OT: Auto accident insurance scam artist
So far the 3 SD's are out of my house and driving their mom crazy instead of me. Yay! One of them managed to get caught on Maui when it was on fire. She made sure to take a selfie with the "strange red glow in the sky." LOL. Later she found out it was a forest fire and lucky for her, was able to get home with all her luggage.
I was stopped at a red light waiting to make a right turn last week. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the sedan in front of me move forward and thought they had turned. I rolled forward and was about to stop when I saw a truck barrelling through the intersection, trying to make the yellow light. I felt a bump. ARRGH. I rolled into that sedan, who had decided to NOT to turn after all.
We both pulled off the road into a parking lot. I was thinking "I'll bet there is not even any damage, the bump was so light." There was a slight scuff on her rear bumper, but that was all. My front bumper also had a slight scuff, no dents. I gave her my info and insurance and she filed a claim with my insurance. Having been an insurance claim estimator and adjuster for many years, I made sure to take pictures of her car's damages at the scene, to make sure that she couldn't claim any subsequent damages as being from my accident.
My adjuster calls me the last 2 days in a row and asks me to upload pictures of my front bumper damages. I did. He calls today and says this woman is saying that she has EXTENSIVE injuries from this accident, and telling him he "doesn't know what he is talking about." The adjuster says he discussed with his manager, and after seeing the minor scuff on my car, he is positive she is trying to milk this accident for a lot of money, and he will be denying her request for more money unless she provides medical proof that her injuries are caused by this minor impact, and not from a prior accident. He basically thinks she is full of it. I do too. At the scene I asked if she was ok. She suddenly got guarded and said "Well, maybe. I might be."
So now I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Will she find a crackpot lawyer who thinks she has a chance in hell of winning this? Will she end up accepting the offer my insurance made to her - which is reasonable?
My main annoyance is that I really think people have gotten greedy and unethical - more so since 2020 than ever before. It makes me sad that this woman and I couldnt have parted ways with honesty and respect. I admit I rolled into her car. I am willing to pay the damages through my insurance, and for her to get checked out at a doctor if she so desires. I will NOT, however, be taken to the cleaners because she thinks I'm an easy mark for deception. People suck.
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I've seen very minor fender
I've seen very minor fender-benders where the lawyers arrive before the police. It's really bad where I live. Everyone's broke so they can't resist the temptation to get paid. SO's daughter rear-ended a mom and her son a few years back. I was first on the scene and nobody was injured. Very minimal damage. A week later SO gets a call (it was his policy) and the woman claimed severe injuries to both herself and her "special needs child." I spent about an hour with these people. The only special need that kid had was dyslexia. I saw his school uniform and it was from a private school that specializes in dyslexia. Get ready, they are going to try for as much as they can.
Years ago my ex-H and I
Years ago my ex-H and I received a claim from someone claiming our truck hit his car in a parking lot, well far from where we lived. I was working all day in the office that day (no driving) and my ex-H was on a work site. So we are like, no, not us, here's our work proof...it was dropped.
HOWEVER thinking back on this and how shifty my ex-H actually was (unbeknownst to me at the time) he well COULD have been there and done it.
Been there. Not fun at all... except baring fraudster ass.
That is fun.
Similar event, except it was in a parking lot. I bumped into the back of an SUV. A scuff on my front bumper. Their back bumper was already cracked. I took pics of their bumper and mine.
They filed a claim for extensive damage to their vehicle and for personal injury complete with pics of them in neck collars, claiming whiplash, musculo-skeletal injury, etc..
I held an all lines insurance adjuster license for more than 20 years. Working with the Adjuster for my insurance company I privided the pics of damage, my front plastic bumber had a forest green paint scuff that was less than 1 square inch. I took pics of all of the body seams around my car showing no panel displacement, I took pics inside of the bumper structure showing zero damage to my vehicle.
The insurance company denied their entire claim. Fraud voids all coverage. Their fraud, voided any coverage by my insurance. Though I do not know if the insurance company ended up paying for the prior damage to their vehicle. I know they did not pay for the injury claim.
I was put on a fraud team for the 2004 hurricane season. The number of people who attempt to defraud people through fraudulent insurance claims or fraudulently inflating claims is mind boggling. As part of the catastrophe update training during that hurricane season twas law enforcement reviews complete with undercover footage of ministers of a certain community's churches teaching church members how to inflate hurricane damage claims and even to set up traffic accidents getting eldersly drivers to rear end other vehicles by being boxed in and having a car in front of the elderly driver slam on their brakes.
While I understand the level of disdain many have for insurance companies, fraud is part of the inflated costs of coverage. An insurance policy is not rocket science. It is a clear contract that outlines the pmromise by an insurance company to pay to return the insured to their financial position prior to loss due to a covered peril. An insurance company cannot pay for something not covered by the policy.
I have been hexed, complete with a chicken foot, by an insured who lost all coverage due to a fraudulent hurricane damage claim, I have had a shotgun put in my face by an insured taking exception to me being on their property, after they filed the claim that I was at their property to inspect and adjust, I have had elderly clients in tears after they gave their contractor a huge holiday bonus and no longer had enough to complete their home repairs because I could not reimburse them for the contractor holiday bonus payment, etc.....
My time as an independent catastrophey adjuster was interesting and lucrative. It was not enjoyable when I had to deny coverage to policy holders who were distraught. I had no issue with investigating fraud and working to void coverage for thieves, cheats, and fraud perpetrators.
I am sorry that you are having to deal with the dirt bags.
Thanks
Thanks. I had some crazy insured's and claimants in my career too! I still can't believe some of the stuff I had to deal with. People threw stuff at me, turned sprinklers on me, beat on my car, chased me, and tried to sic their dogs on me. Lucky for me, dogs and cats both love me. I had their attack dogs laying on their backs for belly rubs and boy were the owners pissed. Ha ha.
Now I just have to deal with cranky, sleepy truckers. They aren't half bad compared to most people.
The Age of Fraudsters
Yea. Toxic Troll and her "lo income bennies" and all the high prices in our area are making the grounds ripe for rotten fruit of ill gotten gains. The whole catalytic converters thing, the "gift card" scam, the "I am a high level official and the leader of our country died and left it all to me, but I need your help to claim it..." and of course anything that you could think of that uses a lawyer. My state, people sue for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Toxic Troll worked about 4 years for her "head case", where she hit her head on some playground equipment and didnt work for over 2 years and now got 21k as "settlement". Husband has a friend who is very litigious. He got injured in an accident while husband was driving and got money, husband gont nothing but a totaled car. Not even dinner.
Hope it works out...
I got into an accident this very week!
I just got a new to me used car four months ago. It looks so nice and I took my 15 year old to Smooth King to her job. On my way home, I was stopped at a red light and was the first car at the light and had been stopped a good 30 seconds. An elderly woman just . decided to drive into my lane and hit my car. We did a drivers exchange and she said she was 82 and blind in her right eye and didn't see me. I was so afraid of how the insurance claim process was going to go. I didn't call the police but thus far it seems like they are going to pay for the repairs to my car. Fingers crossed.