Saturday, May 15, 2010

Fraudulent accident claim - aggravated damages

It is fraudulent for a motorist to submit a claim for repair to a vehicle where the damages have been aggravated or created after the accident. For example, if the orginal damage is a scratch and the repairs are for a major dent, the claimant is committing a fraud, i.e. cheating.

Many vehicle owners may not be aware that they are a party to this fraud. They leave the car to their workshop and sign an authority for the workshop to make a claim on their behalf. Some workshop, that specialises in inflating the claim, will aggravated the damage or inflict additional damages to the vehicle, and will take a photograph of the damages, to submit to the insurance company.

The insurance claim officer may not investigate the claim and will accept the claim as submitted. They are unwilling to challenge the claim, even if they were asked by the policyholders.

This fraud has been rampant for several decades. Large sums are being paid for the inflated claims. This results in higher premiums being charged for motor insurance.

Many people have lodged reports to the Police on this fraudulent activities in past years. If the Police is serious about  investigate the complaints and bring the culprits to court, this fraud can be contained. I hope that this action can be taken, to reduce the cost of motor insurance in Singapore.

Tan Kin Lian

7 comments:

Hermit said...

Kin Lian, thanks for your expert advice. I would like to ask your opinion on this fraudulent claim issue.

If immediately, after an accident with another vehicle, can I take pictures of BOTH vehicles and then use these pictures to support my case, if a fraudulent inflated claim is made?

Would the insurance companies use my evidence, or would they just carry on with the fraudulent claims?

Would the pictures be of help, if I reported the fraudulent claims to the police?

Thanks in advance.

PS - I alwasy carry a high resolution camera-phone with me to capture high resolution images for this purpose - just in case. Touch wood anyway.

Tan Kin Lian said...

Your photos will certainly support your case for the claim to be rejected.

However, it is better for the Police to use this evidence to charge the claimaint/ workshop for cheating.

If this type of action is taken, it will be a deterent to prevent future repeat of the fraud.

Anonymous said...

I was a victim of such fraud more than a decade ago.

Shortly after I gave up on driving.

It seems the system had not improved at all for a long time. Nobody concern cares as car owners (victims) will ultimately bear the cost.

Besides accident claims, I think there are many other examples of loopholes and inefficiencies in our sytem. Who cares? Ultimately the end users bear the cost and the high cost of living.

Anonymous said...

The police don't care too. Come on, it is common knowledge. Don't tell me they don't know.But are they not going to do anything? Are they not catching the dishonest motorists?
Is this part of the system?

Anonymous said...

My brother's car touches the back of another car and both agreed there was no damage. Later part of the day, the workshop called him to settle for $300 or go to court and the damage may be more. So no choice, just paid the 300 or else the workshop will inflict larger damages.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kin Lian,

I had an accident with another car earlier. The other party went to a workshop and msg me abt the estimate repair cost. I'd double checked with the workshop owner about the estimated cost then. Now, I received a claim 3x the original estimate from his legal. Do I have a case? Thanks.

Hazel Adams said...

Same case happened to one of my friends few days back. He got injured in a road traffic accident and found some accident claims company and filed the claim. But the company keep on delaying the whole process. So it's very important to do proper research before filing your accident claims to any insurance company or even hiring any accident claim expert.

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