Look Out For Auto Insurance Fraud
One of the biggest frauds going on today in this country is Seminole auto insurance fraud. Following are some of the most common auto insurance frauds along with what we can do to help prevent them from occurring.
Staged auto accidents are one of the more popular forms of Westfield auto insurance frauds. These fraudulent auto accidents have become very complex and hard to prove because they now involve many participants. These fraudulent accidents even have names given to them.
First of all there is the “swoop and squat” which involves three vehicles. The first car is of course the victim the other two cars are driven by the criminals. They occur like this, first the driver of the “squat” car positions itself in front of the victim. The driver of the “swoop” vehicle pulls in front of the squat car and intentionally cuts this vehicle off. This causes the squat vehicle driver to slam on his brakes and stop short. This happens so fast the victim usually can’t react quickly enough and rams into the squat vehicle. During that time, the swoop car that caused the accident takes off and is gone for good. The victim then tells the police that the swoop car caused the accident, but because that vehicle has disappeared the victim ends up being liable for any personal injury claims.
Another type of fraudulent accidents is called the “side swipe”. This kind of accident happens at a busy intersection that has dual left hand turn lanes. The criminal goes into the outer left turn lane. When the victim’s vehicle drifts into the outer lane a little then the criminal side swipes him. The criminal has done preliminary work to make sure that the intersection is a busy one where drifting might occur because of the traffic. This makes sure that the scheme works as planned.
Panic Stop is another common auto accident scam. The criminal drives a late model auto filled with a lot of passengers. He then positions the vehicle in front of the victim and has the back seat passengers look out the back window for some sign that the victim driver is distracted in some way. The back seat criminal then tells the driver and he slams on the brakes causing the victim to run into his rear end. Even though the victim claims the criminal stopped short for no reason the victim usually has to pay for all damages and injuries.
These types of fraudulent accidents cannot be stopped. There is only one way to avoid this type of accident and that is to be extremely observant at all times and make sure your vehicle is a safe distance from any vehicle in front of you.
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