Insurers’ “industrial scale perjury”

The insurance industry has been accused of “industrial scale perjury” for lying in court about car hire prices. This is the latest development in an on-going battle between insurers and the credit-hire firms who supply replacement cars to drivers involved in accidents.

Insurers have long accused credit-hire firms of overcharging for loan cars, and have taken them to court to recoup losses.

But now it has emerged that an expert witness in one case lied about the true market value of hire cars. Helen Whysall from Nottingham claimed in court that she had called several High Street hire car companies to find the going rate for a top of the range Mercedes. This information was used as evidence to prove that a credit hire firm had overcharged for a hire car.

But Whysall, who worked for Autofocus - a company which researched car hire prices for insurers and has now gone into liquidation – has since pleaded guilty to faking the figures presented in court, and been given a 28-day suspended sentence. 

The case against Whysall was brought by Steve Evans of credit hire firm Accident Exchange. And in light of the conviction, Evans was granted access to Autofocus data to find out if research had been falsified on other occasions. 

Mr Evans claims data has been faked in around 20,000 cases. As a result, a further seven former Autofocus employees are facing contempt proceedings.

Lord Justice Moses said: “If proved, it is difficult to think of a more serious conspiracy. We are talking about industrial-scale perjury.”

Have you been loaned a car by a credit hire company? If so, tell us about the experience in the comments below...