Big drop in fraudulent motor claims in Galway so far this year
The Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) believes the strategy they introduced for fighting fraud is impacting on the market – after recording a 13 percent drop in claims involving uninsured or untraced vehicles in Galway during the first seven months of 2018.
Over the January to July period, the MIBI received a total of 70 claims from Galway, a drop of 10 from the 80 Galway claims they had received by the end of July 2017.
The MIBI is a non-profit organisation established to provide compensation to victims of accidents involving uninsured or untraced vehicles.
Last year, the MIBI introduced a comprehensive plan to make it as difficult as possible for fraudulent claims to succeed. This included measures to put the full weight of the MIBI’s internal and external resources behind investigating suspicious claims, working hand in hand with the Gardaí to look into these cases as well as legally contesting such claims and bringing them to trial to be scrutinised by the full power of the courts.
The MIBI also recorded a national drop in figures during the first seven months of the year, with the number of claims throughout the country decreasing by 144, marking an 8 percent decline in claims when compared to the previous year.
Chief Executive of the MIBI, David Fitzgerald said: “It is positive to see that the number of claims from Galway is starting to reduce. Admittedly these figures represent only a snapshot in time and some of the county-by-county numbers are too small to draw any significant conclusions from.
“However, considering these statistics cover over half a year’s worth of data, they are a useful barometer of the general MIBI claims’ environment and this shows a noteworthy drop in the total number of claims.
“Taking a more detailed look at the claims received, we do believe a significant portion of this decrease is because of the increased scrutiny we are placing on fraudulent claims.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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