We continue our post on reporting car insurance fraud with fraud from your agent, insurance company and how you can report fraud.

People that can report car insurance fraud are very important in saving you and I on our insurance premiums.

In “Reporting Car Insurance Fraud (Part 1)” we talked mainly about fraud on the claims side of insurance. How claims fraud can be a simple false claim being filed to an elaborate scheme. In this post we will cover fraud that is from the people you are supposed to be able to trust: your insurance agents and insurance company.

Car Insurance Fraud from your Agent

Agents are supposed to be there as trusted insurance advisors, but this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes they are just there for the take. They set up insurance agencies and for the first part of their careers they may be running a completely legitimate business. It’s when they decide to start keeping your insurance premiums for themselves that a good agent goes bad.

So while you are religiously paying your insurance premium month after month or term after term, your insurance policy has actually been cancelled for no payment. But, you should have received the cancellation notice right?

Nope, because your insurance agent updated your address with the insurance company so that all of your paperwork (including that cancellation notice) comes to them. You are without insurance and your agent is a little bit richer.

Car Insurance Fraud from your Insurance Company

Even insurance companies can be involved in a car insurance scam. The larger companies try to keep themselves legal, but you never know when a rouge employee is doing something illegal that hasn’t been caught yet.

Also insurance companies that you have never heard who are selling insurance online, have a good chance of being fraudulent companies. Here are some things to look for before you give that unknown insurance company any money:

• Look for an out-of-country address or no physical address provided on the website.

• Check with the Insurance Commissioner or Department of Insurance in your state to make sure that this company can legally write insurance in your state.

• Check with the Better Business Bureau for any complaints.

• If the insurance premium is too good to be true, it probably is.

• The absence of a customer service phone number to call or any contact information for a claims department.

As a consumer, anything that doesn’t seem right about your insurance company or potential insurance company needs to be reported. Better to report and be wrong, instead of being right and being a victim of car insurance fraud.

Car Insurance Fraud Costs you Money

The more money that is paid out each year in car insurance fraud is bad news for everyone, especially for you as an insurance consumer. The amount of fraud money that is paid out is one of the factors that increase your insurance premium every year.

Is that fair? No, but insurance companies are in the game to make money not be charitable. In order for them to make money they have to recoup their losses by bring in more income. This income comes in the form of your insurance premium.

Where to Report Car Insurance Fraud

There are a number of avenues that you can take to report car insurance fraud. What way you choose will depend on the type of fraud that you are in need of reporting.

Car insurance fraud can be reported directly to the insurance company in the case of a claim or a fraudulent agent. The insurance company is going to be more than willing to act on the report of fraud as they aren’t going to want to lose money to a fraudulent claim. They also are not going to want to be associated to an agent that is supposed to be representing them and is instead stealing money from their clients.

Any type of fraud can be reported to your state Insurance Commissioner or Department of Insurance and also to your local authorities. If the local authorities can’t help, they will direct you to who possibly can take action.

The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud also has additional information on how to report car insurance fraud or any type of insurance fraud for that matter. Their website is a great resource to use for more information on reporting car insurance fraud and ways that you can even report fraud anonymously.

Allstate Insurance capitalizes on the visuals with a grocery store analogy and free toy.

Summary

Commercial opens in grocery store with the Allstate spokesman and a woman walking down the aisle towards him.

Spokesman: If insurance was sold in the grocery store….

Woman grabs a red can of State Farm off of the shelf in front of the spokesman.

Spokesman: Whoa-wait-whoa whoa-wait a minute.

Woman: What?

Spokesman: Just like that? Did you even see the Allstate?

Cameras pans back and we see a long row of 5 shelves with cans of Geico, State Farm, Allstate, Farmers and Nationwide.

Woman: It’s cute. What is it?

Spokesman: Great insurance. You get accident forgiveness, deductible rewards, safe driving bonus checks; plus a free lifetime membership in Good Hands Road Side Assistance just for calling.

Woman: (grabs the can of Allstate that has a toy tow truck on the top of the can) Sold.

Woman walks away with her new can of Allstate.

Spokesman: Tiny tow truck, works every time.

Commercial goes to a blue screen with “Call Allstate” “Shop Less Get More” and the words “Local Agent” and the Allstate phone number.

Spokesman: Shop less, get more. Make one call to an Allstate agent.

Point of the Commercial

Allstate Insurance is promoting their “free lifetime membership in Good Hands Road Side Assistance” along with the other perks that Allstate Insurance offers its clients. Also that there are a lot of insurance companies out there that all seem the same, but that Allstate insurance can offer you more (toy tow truck represents this).

What They Want you to Do

First, Allstate Insurance wants you to mull over all of the perks that they can offer you. They want you to ask yourself if you are getting all of this stuff from your insurance company.

Second, they want you to call an Allstate Insurance agent. Yes, they put their phone number on the screen, but they also put up the words “Local Agent”. They also specifically tell you to call an agent.

Third, they are putting the idea in your head to not just grab the first quote that you get from an insurance company. Shop around first and look at other companies. Specifically, look at getting a quote from Allstate Insurance before you decide to purchase a policy.

My Opinion

I like this commercial. The voice of the regular Allstate Insurance spokesman is soothing and in this commercial he is funny. The visuals of treating car insurance like grocery shopping is a great visual analysis and will make this commercial stick out in people’s minds. It also makes the “free lifetime membership in Good Hands Road Side Assistance” easy to remember with the mini tow truck.

I give this one a thumbs up.

Anyone can play an important part in helping to stop car insurance fraud.

Car insurance fraud can be a simple false claim or an elaborate scheme.

In a perfect world there would be cheap insurance rates and no car insurance fraud to have to deal with. Actually, in a perfect world car insurance probably wouldn’t be needed because there would be no car accidents. But, since we don’t live in a perfect world and we do have to deal with car insurance fraud, you need to know how to handle it.

Car insurance fraud can happen anywhere in the car insurance process. It can be found in the claims process, buying insurance through an agent and at also with the insurance companies you are supposed to be buying this protection from.

Car Insurance Fraud in Claims

Car insurance fraud is most rampant in the claims department with people filing fraudulent claims. Fraudulent claims can happen with any party also. There are claims that are reported by people claiming to be victims of accidents when there was no accident. Also when there was an actual accident but it was so minor that there should be no damage or injury.

People also report accidents with their own insurance company for damages that they cause to their own vehicles on purpose. Why would they do this? To get cash from the insurance company for the damages for the car; this is most often done when someone is in financial trouble.

Elaborate Car Insurance Fraud Schemes

When I worked in the claims department the most elaborate fraud scheme that I had ever seen involved multiple parties. Multiple vehicles would box in a car (one in back and one on the side) and then another car involved in the scheme would cut in front of the victim and cause an accident. All of the people in the other cars would claim that they witness the victim rear end the front car, but would leave out that the car cut them off.

This scheme even involved doctors filing paperwork for false medical treatment and fake injuries. So the doctors would get the money from the insurance companies for treatments never performed. Then the people in the front car would get huge settlements from the insurance company that would then be split up between all of the parties involved.

They were finally stopped when someone caught on to the scheme, but not before they had scammed a very large sum of money already. This was a very elaborate scheme, but no matter how complex or simple most car insurance fraud is not caught until someone reports that it is happening.

To Be Continued………..

(Because car insurance fraud is such a large problem, all of the information couldn’t fit into one post. Please join us December 5th for part two of Reporting Car Insurance Fraud. Part two will include car insurance agent fraud, car insurance company fraud and the different options that you have to report car insurance fraud.)

The Gem State welcomes you; just make sure you have Idaho car insurance if you drive within our borders.

Don’t let having no Idaho car insurance lead to a license suspension for you.

The official state nickname of Idaho is the “Gem State”, but most people don’t know that as they know Idaho as the “Potato State” instead. So as an Idaho resident, let me clear up one thing for all of you that read this, we don’t all grow potatoes.

What happened was that the potato farmers were very good in getting the Idaho spud into the national market and created a reputation for the state. In fact, only a very small part of Idaho even grows potatoes, everyone just thinks that the whole state does. Just like in insurance where the crooked ethics of a few bad insurance companies create a bad reputation for the whole industry.

There are trustworthy insurance companies out there, but you probably don’t know that because of the blanket reputation that the whole industry has now. Just like you didn’t know that Idaho’s largest agricultural commodity is actually dairy products.

Now that you have learned a little about Idaho economics, let’s learn about Idaho car insurance requirements. Because you never know when you will want to escape to a more laidback lifestyle and become an Idahoan.

Idaho Car Insurance Minimum Requirements

To be able to drive in the state of Idaho you have to carry at least 25/50/15 liability limits with your Idaho car insurance. This means $25,000 in injury liability for one person and $50,000 in total injury liability for injuries to two or more people. Finally, the 15 is for the $15,000 in property damage liability for any damages that you may cause to another person’s property.

Idaho car insurance limits are about average as compared to other states. But, like the rest of the states the minimum liability required for the property damage with Idaho car insurance may not be enough coverage to fully protect you.

Penalties for No Idaho Car Insurance

First offenders of having no Idaho car insurance are subject to a $75.00 fine and a license suspension. The suspension is completely up to the discretion of the Idaho Transportation Department and the judge you face in court.

Second time offenders (within 5 years of the first offense), can be fined up to $1000. They can also face up to 6 months in jail and again a license suspension.

If you are an out-of-state driver and you are caught without insurance, Idaho will send that information to your home state if they are part of the interstate compact. The compact is an agreement between states, to report infractions earned in the states you drive in back to your home state. Your penalty will then depend on your own state’s “no insurance” laws.

No Idaho Car Insurance and No Driver’s License Now

If you are one of those that carry a large sense of entitlement when it comes to your driver’s license, you may be in more trouble than you know. Once your license is suspended for driving without Idaho car insurance this means that you cannot drive. Let me repeat that: YOU CANNOT DRIVE!

You are not entitled to a driver’s license it is something that is a convenience and a privilege and can be taken away if you don’t follow the rules. If you have been suspended and you still think you can drive, in Idaho you face mandatory jail time.

In fact, a minimum of two days and up to 6 months of jail time if you are caught driving with a suspended license. Also, you get a fine of up to $500 and an additional 6 months tacked on to the end of your current suspension from having no Idaho car insurance.

Not even the magic State Farm jingle can save this commercial from being bad.

Summary

Commercial opens up with two young men sitting in a car. The young man in a yellow hat has a burger in his hands. His hat has “Big Buffalo” on it and one could actually assume that he is eating a buffalo burger. He is talking to another young man in a black jacket who is the driver of the vehicle.

Passenger: Have you tried on of these ‘cause it’s so good.

Driver: Man, I can’t believe we haven’t done this before.

The camera pans back and we see the car is parked on a road next to a herd of buffalo. One of the buffalo is starting to approach the vehicle.

Driver: Oh wow, look at that.

Passenger: Want a bite?

Something hits the car and a black airbag goes off. Camera goes to the outside of the vehicle and we see that a buffalo has hit the driver’s side of the car head-on. Guys in car panic and we see that the windows are rolled down on both sides of the vehicle.

Passenger: Uh, uh, uh, your agent! D-d-d-do the jingle! Do the jingle!

Driver: Like a good neighbor State Farm is there!

Smiling insurance agent magically appears in the backseat of the vehicle.

Agent: Hey guys.

Driver and passenger: Buffalo!

Agent: Uh! Do it again, do it again!

Driver: Like a good neighbor State Farm is there!

Agent: In my office!

Buffalo: grunt

The agent, driver and passenger appear in a State Farm office hugging each other.

Agent: I think we’re good.

Driver and passenger celebrate with a knuckle bump.

Announcer: State Farm agents are there when you need them.

Screen goes to red with the State Farm logo and Facebook address. Also “Click Here For More Info”

Point of the Commercial

This commercial is directed to the 25 and under crowd, specifically the ones that watch and enjoy the shows that have people doing stupid stunts. Not only is the nature of the commercial directed at the younger drivers, State Farm directs viewers to visit their Facebook page as their ending contact information. This also looks to be an internet commercial with the “Click Here For More Info” at the end of the commercial.

The Facebook page and also watching internet videos are things that this age group is more likely to do than any other age group of drivers.

What They Want you to Do

They want the young drivers that view this commercial online to visit their Facebook page. I am not sure what happens if you click the “Click Here For More Info” as the screen moves too fast for me to get a click on it.

The 25 and under age group can be a very profitable group for insurance companies due to the high premiums. I would imagine with being parked in the middle of the road next to a herd of buffalo that this driver’s insurance premium is pretty high if he employs this type of thinking to his everyday driving.

My Opinion

Everyone has their own opinion about commercials and I really can’t think of anything good to say about this one. Actually I take that back, a buffalo burger sounds good for lunch.

Thumbs down, in fact two thumbs down.