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Following a Downing Street summit called for by Prime Minister David Cameron, the motor insurance industry has vowed to cut the costs of premiums. Cameron met with a number of leading insurers, the Association of British Insurers, and cabinet ministers to look at ways of driving down the cost of insurance. The savings will come by tackling bogus insurance claims, and the compensation culture that exists in Britain today, which has led to the UK being called the "whiplash capital" of Europe. People are often encouraged to submit claims for even trivial injuries following an accident, and victims routinely claim excessive amounts of compensation for relatively minor injuries. In the previous 3 years, the number of claims made for whiplash injuries has increased by over 30%, despite the fact that the number of motor vehicle accidents has actually reduced by 16% over the same period.

The scale of the problem is evident when you consider the fact that over 1,500 whiplash injury claims are made every single day, currently costing £2 billion per year, and adding approximately £90 to the yearly insurance premium of every motorist. The average annual cost of car insurance in the UK currently stands at £410, which is 17% higher than it was last year. Young drivers face even larger premiums, averaging £2,977 for males and £1,682 for female drivers, effectively pricing many of them off the road. The government has stated that modern technological breakthroughs should be harnessed to improve medical evidence used in whiplash cases, and the threshold at which claims are possible should be increased. The car insurance industry is also trying to introduce a statutory minimum collision speed which has to be met before claims can be submitted, as is the case in a number of other countries in Europe.

Other measures discussed included a ban on lawyers paying referral fees to get the contact details of accident victims from insurers, and a reduction in the legal fees paid to personal injury lawyers which currently stands at £1,200. The use of smartbox (or "black box") technology has also been touted as a way to help bring down the cost of insurance for young drivers in particular, by monitoring exactly how and when they use their vehicles. For example, drivers who stay below the speed limit, or avoid driving at night could be rewarded with lower insurance costs.