By Ben Scott
Marketing Manager
Cash for crash fraud still affects you – even if you are a genuine motorist.
You must have heard by now about crash fraud. There has been a lot of media attention lately as angry motorists start to realise that they are the one’s who are paying for the lavish criminal lifestyle of those involved in cash for crash scams.
Recently the Sun ran a two page spread that focused on brothers Raja and Bilal Waqas, two such fraudsters costing honest people extra money. The article highlighted that the fraud industry has become so lucrative that it was described as being even more profitable than dealing drugs by those involved. When fraudulent insurance claims are exploited to their full potential, the insurance companies are left to foot the bill. In this case, a whopping £400 million.
“But why does my insurance go up? I haven’t made a claim?!”
It doesn’t seem fair does it? Other people exploit the system and commit fraud and you have to pay more for your insurance as a result? The AA have revealed that it cost Insurance companies £2 billion last year just to cover the cost of whiplash claims. Insurance companies are simple businesses just like any other – they rely on their income being higher than their overheads. When an insurance company is paying out for claims, they need to recover the money from somewhere and unfortunately their only income is from the insurance policies they sell, meaning it’s you who feels the pinch at renewal.
- Vehicles are purposely damaged and involved in crashes for cash.
- Clients receive a courtesy vehicle paid for by the insurance company.
- Clients make false injury claims paid for by the insurance company.
- The damaged vehicles are recovered and stored, again, paid for by the insurance company.
- The vehicle is written off and the client is paid the value of the vehicle by the insurance company.