"More must be done" - Adrian Furness backs ABI motor reforms

Covéa Insurance has echoed the sentiments of the ABI’s recent warning which highlighted the implications of the stalling pace of reforms to the private motor market.

Covéa Insurance Claims Director, Adrian Furness comments:

“There’s still a lot more that can be done, to make the roads safer for young people and to strip out cost so that savings can be passed on to motorists in the form of lower premiums.

“The job of reforming the motor insurance market is far from finished; the disproportionate number of fatalities involving young drivers must be a priority. When there are ready solutions, proving successful in reducing the death toll in other countries, there should be a public outcry that more isn’t being done by our politicians to save young lives in the UK. This would also lead to lower premiums for young motorists, which remain much too high.

“We are also becoming increasingly concerned about the rise in claims costs caused by the unjustifiable and arbitrary practice of inflating the cost of ‘non fault’ claims and passing this on to the ‘at fault’ driver. The consequences of the CMA’s failure to address this issue are now being laid bare, with an explosion in the use of margin based operating tactics that is having a substantial impact on claims cost inflation. Unless action is taken, these abuses within the market will continue and any gains made as a result of the reforms will be lost.

“Although the Prime Minister was keen to point at what his Government has done for the industry to improve the way whiplash claims are handled, when he visited our office at the start of the year, there’s still much more that needs to be done and we would encourage the ABI, as the collective voice of our industry, to keep the pressure on our politicians so that these issues remain on the agenda both pre and post- election.”

-Ends-

About Covéa Insurance

Covéa Insurance Plc is the UK underwriting business of leading French mutual insurance group Covéa (which includes the global reinsurer PartnerRe since July 2022). 

Covéa Insurance looks after the insurance needs of UK customers, across a range of product lines; delivering financial reassurance through its Standard & Poor’s ‘AA- stable’ rating, as a guaranteed subsidiary of Covéa.  

Covéa Insurance has a strong people and service ethos and holds ServiceMark accreditation with Distinction for its Personal Lines operation and its Commercial & HNW Claims teams, as well as Chartered Insurer status for its Commercial business. Covéa Insurance is signatory to the HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter and the insurance Inclusivity Pledge and has been named one of the top 75 employers in West Yorkshire & the Humber. In 2022 Covéa Insurance was named Insurer of the Year at the British Claims Awards and Personal Lines Insurer of the Year at the Insurance Times Awards.