Questionhi there, my co-worker was discussing an issue that occurred in her home. her son, was in an accident. the car is a total loss. they are insured, brand new car, so full coverage. here's the problem, instead of calling the authorities to report the accident, he became nervous since he had recently had another accident, and reported it stolen instead. the officer did not believe his story, and has since been requested to testify to his stolen report under oath. it has been about 9 months since the accident, and is to this day making payments, on a wrecked vehicle. should he come clean now? what rights, consequences would he have? thankyou
AnswerHi Cathy,
Your co-worker's son has a real problem.
You may suggest that he retain an attorney for legal advice.
In some states, filing a false police report is a felony-nervous or not.
If the story was given to the insurance company at the time of the claim he is looking at potential charges of insurance fraud as well.
I examine reported stolen vehicles for insurance companies to determine how they were last operated. Insurance companies do not take any type of misretepresentation lightly, nor does law enforcement.
Its bad enough that innocent insureds are persecuted and prosecuted and false claims like the one you are describing just embolden the insurance company's stance on fighting insurance fraud.
As I stated in the beginning, he needs a lawyer before he does this interview under oath. He needs a lawyer to prevent him for even beefing up a potential prosecutor's case of purjury as well.
See, the problem with lying, is that most including myself cannot remember to tell the same lie again. That's why I don't lie. No matter what the original rammifications like having a previous accident, you never lie to authorities about it.
The situation as you are desribing it can turn into a tangled web with no way out. A criminal defense attorney should know how to handle it.
Good luck to your co-worker
Rob
http://www.autothfetexpert.com
