Insurance Villainy

[doris]

The Feb edition of YM has, as it’s star letter ‘ Blue Water Insurance Blues ’. The insurance industry always gets it in the neck from all and sundry. At the LIBS whilst chatting over a few glasses the subject of insurance came up. There were several people there I had not met before but this did not stop several admitting, maybe the blak stuff made them indiscrete , that they had ‘enhanced ‘ claims. Insurance fraud seems to have become an acceptable no-victim crime, bit like stuffing the vat man, but it is still thieving, the same as nicking a persons wallet! Can people really be surprised that premiums go up or get restricted? The companies have shareholders to answer to, many of whom are perhaps the pension funds that provide the wherewithal for the blue water cruisers. How many of you out there would shop an acquaintance for enhancing a claim?

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[pugwash]

Good point, and not only in the boating world. How many gap year students have conveniently 'lost' their rucksacks with all that money and cameras and valuable stuff in them? How many middle-aged motorists and householders have conveniently turned a small loss into a big claim? Its endemic and a hallmark of the world we live in. I don't condone it in the least but I don't suppose boaters are worse than anybody else. Also, its partly defensive. How many legitimate and fair claims have been blocked on silly grounds by insurance companies?

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[ParaHandy]

Re: and getting worse ..

.. liability insurance, that is. The compensation culture is costing the UK £10bn (1% of GDP) and growing at 15% per annum. In the USA it is $160bn (2% of GDP). The total cost of UK criminal injury compensation doubled in 3 years: from £160m in 1997 to £330m in 2000 – a sum that represents 7% of the total police payroll. This is more than all the other EU states combined.


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[chriscallender]

Maybe I have too much faith in fellow man, but I find it hard to believe that "enhanced" claims are the norm - of course it happens but I would hope only by the selfish few who don't care that they are increasing premiums for the majority of us who aren't into fraud.

For me at least the opposite is probably true - I would really try to avoid claiming on the insurance at all for minor damage (say that I could fix myself with a few days work). I would only claim if I'd suffered a major loss and I'd try to be completely honest about what I'd lost.

Would I shop someone else. I don't know, I guess it would somewhat depend on the scale of the fraud. But I'd definitely let them know that I was unimpressed with the fact that they'd increased my premiums with their false claim and doubt that I would think of them in the same light again.

Chris

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[AndrewB]

Insurance Villainy - Yachtsman or Yard?

Yes, same here, I've regarding minor incidents as running costs and tried to play whiter than white in hopes of convincing my insurers I'm a good risk.

When I did have a bad ding, the first question from the repairers was 'is it an insurance job'? I got three quotes, twice saying it was insurable, once saying it was private. The first two were double the third.

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[charles_reed]

There was an article

quite recently (in the Economist, I think) which gave the statistics for the lack of scruple and level of villainy in UK society.

It came to the reluctant conclusion that less than 3% are truly honest :-

ie giving back the excess when overchanged
making use of spare time in parking meters
finding and keeping
fiddling the VAT man
avoiding paying if it can be done without discovery - tax, charges etc.

Before a general hue and cry about sliding moral values, I'd suggest excessive law-making is the culprit - it's almost impossible to not break some bye-law or ordinance, with the result that all law falls into disrepute.

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[Birdseye]

Re: There was an article

spare time in a parking meter? thats already been paid for - its dishonest to try and charge twice.

and taxes are legalised theft anyway. if i want electric, i pay for it. if i dont , then i dont pay. but social services? the foreign office? the nhs? those i have to pay for even when they dont deliver what they promise.

so i wouldnt fiddle an insurance claim but i wouldnt hesitate to screw the govt. unfortunately, i dont, because i cant find a way of getting away with it.

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