards, there is no specific commitment to reduce the award amounts. This is disappointing as this inaction does nothing to address the soaring, and often prohibitively expensive, public and employer liability insurance premiums Irish businesses are facing into every year”.

“The crux of the matter is, the higher the cost of claims, the higher the premium the business or employer is charged.” 

CFM Group contend that insurance claimants who are back playing 5-a-side or running 10km runs just 2/3 weeks following injuries should be paid “proportionate” levels of compensation – specifically, just enough to cover any medical costs & loss of earnings – but no more.

“We all bruise, cut or scrape ourselves over the course of our daily lives, most o the time we don’t even give it a second though,” Mr. Hehir said, “however, once the opportunity to apportion blame to a business or employer comes into the equation these minor injuries can take on a much larger form and the lure of ‘easy’ financial compensation can prove too tempting for some people”.