QuestionI was in a car accident where I hit the driver in front of me at less than 5 mph. I called the police, took pictures, and called my insurance company. The other drivers car had Obviously been hit several times before and was even rusted around the dents. The driver claims that there were several other people in the car. But neither I nor the officer looked in the car, she had tinted windows. But the police officer listed the names of the people that she wrote down that were in the car in the police report! She then filed a claim with my insurance company saying they all were hurt. My insurance company paid her what I think is a ridculous amount for something that was already damaged and for people that were never verified to even be in the car. I want to know what I can do.
Answer Hello Ashley,
As a former insurance fraud investigator and a former police officer, I feel your pain.
Short answer - there is nothing you can do about this particular claim. Theoretically, your insurance company is "protecting" you by paying for liability injury claims.
From what you're saying, however, this was a series of inexcusable events that should not have occurred.
First, the officer. Now I will assume that you knew from actually following the officer around that he/she did not verify that there were passengers in the car. Having said that, the police officer should absolutely know better than to take a drivers word for passengers without even checking independently. Insurance fraud with phony damage and non-existent passengers is rampant and the officer has the obligation to investigate even the basic facts of the accident from passengers to damage. Unfortunately with low impact accidents, sometimes officers do not investigate as they know they should. And, of course, this just drives up insurance fraud, costing all of us money.
Insurance companies, on the other hand, too often use the police report as gospel, and thus fail to conduct an independent investigation of their own. Insurance adjusters are required to conduct impartial investigations, and clearly this claim was not investigated at all.
What should have been done in a nutshell, is that the adjuster should have actually LISTENED to you and then referred the claim on to a professional fraud investigator with the company's Special Investigations Unit.
Aside from your frustration, fraudulent claims are costing everyone plenty of money. The reality is, insurance companies charge higher premiums as claims payments increase. And, if your particular insurance company is unable or unwilling to investigate insurance fraud, you can expect your rates to be even higher than with companies that do attempt to fight fraud.
I would suggest that even thought this is an at fault accident for you, you should consider other companies when your policy renews. Obtain some quotes for the same coverage that you have now, and see if you can do better. I have a website that deals with rates and discounts and how to shop for insurance. While it is overall for Florida, many of the lessons apply in all states.
You might want to start here http://www.floridaautoinsurancecentral.com/compare-car-insurance-quotes/
If you want to read more about insurance fraud and how insurance investigation should and should not work, you can read the free articles on my other website, http://SolutionsForYourInsuranceClaim.com
Hope this helps. I admire you for your honesty.
Jane Pytel
http://SolutionsForYourInsuranceClaim.com
http://FloridaAutoInsuranceCentral.com
