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Insurance Fraud?


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Last October mrs Dude's was driving on a roundabout and got sideswipped by another car. After many e-mails and phone calls, it was decided to settle as a 50/50 claim. Not happy but best we could do.

Now this morning, nearly 8 months later, we get an e-mail from insurance company, stating that they had settled a claim for personal injury with lass in the other car, and accepted full liability on Mrs Dudes behalf!!. Now, the accident speed was no more than 15mph (as admitted by the other driver previously) The young lass' car only had a dented wing and smashed headlight, and after the crash she ran at Mrs Dude screaming and shouting, walking around pointing at her car, where she had come from, where she was going. No mention of injuries, only concern was her car.

She has since been to a "no win, no fee" solicitor, and is now claiming thousands of ?'s for whiplash, injuries to shoulders and back as well as anxiety and depression!!!!!!!!! which without any consultation with us, the insurance company want to pay!! We are 99.9999% sure the lass is at it, but how can we prove it when the insurance company just wants to pay out?

No wonder premiums are so high when people and solicitors are screwing insurance companies. As well as the insurance companies paying out. They probably think it would be cheaper to pay out than fight case. But what about the policy holder? who doesn't seem to matter! except when its renewal time!

Of course if Mrs Dude stopped getting hit on roundabouts(2nd time in 5 years!) we wouldn't have this problem.

Anyone else screwed like this?

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At least yours sounds like a genuine accident, rather than one that has been "engineered". You'll have heard about fraudsters slamming on their brakes at roundabouts to hoping that the person behind to run into them. The West Midlands is the home of this fraud, and thankfully it is very rare in Scotland.

I know of a case where that happened, but when the inevitable personal injury claim came through it was for 4 whiplash claims even though there was only 1 person in the car!

There was an independent witeness to the fact that there was only 1 person, and when the claim went to court, the 3 mysterious claimants said that they were lying down in the back of the car and nobody could see them. And typically, they won.

You are right that the dramatic rise of no win no fee lawyers is the root of this problem, and sadly it is usually cheaper for the insurers to just settle a dodgy claim rather than defend it.

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It is rampant over here .... unfortunately, and Toronto is especially bad which drives insurance rates through the roof - see links below.

http://www.wheels.ca/reviews/article/782242

http://www.wheels.ca/article/791464

When I first got a car over here (2005), I was quoted in the region of ?5000 per year for insurance !!! .... yes, you heard me right ?5000 ... I converted it to pounds !!! "Luckily", after shopping around, my insurance ended up being "only" about ?2000 per year because the missus went to the University of Toronto and gets a 50% 'alumni discount' with our current insurer which extends to spouses.

I have been in a single (minor) accident here about 3 years ago and it put my yearly premium up by about $500 (?250 at the time). Luckily in my case, there were no shenanigans, and the insurance company even waived the deductible (the excess) because one of the other drivers was also insured by them. They (insurance company) were great and we have stayed with them ever since. Will also be moving our house insurance to them this year as a kind of 'reward' to them for being good with us on the only claim we have ever made (or hope to make!)

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I believe this no win no fee stuff has weedled its way across the pond from America along with other unwanted crap (McDonalds etc). Unfortunately the insurance companies over here do not have the resourses to make follow up potential bogus claims. However, baring in mind the amount of money they could save it would certainly be cost effecetive don't you think? Then again, its insurance, which is a scam in itself anyway and, like the income tax club, its compulsary to be a member.

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The problem is that the if the insurance company disputes the claim, it ends up costing them more in legal costs etc. And even when they win and are awarded expenses they rarely ever get them. As for the fraudster, if they lose the case they walk away scot free. It can be difficult to prove fraud in these cases and therefore there is no redress in suing the individual for false claims and again it is not worth the company going through the process. Hence they just pay up.

It is similar with patients claiming damages in the NHS with massive claims being settled out of court because even where the NHS know they have a very strong case, mud sticks and they cannot afford to have clinical staff wasting their time for days at this sort of hearing.

Sad fact is that the majority of honest, decent citizens have to pay increased taxes and insurance premiums because of the scum who claim what they are not entitled too. Of course, insurance companies could afford to pursue fraudsters through the courts if the lawyers weren't even more on the make than the fraudsters.

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Unfortunately for Insurance companies it is cheaper to pay out than fight the case...and ultimately cheaper for the customers. It's wrong, but that's how it is.

I recently approach Arnold Clark for a price for hiring a minibus and was told that in order to do so I would need to have my own insurance. When I dug a bit deeper as to the reasons I was told that it was due to a number of scam claims being made against their insurers. What was happening was, someone was hiring a minibus, filling it full of people, getting involved in an accident and then hitting them with a claim for 17 inured people. Average claim amount was ?3500 per person. It was near impossible for Arnold Calrk or their insurers to challenge/fight these cases as the scam was being pulled by immigrants and the majority of the claims were coming from abroad and medical evidence was being signed off by foreign doctors.

NoWin/NoFee solicitors do have their place, but in a system which is weak and full of loopholes and where it's cheaper for insurers to pay out than to fight a case then it is ultimately abused.

It used to be restricted to physical injury like whiplash and back pain (both hard to diagnose and disprove) but, as highlighted by the OP, scammers are now getting wise to the fact they can claim for "mental distress" as well....something else that is hard to disprove.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I got a little kit from my insurance company with some tips, in case of an accident. One point they are very strong on is that you should take photographs. Especially handy when the claim for 4 whiplash claims arrive and the photographic evidence shows only 1 occupant. They are even offering a discount on the excess if you take their advice and possible avoid some of these fraudulent claims.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Last October mrs Dude's was driving on a roundabout and got sideswipped by another car. After many e-mails and phone calls, it was decided to settle as a 50/50 claim. Not happy but best we could do.

Now this morning, nearly 8 months later, we get an e-mail from insurance company, stating that they had settled a claim for personal injury with lass in the other car, and accepted full liability on Mrs Dudes behalf!!. Now, the accident speed was no more than 15mph (as admitted by the other driver previously) The young lass' car only had a dented wing and smashed headlight, and after the crash she ran at Mrs Dude screaming and shouting, walking around pointing at her car, where she had come from, where she was going. No mention of injuries, only concern was her car.

She has since been to a "no win, no fee" solicitor, and is now claiming thousands of ?'s for whiplash, injuries to shoulders and back as well as anxiety and depression!!!!!!!!! which without any consultation with us, the insurance company want to pay!! We are 99.9999% sure the lass is at it, but how can we prove it when the insurance company just wants to pay out?

No wonder premiums are so high when people and solicitors are screwing insurance companies. As well as the insurance companies paying out. They probably think it would be cheaper to pay out than fight case. But what about the policy holder? who doesn't seem to matter! except when its renewal time!

Of course if Mrs Dude stopped getting hit on roundabouts(2nd time in 5 years!) we wouldn't have this problem.

Anyone else screwed like this?

Why don't you do the same?

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Last October mrs Dude's was driving on a roundabout and got sideswipped by another car. After many e-mails and phone calls, it was decided to settle as a 50/50 claim. Not happy but best we could do.

Now this morning, nearly 8 months later, we get an e-mail from insurance company, stating that they had settled a claim for personal injury with lass in the other car, and accepted full liability on Mrs Dudes behalf!!. Now, the accident speed was no more than 15mph (as admitted by the other driver previously) The young lass' car only had a dented wing and smashed headlight, and after the crash she ran at Mrs Dude screaming and shouting, walking around pointing at her car, where she had come from, where she was going. No mention of injuries, only concern was her car.

She has since been to a "no win, no fee" solicitor, and is now claiming thousands of ?'s for whiplash, injuries to shoulders and back as well as anxiety and depression!!!!!!!!! which without any consultation with us, the insurance company want to pay!! We are 99.9999% sure the lass is at it, but how can we prove it when the insurance company just wants to pay out?

No wonder premiums are so high when people and solicitors are screwing insurance companies. As well as the insurance companies paying out. They probably think it would be cheaper to pay out than fight case. But what about the policy holder? who doesn't seem to matter! except when its renewal time!

Of course if Mrs Dude stopped getting hit on roundabouts(2nd time in 5 years!) we wouldn't have this problem.

Anyone else screwed like this?

Why don't you do the same?

Maybe we are just too honest for our own good :angel05: ... Or soft in the head

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