9 April 2013 Aviva welcomes new Conduct Rules for Claims Management Companies

We welcome and support the new Conduct Rules for Claims Management Companies (CMCs) announced by the Ministry of Justice. Middlemen such as CMCs add significant cost to the claims process, which puts upward pressure on premiums, but adds very little value. We would strongly encourage anyone making an insurance claim to deal with the insurer directly to ensure that they do not pay excessive fees to CMCs and other middlemen for what is often a very limited service or advice. A study of Avivas 2012 claims data shows that in those cases where an injured party approached us directly, we paid at least as much to these injured parties as we did to claimants who came to us via a CMC or other third party which illustrates that CMCs or personal injury lawyers are not necessary to ensure the claimant gets fast and fair compensation. Recent research by Aviva shows that 95% of consumers want tighter regulation on how CMCs and PI lawyers market their services, and 94% of people we surveyed attribute rising premiums to the involvement of third parties. And 75% of people we surveyed have received an unsolicited text or email from a CMC, a form of aggressive marketing tactics that we believe needs to be curbed.