Car Insurance Claim Scams: How Rear-End Collisions Can Be Car Insurance Claim Scams

Car insurance claim scams happen in cities and rural areas. They happen at both day and night. They happen in sunshine and rain, at rush hour and on quiet roads. You need to know that there are people out on the roads that are planning and looking for someone just like you to catch in their scams. It’s all about filing fraudulent claims and collecting money from you and your insurance company.

Here’s just one example of a claim scam...The Staged Rear-End Collision.

A driver will quickly merge into your lane of traffic directly in front of you, then slam on their brakes. They are hoping that your car will hit their car in the rear end.

It doesn’t matter if they have Collision insurance coverage on their car, because if you hit their car, you’re at fault. Here in the state of Georgia, a traffic ticket for “failure to yield” is almost a certainty if you rear-end another car for any reason. And, if you’re ticketed, your insurance company is going to have a hard time proving that it wasn’t your fault.

The Car Repairs Scam

The other driver will collect money from your insurance company for repairs to his car. He may take his car to the body shop of his choice. Sometimes, the body shop is a partner in the scam, writing a huge estimate for repairs that may or may not ever get done. This part of the scam happens pretty quickly, and settlement usually happens pretty fast.

The Bodily Injury Scam

The driver will usually fake an injury. If there are other people in the car, it is likely that all of them will fake injury. These rear-end collisions are perfect for scammers, since injuries like whiplash are soft-tissue injuries and very difficult to prove. So, they might drag out an injury claim for months. Sometimes, the driver/claimant’s doctor, chiropractor or attorney may be part of the scam. The medical bills will mount up and the attorney will make a settlement demand, usually far in excess of the medical bills alone. For example, the claimant’s medical bills might total $10,000, and the attorney will make a demand for $50,000.

Another part of the Bodily Injury Scam is loss of income for the claimant. They might try to hit you for partial disability, either temporary or permanent. They might even try total disability. Remember, in this scam, ALL of the passengers will make the same claim for damages.

Can you see how fast the claim can go from a fender-bender to a huge claim with a demand of hundreds of thousands of dollars?

You can prevent this type of scam befalling you. Here are some tips:

• Keep plenty of distance between you and the car ahead of you AT ALL TIMES.

• Stay alert while driving, don’t allow yourself to be distracted inside your own car.

• Keep cell phone use while driving at a minimum. People develop “attention blindness” when they’re using their cell phones.

• Make sure you have a disposable camera in your glovebox at all times. If you do find yourself in a rear-end collision, use your disposable or cell phone camera to take plenty of photos of the damages on both cars. Take photos of the driver and all passengers.

Only YOU can protect yourself from being a victim of a Car Insurance Claim Scam.

If you have experienced a car insurance loss, you need to know winning insurance claim strategies. The insurance company will not tell you the claims process, but I will. I will show you how to take control of your insurance claim, and add hundreds or even thousands more dollars to your claim settlement. For more information, go to the website listed below.