How to prevent yourself from auto insurance fraud?
Recently, one of our customers called us and told us that he felt very lucky that he bought our digital rearview mirror dash cam just in time. He bought an XR10 digital rearview mirror dash cam for his teen who just got her driver’s license. Two weeks later, the girl got involved in a preplanned auto insurance fraud. The girl was driving cautiously and didn’t do anything wrong. However, when she was waiting at the red light, the car in front of her suddenly backed up into her vehicle. The other driver soon got out of the vehicle and accused her of causing the accident. The girl was frightened so she called her dad. After hearing about his daughter’s encounter, he guided his daughter to find the playback on the digital rearview mirror. Fortunately, the digital rearview mirror captured the entire accident and she was able to prove her innocence based on the footage. So she soon reported the accident to the police. After the police arrived at the scene, the other driver still insisted that the girl rear-ended him. However, after knowing that the girl has a dashcam and recorded everything that happened, he was shocked and terrified. In the end, the girl was proved not at fault, and the driver was arrested for attempted fraud.
The above mentioned just the tip of an iceberg. There are numerous ways that drivers can fall victim to auto insurance fraud.
Soft auto insurance fraud
Soft insurance fraud happens when a driver intentionally exaggerates the damage of an auto claim. The most common scenario is to include pre-existing damages in order to get more payout.
Hard auto insurance fraud
Hard auto insurance frauds are more intricate. Even though you drive cautiously, scammers still can set you up and stage the accident. The story shared at the beginning was a perfect example of hard auto insurance fraud. Other than that, more intricate frauds have also been reported, such as “swoop and squat” requires three cars to choreograph to fake an accident, and scammers may even have fake witnesses which make the innocent driver impossible to prove what really happened.
How to prevent being a victim of auto insurance frauds?
If you think you are scammed, please take action to protect yourself. Otherwise, what you will be facing is skyrocketing insurance payments for the next few years. Fortunately, you can prevent being a victim of auto insurance frauds by taking the following simple precautions:
Drive cautiously
Always drive cautiously. Be alert to the traffic around you. Drive under the speed limit and remain a reasonable distance from the car in front of you, so that you will have enough time to react and avoid tailgating the car in the front.
Take as many pictures as possible
Everybody knows that you should take a picture of the other vehicle’s license plate, driver’s license, and insurance card after a car accident. Except for this crucial information, the context is equally important. So don’t forget to take pictures of the scene, such as traffic signs, and vehicle damages.
Get witnesses
Don’t be shy to ask for help from pedestrians. Speak to people who are at the scene of the car accident. Ask whether they have witnessed the accident and whether they are willing to write a witness statement for you. Most importantly, don’t forget to ask for their contact information! Moreover, you may also ask surrounding business owners whether they have surveillance cameras and whether they are willing to provide the surveillance footage for the accident investigation.
Check your dashcam
Don’t forget your dashcam! Dashcam footage is the best to defend yourself from false accusations. It is an electric witness that can never lie. And most of the time, if you notify the scammer that you record everything on your dashcam, they will beg you not to report them to the police. Because auto insurance fraud is at least a misdemeanor or even a felony depends on the law in different states. You can also show the dashcam footage to the police officer to help them write the report as well as sending the footage to your insurance carrier and ease the process of insurance claims.
Ask for a police report
If you think that you are scammed, please don’t hesitate to call the police. The police will write a police report, providing all the information that’s needed for insurance claims in the future.
