Strange accidents transpire in real life, while other "accidents" are carefully set up by insurance scammers. Read the following stories and guess which claims were deemed legit and covered by the insurers and which auto owners were charged with insurance fraud. The answers are given at the end of the article.
1. A butcher driving his delivery truck claims that he crashed into a bevy of turkeys and one of the birds flew through his window causing him to drive off the road.1
2. Two women approach an intersection from opposite sides but neither stops and they crash in the middle. Each motorist maintains that she had the green light. Initially, the auto insurance company refuses to pay because there was no proof of who was at fault. Months after the episode, a man claims to have been in a car behind one of the drivers and verifies that she had the green light and that the other driver was at fault.2
3. A driver reports that his vehicle was damaged when a horse pulling a buggy in a 4th of July parade got spooked and ran the buggy into his car.3
4. A driver in a $1 million Bugatti Veyron claims he was reaching for his cell phone when he accidentally drove off the road and into a lake.4
5. A man told his insurance company that his shattered windshield resulted from following a car with a Christmas tree strapped on top. Evidently, the straps came loose and when the tree and his windshield met, his windshield lost.5
6. An auto owner reports that his home and several of his cars were damaged in an episode of post-DIY destruction. The man said he tried to repair his water heater and thought he had succeeded. However, a few hours later it exploded and launched through his roof, damaging several cars and other homes close by before it came to a stop.6
Answers
1. The carrier believed that the man was telling the truth and covered the claim.
2. Three years after a $90,000 insurance settlement, the woman's husband tells the company that the "eyewitness" was actually on the same dart team as his wife. The woman was charged with insurance fraud.
3. All details were substantiated and the carrier compensated for the damage.
4. Another car owner happened to film the automobile going into the lake. When authorities compared the man's story with the video, they concluded that the occurrence was deliberate.
5. The auto insurer replaced the windshield, and since the car owner hauling the tree kept on going, the man also got a complimentary tree out of the deal.
6. This is an example of "truth is stranger than fiction." Insurance investigators concluded that the man was telling the truth and paid out for the extensive damage. Apparently, no fraudsters have yet to choreograph a water-heater launching.
We wish you safe travels, but in the unfortunate event that you need quality repair service for an auto accident, the team at I-86 Truck & Auto Repair will work with the auto insurance carriers involved to make sure all repairs and parts meet our stringent standards. In the meantime, watch out for turkeys, errant Christmas trees, skittish horses, and flying water heaters.
1 "Farmers Insurance Hall of Claims," Farmers Insurance, https://www.farmers.com/hall-of-claims/#/, accessed February 24, 2017
2 Dan Nienaber, "Car accident turns into $90,000 insurance fraud case," Mankato free Press, November 20, 2014, http://www.mankatofreepress.com/news/local_news/car-accident-turns-into-insurance-fraud-case/article_aeb50e4e-d7a7-5735-855b-511652fd6ba5.html, accessed February 24, 2017
3 "Farmers Insurance Hall of Claims," Farmers Insurance, https://www.farmers.com/hall-of-claims/#/, accessed February 24, 2017
4 "12 Of The Weirdest Cases Of Car Insurance Fraud," Eyewitness Dashcams, May 5, 2016, http://www.eyewitnessdashcams.com/weirdest-cases-car-insurance-fraud/, accessed February 24, 2017
5 David Pegg, "25 Most Ridiculous Insurance Claims Ever," List 25, July 19, 2013, http://list25.com/25-most-ridiculous-insurance-claims-ever/3/, accessed February 24, 2017
6 "Farmers Insurance Hall of Claims," Farmers Insurance, https://www.farmers.com/hall-of-claims/#/, accessed February 24, 2017