Nextbase Dash Cams can help you prove fault in the case of an incident. This footage can be sent to your insurer or even the police if needed. Rear Camera Modules record what happens behind your vehicle and provide you with greater protection while driving. A very necessary device for all drivers nowadays!
What is Crash for Cash?
Crash for cash is still one of the most common insurance scams in the UK. The scam involves a staged crash in which the fraudulent party provokes an incident to try to make a financial gain through claiming damage/injury on insurance. Examples of ways they do this are slamming on their brakes for no reason when they know there is a car behind them to cause an accident, flashing their lights at a junction to let you out and then driving into you deliberately; or even fraudsters crashing their own vehicles into one another and making an insurance claim. This scam takes advantage of the age-old notion that the driver behind is the one at fault in the case of incident.
Example of a crash for cash attempt caught on a Nextbase 212 Dash Cam
[video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://cdn.nextbase.com/nextbase-en-ie/2019/12/Nextbase-Crash-for-Cash.mp4"][/video]
Who are the victims?
The victims of crash for cash fraudsters are often vulnerable, innocent drivers who have been targeted specifically. However, this is also a very opportunistic crime and fraudsters will take the chance if they see an opportunity.
Ways to help avoid crash for cash scams
There are things you can do to spot dubious driving behaviour but ultimately, the best way to protect yourself from such a scam is by having a Dash Cam in your car. As shown in the video above, a Dash Cam can prove fault and verify what actually happened in an incident. Without the Nextbase Dash Cam, the HGV driver would have struggled to prove fault if there had been a crash. It is likely the other driver would have claimed he was rear-ended to the insurers and the HGV driver would struggle to prove otherwise. If you don’t have a Dash Cam you will need to rely on there being a CCTV camera that caught the incident and if not, the next best thing is an eyewitness, but this isn’t concrete evidence like Dash Cam footage can be.
- Don’t tailgate – leave plenty of space between you and the car in front
- Always be aware of your surroundings – both conditions on the roads and other drivers
Insurance Fraud statistics in 2018
In 2018 there was a total of 469,000 fraudulent insurance claims, 98,000 were fraudulent claims and 371,000 were dishonest insurance applications.
Fraudulent insurance claims are now in excess of £12,000 on average and 1,300 insurance scams are uncovered every day.
Motor insurance scams reign as the most common and most costly, with 55,000 dishonest motor insurance claims valued at £629 million! 80% of these were personal injury claims, including staged crash for cash scams to opportunistic crimes.
What to do if or are involved in a crash that you suspected to be a crash for cash scam?
- Most importantly never admit liability
- Get the vehicles registration plate – especially if there is a vehicle involved that doesn’t stop
- Call the police – tell them of your suspicions
- Never hand over money on the side of the road – scammers might tell you by paying them they won’t report it and you can keep your no-claims bonus and avoid paying the excess
- Watch how the other party involved acts – if they are too calm/if lots of people all jump out of the car these are indicators. Scammers will often load the car with people so they can make more injury claims. Also note if any of them appear to be injured, it is likely they will claim crazy injuries that they didn’t appear to have when the incident happened.
- Watch to see if the car in front’s brake lights came on or not. Fraudsters have been known to disable their brake lights, so you don’t have any warning they are stopping suddenly and unexpectedly.
- Look to see if there are any possible CCTV locations nearby.
- Count the number of occupants in the car – the number often increases following the incident. Also note where they were sitting in the vehicle.
- When reporting the incident to your insurers, share your thought that this might have been a scam and they will review it with this in mind. If they agree it is likely the issue will need to be scaled up to the police.
Data source https://www.abi.org.uk/news/news-articles/2019/08/detected-insurance-frauds-in-2018/
Read the previous article about new drivers’ biggest fears here.
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