Insurance Fraud?

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Mon 5 Apr 2004 09:52
Insurance Fraud? - SR
Last December SWMBO had a slight incident when parking - her foot slipped off the clutch and her car jumped backwards and dented the door of a Pug 106.

The dent was about a foot wide, but not too deep, and could probably have been sorted out privately, but the other driver insisted on going through insurance companies.

The claim was all settled without hassle, but while renewing my own insurance recently I had to find out from her insurance company the value of the claim. I was quite surprised to be told the figure was £2000.

Anyone got any idea how they could arrive at this figure? Last time I got a dent repaired in one of my cars it was less than £200 all-in, and even if this one needed a new door I don't see how it could reach £2000 - that must be a third of the value of the car! Even adding in a hire car for a couple of days surely couldn't make that much difference.

Don't know if it's relevant, but it seems the other driver has a relative who runs a bodyshop, and she has now replaced her car altogether. We do have a witness to the amount of damage the original bump caused.

If this claim was excessive, would it be worth reporting to the company concerned?
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Mon 5 Apr 2004 10:03
Insurance Fraud? - patently
I would have a go at reporting it, although they are presumably aware of how much they paid out.

I blew a fuse when I found out that an insurer had paid out a ridiculous amount on a similar claim against me. No luck then, but if people keep complaining then something might happen.
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Mon 5 Apr 2004 12:14
Insurance Fraud? - smokie
I curently have two quotes for the same piece of work - replacing a wing on an M reg Fiesta. One was from my regular mech who has a lady who does accident rapirs for him - £250 - and the other from an approved accident dealer - £692.

And I already know which will do the best job...
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Mon 5 Apr 2004 13:10
Insurance Fraud? - Colin M
Don't worry, the insurer wouldn't have lost out. I'm sure we all pay through the nose for others inflated claims ;-(

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Mon 5 Apr 2004 18:20
Insurance Fraud? - GrumpyOldGit
It has got completely out of hand. A Transit clipped the rear wing of my car a while ago. We exchanged details (Always go through the insurer! The one time I didn't it cost me dearly) and I went off to have the very slight damage inspected. The quote was for more than £300. I found that ridiculous so told my insurer to drop the claim. I made sure I told them why as well.

After polishing off the white paint the Transit had left behind and a bit more polishing out of the scratches you could hardly see anything at all, just a very shallow dent on the lip of the wheel arch. I didn't bother to try to knock it out as it was so insignificant. The eventual buyer didn't even mention it.

I know the repairer has costs but imo that is a blatant fraud against the insurers. It seems to me that they don't care as they just make us all pay more to cover it. Complain!
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