Avoiding Staged Auto Body Claims

Staged auto body accidents are building in number, endangering the lives and boosting the car insurance rates of innocent drivers who may unwittingly think they are at fault. Questionable claims from staged accidents increased 46.3 percent from 2007 through 2009, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, or NICB, a nonprofit agency in Des Plaines, Illinois, funded by 1,100 property and casualty insurance providers nationwide to fight auto insurance fraud and automobile theft. Here are some tips from Jungerman CARSTAR in St. Peters, MO based upon information from the NICB. If you have an auto body accident in St. Charles, O'Fallon, Lake St. Louis, and St. Peters, Missouri, you will be glad that you were prepared with this important auto body repair information.

Auto insurance fraud added $4.8 billion to $6.8 billion to auto injury claim payments in 2007, based on the Insurance Research Council's November 2008 study "Fraud and Buildup in Auto Injury Insurance Claims: 2008 Edition." NICB investigations in Florida, New York, and California uncovered sophisticated, multistate rings that included the staged accident participants and doctors, chiropractors, lawyers, and even auto body shop owners that benefited from the car insurance scam.

Multiple claims for a single accident

One common element runs though the majority of staged accidents. The "victim" vehicle will contain three to four passengers who will file medical claims against the victim's auto insurance company in addition to a car damage claim. Stagers often target younger ladies and older adult drivers as they enter or exit a shopping mall or parking garage. If you're talking on a mobile phone or appear otherwise distracted while driving, you are a perfect mark.

There will be someone sitting there at the curb and you pull up and they'll wave you on by. The next thing you know, you are getting blocked and then getting clobbered. Don't always assume that it was an accident; it may well have been deliberate.

Avoiding a staged accident

Here are six tips from Jungerman CARSTAR on how to avoid becoming a victim of a staged accident:

• Avoid tailgating. Recognize the "swoop and squat" situation in which a motorist suddenly swoops in front of you then slams on his or her brakes, and leave plenty of distance between you and the vehicle in front of you in case the driver slams on his brakes.
• Call the cops even if damage is minimal. A St. Peters, MO police report will make it harder for a stager to intentionally damage his or her car later to collect a bigger claim against your car insurance company.
• Grab a camera or use your cell phone to photograph everything and everyone at the scene. Pay extra attention to the number of people in the other car and the damage to both vehicles.
• Be wary of passers-by who just happen to arrive on the scene, especially if they offer to direct you to a doctor, attorney, or tow-truck company. They may be part of the scam.
• Avoid tow-truck drivers that you did not call. They are often part of this car insurance con.
• Be wary of physicians who insist that you file a personal injury claim following an accident, particularly if you aren't hurt.

Although auto body fraud is a very real concern, many auto body accidents are nothing more than accidents. In either case, consider taking your vehicle to Jungerman CARSTAR, which serves the people of St. Charles, O'Fallon, Lake St. Louis, and St. Peters, Missouri.