Fraud – Auto Insurance Fraud

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 04:56:02 +0000

In the United States auto insurance fraud is becoming one of the biggest fraud problems this country is faced with. In this article we’re going to discuss some of the more common auto insurance fraud scams and what somebody can do to prevent them.

Today one of the most popular insurance fraud scams involves auto insurance and auto accidents. More specifically, staged auto accidents. These have actually become quite complex to the point where they involve multiple participants. There are many variations of these. We’ll cover the main ones here.

First there is what is called the swoop and squat. This scam involves three vehicles. Two are driven by the criminals and the third is driven by the victim. The driver of the “squat” vehicle positions himself in front of the victim. The person driving the “swoop” vehicle pulls ahead of the squat vehicle and intentionally cuts the vehicle off. This causes the driver of the squat vehicle to slam on his brakes and stop short. Usually, the victim can’t react quickly enough and rams into the squat vehicle. In the meantime, the swoop vehicle that caused the accident takes off and is never seen again. The victim tells police that the swoop vehicle caused the accident, but because that vehicle can’t be located the victim ends up having to pay for the damage and any personal injury claims.

Then there is what is known as the side swipe. This type of accident usually happens at busy intersections with dual left hand turn lanes. The criminal positions his vehicle in the outer left turn lane. When the victim’s vehicle drifts into the outer turn lane the criminal side swipes him. To make sure the scheme works the criminal does preliminary surveillance to make sure that the intersection is busy enough where drifting will occur because of the amount of traffic.

Another common auto accident scam is what is known as the Panic Stop. In this scheme the criminal drives a late model car filled with a lot of passengers. The criminal will then position himself in front of the victim and have one of the passengers look out the back window watching to see for any signs of distraction such as answering a cell phone call or changing a station on the radio. Any sign that the victim is taking his eyes off the road. Once this happens the passenger signals the driver who then slams on the brakes thus causing an accident. The victim will claim that the criminal stopped short for no apparent reason but usually to no avail. In the meantime the victim has to pay for all damages and injuries reported.

Unfortunately there is only one way to avoid these type of accidents and that is to be observant at all times and keep a safe distance from any vehicle ahead of you. The sad truth is, if all motorists would just obey the speed and distance laws and rules, accidents like these would never happen. But people drive too fast and too close and thus these type of frauds will always be pulled off. Drive safe and smart and your chances of being the victim of auto insurance fraud will be greatly diminished.

By: Michael Russell

Auto Insurance Ratings – Help or Hindrance?

admin — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:55:39 +0000

Many auto insurance companies offer claims about providing excellent customer service, efficient claims processing, and good insurance coverage to the public. Some advertise the lowest available rates for insurance. All of these claims make it difficult to discern which company actually offers the best product. To help people sort through all of these companies, one organization has developed an auto insurance rating system.

This rating scale, which was created by J. D. Powers and Company, provides a comprehensive evaluation of the most popular insurance companies as seen by their clients. Each insurance company is scored on 5 different criteria, and given a rating in each area between 2 and 5, with 5 being the highest possible score.

The first criterion in which companies are scored is that of overall satisfaction. Customers are asked to offer their perspective on their overall experience with the identified company as being positive or negative. Although this can be helpful, it is more indicative of a company’s long-term relationship with the customer than with individual customer service and effectiveness issues.

Each company is also evaluated with respect to the variety of policies it offers, and how thoroughly each of these policies meets individual customers’ needs. This can assist prospective customers to evaluate the company’s flexibility, but a good company that provides only a few different types of policies is penalized if this method of rating is used.

Companies are also rated concerning pricing. Customers are asked whether they believe that the policy they have selected offers a good value for the money spent. This can be a good indicator of customer satisfaction; however, the scoring will be erroneous if some companies provide excellent policies at a higher cost. Customers who desire only basic insurance may not appreciate paying a higher premium for a higher quality of policy.

A fourth area that is used to rate companies is that of billing and payments. Customers are asked how promptly they feel their insurance statements are sent to them, and how streamlined the billing service is. This can be useful, especially if one company has extremely poor customer service or many billing problems are frequently problematic for its customers.

The last area in which companies are scored is in the customer’s individual interactions with company representatives. This criterion, which reflects customer service, is used to evaluate the agents, telephone representatives, and online support offered by the company.

Although these criteria are excellent in evaluating customer service, or potential service problems, they do not provide extensive information about other aspects of the insurance organization. Issues such as claims coverage and adequacy of insurance, billing reimbursement for repairs or medical expenses, or other problems are not addressed. While this system is not comprehensive, however, it does offer some system for rating the companies and assisting potential customers to consider which ones are most desirable. Although auto insurance rating systems are not 100 percent inclusive of all facets of a company, they can be very useful.

By: Adam Hefner

Auto insurance specialist » Popular Insurance

Fraud – Auto Insurance Fraud

Auto Insurance Ratings – Help or Hindrance?