Fraudulent Car Insurance Claims

Most of us will make one or more standard car insurance claims in our driving lifetime. Hopefully nothing
serious, but possibly a light tap to the rear of the car in front of us because they stopped sooner than we
thought they would, or backing into a gate post or suffering a broken windscreen on a long country drive.

All pretty standard claims and something car insurers deal with on a daily basis. They are well versed in
managing the claims process and determining the outcome in a timely manner. In most cases the claims
process will quickly confirm the cause of the incident and establish responsibility and the financial outcome
between you, the other party and his or her insurance company.

However, standard or not, car insurance companies are always on the lookout for dodgy claims, claims
where the insured party feels that they were at fault and are trying to shift the blame to a third party in order
to avoid an excess payment, or perhaps where the insured party is simply falsifying the entire incident with
a view to receiving a payout. Fraudulent insurance claims have been with us for as long as insurance has
existed.

But the worst of the car insurance frauds are those where an individual will deliberately cause an accident
with an innocent third party in order to get a financial reward. A common incident of this type is where a
person will take a position in front of an unsuspecting third party and brake hard in order to cause a nose-to-
tail collision which, in normal circumstances, would be the fault of the driver at the rear. Or they may drive to
a remote location after such an accident and manually increase damage to the vehicle, subsequently arguing
that all the damage happened during the original accident.

Even scarier than this are the scammers who will intentionally signal to an innocent driver to perform a
certain manoeuvre and then crash into them in such a way that the ‘at-fault’ determination favours the
scammer.

If you are involved in an incident that you think may have been fraudulently set up, take as many notes as
possible, photograph the cars, ask witnesses to provide their version of events and make a very detailed
description of what caused the accident, how fast you were travelling, how fast other traffic was travelling,
the physical and mental condition of the other driver plus any passengers they may have.

If you have been accused of fraud by a car insurance company, stay calm and consider your options. Minor
fraud may not incur major penalties, but serious fraud my result in the matter being handed over to the
police. In that scenario you should seek legal advice.

Fraud increases the cost of insurance for everyone so if you do suspect insurance fraud don’t hesitate to
report it to the insurance company or police.

Note: This information is general and provided as a guide only. It is recommended that you discuss your specific circumstances with an
appropriate advisor.