MUCH finger-pointing has gone on in trying to lick the problem of rising motor insurance premiums.
The one pointed by insurers is at rising motor claims, which hit $742 million last year, pushing motor underwriting losses to an all-time high of $214 million.
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It is partly the result of exaggerated claims from unscrupulous quarters, they say.
The General Insurance Association (GIA) has gone on the offensive against a trend that it does not see anyone else interested in curbing, even though motorists are crying foul about high premiums.
Last year, it made it mandatory for motorists to report accidents - no matter how minor - within 24 hours.
Then in January, it asked motorists to supplement these reports with photographs.
And in yet another move, it is proposing to have accident vehicles on expressways and arterial roads towed exclusively by tow-trucks assigned by the Land Transport Authority (LTA).
The idea to rope in the LTA's Expressway Monitoring and Advisory System (Emas) trucks is to stem workshop touts, who often turn up at accident sites offering 'free' towing services if the motorist agrees to patronise certain workshops.
Insurers suspect some of these touts are also involved in staging accidents by, for instance, having an accomplice veer into a driver's lane and braking suddenly.
The LTA has confirmed that the GIA has approached it 'to explore ways to deter touting of private vehicle workshop services on expressways'.
'One idea is to authorise Emas recovery teams exclusively to tow away vehicles,' an LTA spokesman said, but added that 'it is too premature to comment on this suggestion at this point'.
GIA president Derek Teo said insurers cannot lick the problem of inflated motor claims alone. They need the cooperation of the police, the courts and, last but not least, individual motorists.
Mr Teo, 58, a 34-year industry veteran, said: 'Even if they are not at fault in an accident, they should not be party to inflating claims because the additional cost will come back to them eventually in the form of higher premiums.'
Inflating claims is typically not as blatant as feigning injury or letting workshops claim for parts undamaged in an accident.
'A workshop might say, let me do the job and you don't have to pay the excess,' Mr Teo said, referring to a nominal sum that policyholders usually have to foot themselves.
The workshop then makes a higher claim to cover the excess sum. Lawyers are often engaged to file it - sending costs spiralling even more.
But motorists will eventually pay the price in higher premiums, which have soared from an average of $672 in 1998 to $1,013 last year. And premiums could post another double-digit rise this year.
Policyholders should also speak up if they feel a claim filed by a third party against them is exaggerated, and if their insurer is giving in to such claims.
Are policyholders prepared to go all the way with insurers to fight a fraudulent claim? 'Most people won't be bothered because of time and effort,' Mr Teo said.
Bogus claims on repairs are not the only trouble spot the GIA has identified.
The number of injury claims is rising alarmingly, almost doubling to 16,174 last year from the year before.
Such claims are typically at least three times heftier than property damage claims - and rising.
'The average bodily injury claim is about $15,000 today, up from $11,000 to $12,000 just a few years ago,' Mr Teo said.
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