MPs have called on car insurance firms to do more to prevent fraudulent claims and so bring down the cost of premiums .
The House of Commons' cross party transport committee has released a new report identifying rising cases of fraud as one of the main drivers of increasing car insurance costs .
It is calling on the insurance industry to help tackle the problem by funding a dedicated police unit to target fraudsters.
"The police made plain to the committee that 'staged accidents' are on the increase and that, so far, we have been lucky there have been no fatalities resulting from such incidents," said Louise Ellman, chair of the transport committee.
"That luck may run out unless the insurance industry acts rapidly to help the police target this kind of insurance fraud ."
A recent report by CIFAS found that staged accidents - where a driver deliberately causes an accident to claim compensation, made up 42 per cent of car insurance fraud cases in 2010, compared with 35 per cent the previous year.




