Troubled personal injury specialist Claims Direct is coming under attack, with insurers looking to drive down costs by making personal injury legal expenses insurance an integral part of household policies.
A Royal & Sunalliance (R&SA) spokesman said the industry had to appreciate the no win, no fee business was not going to go away and "as an industry, we have to work smarter".
"Obviously with the new legislation surrounding personal injury claims, it is now much easier to claim."
"At the end of the day, there is a big cost to this and this has to be borne by insurers."
He said one of the ways costs could fall was by cutting out specialist middlemen like Claims Direct and offering customers the insurance themselves.
Axa said personal injury expenses insurance was already part of its household insurance, while Allianz Cornhill said it would be looking at the commercial ramifications of "free cover". Meanwhile, Claims Direct's way of doing business has been criticised by a partner in Manchester law firm Slater Heelis Collier Littler.
Adrienne de Vos said the legislation that resulted in no win, no fee arrangements was designed to give everyone access to justice, "not create a lucrative bandwagon for thousands of insurance agents".
