What can I do against insurance fraud?

Question

I was involved in an very minor accident where my scooter scratched an old car. Now I received a letter from his insurance company claiming damaged for almost $2000 (incl w/screen, headlamp, door repaid, etc). This is obviously FRAUD. I had a cop witness the accident and I have his number. I don't want to be paying for something that I didn't do. It makes me angry that someone is thinking that I'm that stupid. The whole car was not worth $2000.

I definitely don't want to be paying for this. My insurance company is a piece of c**p and they're not helpful. What can I do?

Answer 1

well, if your insurance company isn't good that's up to them! Let them pay the $2000 if they wish.

You could suggest to them that you had a cop that witnessed it and you have his number, apart from that, let them worry about it, they are the ones that have to pay, not you and you should just forward the payment request to them.

Answer 2

Contact the Department of Insurance, they'll direct you on what to do to get started.

Answer 3

You damaged a car.  Now you are having problems with the estimate to fix it.  You have insurance.  Send the letter you got to your insurance company.  They will either pay it, or deny it.  If they deny it, and you are sued, they will furnish you with an attorney.  If you aren't getting help from your local agent, call the regional office and complain.

Answer 4

i work in insurance claims in australia.

probably the first thing i always hear from at fault partys, is disbelief over how much vehicle repairs actually costs.  repairs to cars are expensive, that's why insurance exists in the first place.

whether a car is old or new has no bearing to the repair costs.  a repairer is still going to charge the same per hour amount for paint and labour, regardless of the age of the car.  AND, you may find that parts for older cars can get more expensive, if the parts are no longer manufactured and therefore not easy to come by.

if you believe that their scope of repairs doesn't reflect the actual damage you believe you caused, you have every right to challenge that.  you will need to state to their insurer very clearly IN WRITING, that while you did cause some damage, you didn't go anywhere near the windscreen, or whichever part you are challenging.  I can certainly understand the windscreen.

how do you know that the car is not worth or insured for more than $2,000?  an insurance company is, first and foremost a business, not a charity.  they won't pay a cent more or less than they are contractually obligated to pay their clients.  if it was more cost effective for that business to write the vehicle off and sell the salvage, then they would have done so.

Answer 5

My father got into an accident and we had to go to court.  We eventually went to arbitration.  The arbitrator explained that on old cars the WHOLE repair cost should NOT be paid (as you said the whole car is not worth $2000).  The other driver may not even realize the rules of arbitration.

The way he explained it - the arbitrator will take the cost of repair and then pro-rated for the age of the car.  So if the car lost 50% of the value, the you should only have to pay 50% of the repair cost (or the total price of the car - which ever is lower).

Don't be afraid to to go court and settle it.  You surely won't pay that much.,

Good Luck...