Drivers warned over new cold-calling insurance scam

The Association of British Insurers is warning the public about cold-callers pretending to be the ABI.

There are more than 750 personal injury claims management companies in the UK, making almost £200 million per year. But, since April 2017 the Claims Management Regulator has cancelled 69 licences, reflecting widespread poor practice in the sector.

 >> Drivers warned over DVLA text message scam

“Any cold callers saying they are connected with the ABI are cowboys trying to scam honest people into making a fake claim"

The ABI says it would never contact individuals about a personal injury claim. It has also said it does not endorse any claims management firms.

“Any cold callers saying they are connected with the ABI are cowboys trying to scam honest people into making a fake claim," said ABI spokesman Anthony Wright.

"If someone does contact you about a personal injury claim saying they work with the ABI, our advice is to just put the phone down. This is further evidence of why we need the Civil Liability Bill going through Parliament to fix the broken injury compensation system that these firms are exploiting," added Wright.

MPs are preparing to debate the Civil Liability Bill, which aims to simplify personal injury compensation and reduce legal costs in the system. The reforms include increasing the Small Claims Track Limit from £1000 to £5000 for road accident personal injury claims and developing a simple online process to register a claim.

The vast majority of people back these plans, with nearly nine in 10 saying that legal costs in the current system are too high, according to a survey commissioned by the ABI.

Have you experienced a nuisance call or text from a company? Report them to the Information Commissioner’s Office