The Shocking Rise of the Crash for Cash Scam

Insurance scams are nothing new, but they cost UK consumers millions of pounds every year due to fraud and abuse. Consumers are outraged that the top UK insurance agencies aren’t doing as much as they could to stem the problem. Don’t be a victim — know what’s going on around you and you will be able to get things taken care of with no problem at all.

So let’s get started — what about that crash for cash scam, anyway? It’s a fake personal injury claim issue where another car drives in a way that triggers a moderate bump or crash. They will then claim that they were injured with whiplash, because it’s hard to detect whiplash and ignoring it can indeed cause severe pain. So instead of probing, the insurance companies generally pay out the whiplash claim rather than fighting in court — the legal fees just aren’t worth it.

There is some sign that government is getting involved. Earlier in 2012, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke held a “Whiplash Summit” to cut false injury claims down. Remember that these claims make insurance policies rocket. They are also easy to launch, as many attorneys do indeed offer no-win, no-fee based representation. That means that you don’t have to put up real money to a lawyer before the will take your case. This is also based on how likely it is for them to win. If they will get you money, then they’ll take the case. These cases also tend to be slam dunks, as the insurance company generally just makes a settlement and continues to go on about their business.

You have to keep your eyes peeled. It’s not just enough to hope that the right outcome will happen. If you have a camera, it’s time to take pictures while at the scene of the accident. In addition, you want to also make sure that you take pictures of the scene and ensure that you are attaching these photos. There have been fraud cases where someone has hit a parked car with no passengers, only to turn around and find that the occupants have decided to file injury claims anyway! If that’s not fraud, we don’t know what is!

Be sure that you keep in touch with your insurance company, and save copies of everything that you send them. You never know when you will have to escalate things higher, and having copies of everything that you say and everything that was said to you is a good thing.