The compulsory Green Slip insurance cover required with ever car registration renewal in New South Wales is the most expensive in Australia. Every motorist is now paying a premium that ranges from $ 537 to $ 886 - and there are indications that it will increase by between 10 and 20 % in the near future.
Sadly, 7,000 road users are not covered because this is an "at fault "scheme. As a result the claim process tends to wend its way through the courts at glacial speed and just forty-five cents of each premium dollar actually reimburses victims. The balance is eaten up in insurers profits, medical expenses - and fattening the wallets of the lawyers who specialise in insurance claims !
The bean counters are appalled at the percentage of claims that fall under either "Whiplash " or "Soft Tissue " category. We are well aware that unscrupulous citizens are staging accidents for the intended purpose of claiming for injuries that do not exist. The green slip cover is seen by some as a fat milking cow from which easy money can be extracted. Car accidents - at very low speed - take place with the precision of a movie script. Often, the entire contents of one of the cars is a family who claim multiple soft tissue injuries which are impossible to disprove - and hence claims continue indefinitely. Now the rules on disability payments have been tightened, this car accident scam is the new way to keep the money flowing.
There is an expectation that the scheme is about to change and that it will be similar to the "No Fault " cover introduced in Victoria. This will deliver "specific benefits " for a range of injuries and cap the ongoing determinations that presently exist, with a safeguard that taking the matter to court will be available for those who disagree that fair compensation has been awarded. In such instances, the victim will need to satisfy the court that unusual circumstances apply.
Court action will still be available where an injury that may be trifling to the average person delivers an ongoing debility because of an unusual aspect which would be better compensated by a lump sum award. In the majority of cases, moving from an "at fault " to a "no fault " scheme will remove the need for a lawyer to decide the outcome.
The police accident investigation branch has been successfully unmasking more contrived accidents. The plethora of cctv cameras that councils have installed in public places and the huge number of security cameras guarding business premises and private homes often record events by sheer chance. The investigators are cleverly learning where coverage may be rewarding and actual footage of events can disprove the claims made in compensation cases. Making a spurious claim is a criminal offence and camera footage can lead to prosecution.
The aim of this change of status is to make the scheme simpler - and fairer ! Removing the scams milking the insurance pool will at least stop the sharp escalation of premiums and may actually bring about a decrease. Importantly, much more of that premium dollar will go to compensating victims rather than flowing into lawyers pockets !
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