Crash for cash scam

[dan f]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6248515.stm

I don't know if this has come up before, but it makes interesting reading.

Cheers.

 

[dan f]

I have also heard that some perpetrators remove their brake light bulbs to make it even more likely that you will hit them!

 

[bitonw]

And what did your instructor told you when you had your lessons... keep that much distance so the driver in front of you can make an emergency stop... Forgotten sure like those other things...

 

[dan f]

Absolutely. I do so myself.
However, how that would stop someone deliberately hitting you?
Just putting the word out, don't shoot the messenger.

 

[Mr E]

I was chatting with a good friend a few months back about this - he's a fraud investigator for an insurance company and was talking about the rise in this type of claim. He was saying that about 50% of his team's time is spent dealing with this, whereas 5 years ago it was rarely heard of (most of his time was spent on "stolen" cars torched, either en mass at "professional" premises or in the supermarket car park at night, with s call to the police in the morning ("woke up and my car was gone...")).

His main alert is when the collision involves a hire car with 3/4 occupants making a personal injury claim, closely followed by ratty car in the same circumstances...

 

[Shude]

The classic is when two scrappy cars are driven into each other, both fully laden with passengers, all injury claimants with the same surname and all addresses either in the same area, street and sometimes all in the same property!

One scam was caught a while ago because in addition to the driver the claim was for 5 injured passengers, when the other party reported the vehicle to have just the one occupant (driver) and the car was only valid for 4 passengers in total anyway! Oops!

Think about it! They buy a pair of cars for £50 each, insure them (£250 each?), drive them into each other and then claim injuries for £2-3k each for 5 people in each car plus replacement cars. You're looking at £10-15k profit there and if the values are low there is little investigation.

Your premiums are paying for this.

 

[hawk20]

I was chatting with a good friend a few months back about this - he's a fraud investigator for an insurance company and was talking about the rise in this type of claim. He was saying that about 50% of his team's time is spent dealing with this, whereas 5 years ago it was rarely heard of (most of his time was spent on "stolen" cars torched, either en mass at "professional" premises or in the supermarket car park at night, with s call to the police in the morning ("woke up and my car was gone...")).

His main alert is when the collision involves a hire car with 3/4 occupants making a personal injury claim, closely followed by ratty car in the same circumstances...

Not quite clear what you are saying. Are people torching their own cars, or having them torched and what is the motive? Surely the pay-out is usually less than the real cost of replacement?

 

[BonzoDog]

Slight variation on this is where they give you a slight bump, you get out and a while you discuss with the owner another guy drives off with your car.
A report here recently told of where a man fought back, got the guy getting into his car and threw him out, the attempted thieves then drove off but he followed, calling the police on his mobile. They drove straight back into France - at one time a haven - bot hey ho the new EU rules allow cross border policing and the French police joined in and nabbed the naughty ones.

 

[portzy]

Not quite clear what you are saying. Are people torching their own cars, or having them torched and what is the motive? Surely the pay-out is usually less than the real cost of replacement?

Cash for crash has been happening for donkeys round my parts. And yes for about £50.00, and similarly round here, you have been able to have your car "disposed" of in such a fashion.

Portzy

 

[Mr E]

Not quite clear what you are saying. Are people torching their own cars, or having them torched and what is the motive? Surely the pay-out is usually less than the real cost of replacement?

Was usually MOT-failure-type vehicles - either torched by the owner or en mass, where the "owner" of said premises was also able to claim for other things as well.

Or third-party insurance, banged the car, so decide to get rid of.


He has one tale of an independent "mechanic" who's premises went up with a few cars in...turns out that it was the third claim where a battery "exploded". He suspected something iffy (that or incompetence!) and the company refused to pay out and instigated proceeding for insurance fraud. Bloke ends up inside for a few years...

 

[hawk20]

Cash for crash has been happening for donkeys round my parts. And yes for about £50.00, and similarly round here, you have been able to have your car "disposed" of in such a fashion.

Portzy

I sometimes think I live in a parallel Universe. Great avatar by the way.

 

[Dieselman]

I sometimes think I live in a parallel Universe. Great avatar by the way.

Never thought about it, but if it's who I think it is then it's the best I've ever seen her look.
She ain't my kind of bird.