Personal injury claims have been driving car insurance premiums for years, because the British legal profession get paid 40p for each £1 paid out in compensation. This could soon be changing, as this article discusses.

Car insurance premiums could be falling soon. Part 2

Ian Crowder from the AA has pointed out that the new proposals will take the lawyers out of the loop altogether, resulting in a massive cut in costs. He added: "There's no doubt { mortgages } that the soaring costs of personal injury claims has been a significant contributor to insurance premium inflation. If they could be brought under control, premiums could be cut," something that would be welcome by all parties.

Well actually, there's one party that wouldn't be so pleased: the British Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. They have already lodged their objections, based on their belief that the injured would lose their right to an individual hearing and payout based on the { Life assurance } particulars of the case. They referred to research they carried out which showed the initial offers by the insurers to be around 50% of the final compensation agreed. They also pointed out that 66% of defendants at first denied liability, which is what led to a court case in the first place.

The legal profession's objections have not been found { home insurance } to be a problem in the case of the Irish experience since arbitration was introduced. Compensation values in Ireland are still at similar levels to payouts following court cases, with the added bonus of receiving the payout up to 3 times more quickly, and with legal costs slashed significantly to a quarter of the previous cost.

It could be an exciting time - we have seen motor insurance premiums rise and rise over recent years, it's about time we saw a fall.