[Jeep]

This was prevalent in the UK, known as Crash for Cash. Mostly one would deliberately brake suddenly in the middle of the road, to be rear ended.

[AJ739]

I've seen a guy whose Range Rover was giving him mechanical troubles and service and repair cost estimated around 8 lakhs!! To avoid paying from his pockets and save himself money and trouble of selling the car, he got his car damaged to an extent that it would be eligible for Total Loss claim on the insurance.

He was in a rude shock when discovered the Insurance had expired just 3 days ago from the fiasco!

[drmohitg]

Technically the customer isn't doing a crime here. For instance, we all get small dings and dangs on our cars, most of the times due to carelessness of others on the road. At the same time, I am paying a higher premium year after year to have everything covered. Usually I ignore these small dents and keep driving either due to the hassle of dropping the car for multiple days at the workshop, exposing it to dirt and potential misuse at the dealership and secondly, lose out on NCB etc. But if in the future, when the car indeed needs repair work for a larger damage, I don't see any wrong in getting the other minor dents too taken care of. The whole point of having the policy is to cover me for any damage, big or small. Things like NCB have been invented to discourage a customer for filing a claim and hence the insurance companies are no saints either. So when I do indeed file for a claim, I wouldn't mind in getting as much stuff fixed as possible.

[karan0009]

All the three parties Customer, Workshop & Insurance Folks are very much aware when an intentional damage is done to the vehicle. It's usually workshop people who act as a mediator between customer & insurance company to take care of all the claims.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Jeep

This was prevalent in the UK, known as Crash for Cash. Mostly one would deliberately brake suddenly in the middle of the road, to be rear ended.

These were done more for the bogus injury claims. A lot of folks were caught out by

1: Crashes happening too many times in one area
2: Dash cams catching them in the act and filming the victims looking unhurt
3: The accidents mainly happened at speeds that do not justify the injuries
4: The same claimant popping up in a few claims.

The fact that insurance companies share a lot of data except their pricing and artificial intelligence hence unearth scams a lot faster.

Nowadays it is flash to cash. Abroad, flashing your lights means "do cut in" or allowing a car through. Folks will flash and then the crash into the hapless victim.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Things like NCB have been invented to discourage a customer for filing a claim and hence the insurance companies are no saints either. So when I do indeed file for a claim, I wouldn't mind in getting as much stuff fixed as possible.

The other tool is the minimum excess that you pay. It dissuades claims for small amounts but it motivates one to make the damage a lot more.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Kashish

While the above-mentioned points highlight some drawbacks of the insurance system I'm also equally very happy to report that there is almost zero corruption in the system, especially the surveyors are usually nice to deal with and are willing to help out the insured and cover the maximum under insurance(sometimes even if it is not related to the claim)

That usually works out where the insurance is cashless. I made the mistake of paying for repairs much cheaper at a FNG and then raising a claim, when a drunk auto driver t boned my Scorpio.

After the deductible of around 3000 the man approved a total of 7000 whereas it cost me about 18k to fix the damages.

[ashis89]

Let me share some of the prevalent practices that I am aware of.

An ex-colleague of mine used to give his first gen Figo for annual service and repair. He would claim insurance for all the battle scars that the car had received throughout the year, in multiple incidents and get them fixed in one go. All the work was carried out at the Ford ASS only. Price to pocket: one bottle whisky and 2-5k rupees to the surveyor based on the extent of repairs.

Another group of friends have repaired their respective Balenos for various accident damages. During such claims, the MASS guy has suggested breaking the good tail light too to replace the pair of them, tore the bumper so that it is eligible for replacement and such. He also inflates the bill so that it can cover the repair/paint patchwork of minor damages in other parts of the car which were unrelated to this claim!

[GTO]

You know what the sad part is? Us honest car owners have to pay higher premiums because of these bogus claims .

Originally Posted by PrideRed

I doubt folks do this just to claim insurance but to get more likes/viewership for their videos.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I somehow find it difficult to imagine these scammers would put their efforts out on social media for everybody to see.

I think it's more a case of their over-eager friends sharing the video on whatsapp, and then the inevitable forwards leading to it being published on Facebook & Instagram.

[Kashish]

Originally Posted by hserus

That usually works out where the insurance is cashless. I made the mistake of paying for repairs much cheaper at a FNG and then raising a claim, when a drunk auto driver t boned my Scorpio.

Pardon me, but am I missing something? Did you raise the claim after paying for repairs?

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Kashish

Pardon me, but am I missing something? Did you raise the claim after paying for repairs?

Yes this was a pay and claim, because the repairs were done at a trusted FNG who I know to be good at denting and painting work.

[Kashish]

Originally Posted by hserus

Yes this was a pay and claim, because the repairs were done at a trusted FNG who I know to be good at denting and painting work.

I guess you mean to say it was a reimbursement claim. Before starting the repair work didn't the insurance surveyor/ your FNG share the loss assessment with you? The assessment by the surveyor usually gives an almost clear picture of the amount payable by the insured.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Kashish

I guess you mean to say it was a reimbursement claim. Before starting the repair work didn't the insurance surveyor/ your FNG share the loss assessment with you? The assessment by the surveyor usually gives an almost clear picture of the amount payable by the insured.

The paperwork was delayed days after informal approval because of a series of holidays around that time. Long story and I don't remember the 100% exact details now.

[Kashish]

Originally Posted by hserus

The paperwork was delayed days after informal approval because of a series of holidays around that time. Long story and I don't remember the 100% exact details now.

I guess due to some confusion/ delay in the paperwork the amount approved by the company was less. There is no discrimination as such between Authorized workshops/ FNG's while passing claims except for the difference in labour costs depending upon the setup(paint booth, etc) of the FNG.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by hareshjethwani

Wrong to blame the customer here. Most probably the garage/workshop would suggest the customer to do the additional damage for their benifit of higher billing and ease of matching the paint on panels.
I had an insurance claim way back in 2004 where they replaced the entire door instead of the tinkering work which was a bit tedious in the way it was damaged. The advisor spoke to me as if they had replaced the door free of cost and had done a favour to me.It is easier for them and less time consuming too.

Yes, exactly this. And it's not just some fly by night operators but proper company owned service centres. Without going into details I have an older (9 year old), I had an issue where a neighbour, a middle aged lady with some mental issues scratching cars with stones, she made like Picasso and scratched many lines on the passenger side door panel and rear.

It looked very ugly and I wanted to get the whole thing repainted, I took it to the company service centre and asked for a quote, I innocently only wanted the front left panel and rear painted.

The SA though said "saar why spend 15k on this, you have old car, repaint the whole car". Now I know this would have topped 55-60k, so I told him as much, he said don't worry saar, your insurance is with a company known to us, we will simply bash the driver side panel, wreck the bonnet and put a coconut on the roof, claim accident and you will need to only pay some 20k"

I was taken aback by it, but he assured me that did it all the time and how we pay so much in premium (I had a NCB at that point running for like 5 years) and never use, so it's both safe to do and easy.

I did take him up on the offer, 15k for 2 panels vs 22k for the whole car was a steal. Did I do wrong? Yes, in hindsight I should have passed on the offer, and if it had been an independent garage I definitely would have but from a reputed company service centre....I jumped at it.

[stanjohn123]

Maybe this is why insurance premiums have been increasing a lot. Last few years I have noticed that my premiums instead of going down are staying almost at the same level year on year when the IDV is falling down drastically.

Such owners must be reported for Insurance fraud.