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Insurance fraud makes victims out of insurance companies and their customers. In common terms, insurance fraud is lying to or deceiving an insurer in order to make money or to become insured. Some common fraud schemes include:
- “padding” (inflating the true amount of) a claim
- lying or hiding (concealing) important information when applying for insurance
- lying or hiding (concealing) important information when reporting a loss
- submitting false claims
- “staging” accidents
- Failing to report recovered property
- faking theft claims
- committing (home or vehicular) arson for profit
As a consumer, fraud should concern you since the cost is passed directly on to you in the form of higher insurance rates. You can play an important role in reducing fraud.
Fighting Auto Insurance Fraud
Persons attempting to commit insurance fraud often do so by deceiving innocent drivers during actual accidents or by involving innocent drivers in “staged” accidents. Do the following in order to minimize this risk:
- Drive defensively, keeping space between you and surrounding cars.
- When traffic slows, begin braking before the car in front of you does.
- Be careful when turning into a lane that allows two or more autos to turn left at the same time. Victims of insurance fraud are often people who float across the line when turning and then are intentionally sideswiped by a person who is “staging” an accident.
- If you are in an accident, write down license numbers of all cars involved in the accident, get the names and contact information of all persons involved and their insurers. Count the number of passengers in the other cars and get their names, addresses and any other pertinent information.
- Call the police and get a police report even if the damage is minimal. DO NOT let another driver talk you out of calling the police.
- Carry a disposable camera in your glove compartment or make use of a cell phones camera feature and take pictures of the damage to the vehicles and of all drivers and passengers in the cars.
Fighting Homeowners Insurance Fraud
It is far more difficult to involve an innocent party in homeowner fraud. However, a homeowner can help himself and help deter fraudulent claims by properly maintaining their home, and by removing or repairing items that could create tripping hazards to outside parties. Also, if someone is injured in your home, be certain that you get full information and be sure that an injured person gets any needed treatment. Carefully document any incident, including all impressions about likely injury. It may also be prudent to show healthy skepticism over any information on medical bills or claims.
Report suspicious actions such as a friend who asks you to store valuable property and you then find that they reported to his insurer that the property was stolen.
Think of insurance fraud as money out of your pocket-because it is. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, fraud adds 25% to property and casualty insurance rates.
If you are involved in an accident and you are suspicious that fraud may be involved, report it to the authorities and your insurer. Another helpful source for fraud information is the National Insurance Crime Bureau at 1-800-TEL-NICB (at the time of this writing, their Website was located at www.nicb.org).
Umbrella insurance only works properly when the primary (underlying) coverages are maintained. In fact, the obligation to make sure proper support remains in place is part of the umbrella insurance contract. It is found in the policy’s “Maintenance of Underlying Coverage” provision.
The provision typically refers to the policy’s schedule or declarations where all of the applicable underlying coverage is listed. The underlying (also called primary) coverage typically consists of:
- Personal automobile
- Homeowner’s
- Recreational Vehicle
- Miscellaneous Personal Liability
Besides listing the various policies, an umbrella policy requires that a specific limit of insurance be assigned to each underlying policy. The maintenance provision then acts as a contractual obligation. Via the provision, each listed coverage and each assigned insurance limit must be kept in force throughout the length of time that the umbrella coverage exists.
Of course, there are consequences when the insured person fails to comply with the provision, either by dropping or changing (lowering) listed coverage. Whenever a change in coverage occurs, the insured is also obligated to inform the umbrella insurer; though that only warns the insurer, but does not affect the consequences. In either case, the umbrella responds to a loss in the same manner as if the listed coverage still existed. Therefore, the insured bears the total financial obligation for a loss until the loss amount reaches beyond the level where the original coverage was supposed to apply. If it doesn’t affect the consequences, you may wonder why the insurer requests notification. For two good reasons: one, they can ask you to remedy the situation or face terminating your umbrella coverage; two, they will be warned to review any loss situations you report so they can monitor the situation and, perhaps, take steps to protect their interest.
If you have taken the step to buy extra coverage to protect yourself and your assets, be sure to comply with all that is required of you. If you have questions, discuss your situation with a professional insurance agent.
When the topic of exotic, ideal locations for vacations comes up; island paradises and tropical locales are always popular. The water, the beaches, the warm winds are very attractive conditions. However, they are also the originating locales for tropical storms and hurricanes.
The dark side of the tropics is that all of the water and warm temperatures make up the key ingredients for cooking up massive storms. The low pressure areas allow the build-up of violent wind movement that is fuel by warmth and water. The hurricane season is a long parade of storms that form, build in power and size and then move toward land, and property……and people.
Often the major worry is “what is the storm’s category?” A storm’s potential life cycle goes may go from Normal Conditions – Tropical Depression – Tropical Storm – Hurricane (Category 1 up to Category 5).
Naturally it makes sense to be highly concerned about the size of storm surges (water and waves pushed by storms) and wind speeds; but less powerful storms do not automatically mean that there is less danger! Even when a storm does not maintain hurricane status, it can cause tremendous problems as it travels hundreds, even thousands of miles!
A slow-moving tropical storm or low category hurricane may not cause as many problems with wind damage; but may create wide-spread, substantial damage by inundating large areas with torrential rains. Massive amounts of water, smashing through areas where they shouldn’t be, is capable of washing away cars, trucks, boats, homes, businesses, bridges, roads and even lives.
In the aftermath, the incredible challenge is to rebuild and, without proper protection – such as flood insurance – the challenge may become impossible. The wish may be that you never have to deal with flooding caused by huge storms….the hope is that, if you do, you CAN deal with it. Flood insurance can be the key to your recovery!
Check out our new TV commercial on Vimeo. The commercial will be showing on channel 2 around the Today Show, Jeopardy, and the local news.
[clear]Hurricane Irene is now projected to hit our coastline by the end of the week, so we have prepared a brief list of some things that would be helpful to do before the storm and after the storm. Depending on when and where the storm hits we will be updating our site with information for our clients and other residents of South Carolina.
Before a catastrophe
- Review your coverages, are they up-to-date with current building and content values
- Know the amount of all your deductibles, depending on the type of loss these deductibles may vary
- Know the names of the insurance companies on all of your polices
- Know the policy number on all of your insurance policies
- Find the claims telephone number to the insurance company on your policies
- Make sure you are covered for different perils such as flood, excess flood, wind, excess wind, earthquake, and etc
- Take a written inventory of your personal possessions, photographs will also help in the claims process
- Store all important documents in a safe place, in some instances these may need to be taken with you if you have to evacuate
After a catastrophe
- If you have suffered a loss, call the claims number located on your policy immediately
- Take any reasonable steps to make temporary repairs; save your receipts for what you have to spend
- Have all the information you can gather ready to give to the adjuster, the more information he has the faster the claim can generally be settled
- Stay current with all of your premium payments
- If you must relocate, save all receipts and records of additional expenses you acquire due to your loss
- Make sure that the contractors you are using for repairs are licensed and insured
- Request to see certificates of insurance for:
- General Liability
- Workers Compensation
Visit our web site for new information regarding claims in the event of a catastrophe.
Click here for a list of claims numbers to our companies.
[clear]After making the effort to identify what you need to insure, what company you want to handle your protection, and working to understand the various policies that cover you and your possessions, isn’t the importance of telling your agent or insurance company about a loss obvious? Surprisingly, no, it isn’t.
The Notification Obligation
Fulfilling the coverage promise of an insurance policy is all about communication. An insurer makes a promise to protect you against certain types of loss, but it can’t follow-through unless it knows about a loss. Prompt notification is so important that it is a formal policy requirement. Your failing to meet this obligation could result in a claim being denied.
A policy typically requires you to do the following:
Contact the agent or insurer as quickly as practical – the practical requirement replaced the previous use of “possible,” since some companies unreasonably denied coverage because notification was not instantaneous. The difference between words may seem minor, but it gives you some flexibility for dealing with circumstances that could affect how quickly you contact your agent or insurer about a loss.
Identify Yourself – Perhaps one day your insurer will be able to recognize your voice over the phone and immediately pull up your file. Until then, be prepared to at least tell your insurer your full name (or, if different, the name the insurance policy is under) and the policy number.
Give adequate details – What, When Where, Why and How. It is important that the insurer has enough information to take proper action. This information allows an insurer to open a claim file, assign the loss to a claims person and begin investigation of your loss.
Give the insurer copies of any communications regarding a loss or possible loss (such as a threat of a lawsuit) – You should not guess about whether a legal notice or request to be paid for damages is important, even when an actual lawsuit has yet to be filed. Send a copy of the information to your insurer and let them decide.
Prompt Notification helps Everyone
Complete and quick communication about losses gives you the best chance to get needed coverage and gives your insurer an opportunity to handle a possible claim efficiently. It also allows the insurer to control issues that could let lawsuits get out of control, such as the ability to offer payment for medical expenses or to contact and question witnesses.
Don’t hesitate! Contact your agent or insurer and get your loss handled.