The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) is urging MPs to back reforms to whiplash compensation as the Civil Liability Bill undergoes a second reading in parliament today.

The bill aims to streamline the personal injury compensation system and reduce legal costs, introducing measures that will reduce insurance costs across the fleet sector. 

Vehicle rental companies and other fleet operators cite the rising cost of motor insurance as one of the biggest risks facing the sector and the BVRLA says the long-awaited reforms to the way whiplash and other personal injury compensation is handled will reduce motoring costs for businesses and consumers alike.

BVRLA chief executive Gerry Keaney said: “There is overwhelming acknowledgement that motoring insurance costs are unsustainably high.

“They represent a major business risk and also damage the UK’s ability to embrace exciting new concepts in mobility services.

“It is vital that the Government follows through with these much-needed reforms.”

The Civil Liability Bill contains two sections that will help address the increasing costs of compulsory third-party motor insurance by introducing new tariff system for settling low value personal injury claims and a new process for handling damages associated with catastrophic injury claims.

The first section will address the spiralling and unsustainable cost of motor insurance caused by the volume of low-value, soft-tissue injury claims, such as whiplash. These claims provide easy opportunities for deliberately staged and induced accidents or opportunistic exaggeration.

The second section looks to provide a more modern, fair and transparent way of setting the discount rate that is used to calculate lump sum awards for catastrophic injury claims.

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