I often get calls from a number of different companies claiming to 'get me the compensation I'm entitled to due to the road accident I had in the last few years'. One called today and said that money is set aside by insurance companies for people to claim, and they put people's premiums up to cover this whether it's claimed or not. I always say no thanks and hang up but I had a couple of questions out of interest to see if there was any truth at all behind what they say.

1) Do insurance companies set aside any money after they've been notified of an accident?

2) How do these companies all get my details in the first place?

3) how much money do these companies themselves take from the insurers?

4) how many claims a year are made through companies like this?

5) Do insurers view claims made soon after the accident any different to ones made say, a year later? When the ambulance chasers have got in contact with people?

6) Do insurers ever look into or investigate any of these claims?

I'd imagine it's pop up companies like this that fuel the false claim culture, as they make it sound so easy and simple and lure people into claiming money, which for a lot of hard up people would be very tempting when £1000 is waved under their nose.

IMO if claims companies like this weren't allowed to operate (they all seem to be based in Liverpool?) then the amount of claims would drop significantly. Even when I say I had no injury what so ever, they still often pursue with the call.

Thanks!

I used to work in insurance many moons ago and I know when we got notified of a claim we would put a reserve on it, that probably relates to question 1, as for the others I'm afraid I can't help!

It's a scam, in much the same way as the 'We can help you claim that PPI you're entitled to'.

 

Re claims, when a claim comes in there is usually a 'reserve' put against the claim based on the expected total cost of the claim. As the claim is handled and more information becomes known or payments are made to accident repairers or loss adjusters, this reserve is increased or decreased accordingly. It's a regulatory thing - the company has to provide proof of funds to cover the claims they have on at any one time plus potential claims likely to come in, a bit like a safeguard.

 

Once all payments are made and the claim is closed off, the payments are considered against the reserve and the reserve nets out to zero. So yes, some money is probably 'reserved' against the likelihood of a potential injury claim, but if your claim has already been processed the claim would have to be re-opened and re-reserved. There isn't just a little pot of money sat there waiting for a fraudulent claim to come in.

 

These companies get your details by either buying lists of information from people (you only have to forget to click one of those 'don't share my details' boxes on a form somewhere and you're essentially fscked forever) or by using auto diallers on a phone where they don't know anything they just dial a random number and you happen to pick it up. There are whole companies dedicated to purchasing and collating databases from online retailers, grocers, energy suppliers, double glazing salesmen etc etc and combining those together to sell on to marketing companies as 'cold leads'. Impossible to know how they have obtained your information, but you will have inadvertently consented to this somewhere along the lines.

 

Re question 3 - the scam companies themselves take no money from the insurers - the insurers probably don't want them to exist. More (potentially fraudulent) claims = higher claims costs = less profit = angry insurer with less money.

 

And on the other stuff... yeah, there are entire teams of people looking into fraud and as an industry insurance is quite hot on all this because of what I said above. it always looks fishy when someone 'remembers' that they had un provable whiplash in an incident from 2 years ago.

 

Bottom line? The companies that phone you about these claims are trying to get you to do something so they will get money. If you really think you have a genuine claim for a genuine injury that genuinely happened, it really is as simple as phoning the insurers...

Edited 2 July, 201411 yr by kiscix

Unfortunately it seems that several insurance companies do pass on details to these sorts of people.  This made no sense to me at the time it was reported but then, again, in a market where you can simply charge more because it is a legal requirement . . . 

 

(No, I am NOT saying that it should not be a legal requirement.)

Thank you all for taking the time to reply.

I presumed there must be money in it for these companies otherwise they wouldn't do it. Most of them of course don't come up on google.

A couple of people I knew while I was in college followed through with these companies and did end up getting a cheque through the post, and both said it was incredibly easy.

I personally wouldn't have the balls to even attempt that kind of fraud! Would be too afraid of ending up on some fraud program or something :L

Isn't the government trying to crack down on fraudulent claims at the moment? Did see something in the paper the other day.

I wonder if you could give me some advice too. I had a car crash 2 years 6months ago, it was his fault and he wrote of the car. I hit my head on the side window n that was the only pain I had really. The next week I noticed I had lower back pain and told his insurance company to make a note of it on the record but I didnt plan on claiming as I thought id get better. Anyway it got worse, and now ive just done a few months of physio but no real improvements,grrr. Is it too late to claim. I didnt go to the docs for it until last week when the physio told me too, theyve just done a blood test. I know having money wont help my back but my insurance has gone up even tho not at fault so a bit of cash wont hurt. I didnt wana claim on principle and im still undecided but just need a bit of advice. My second problem is.... My girlfriends car was hit when it was outside her house last year, the neighbour paid for everything and my girlfriend informed her insurance co, they have since put her policy up and have told her she has to put down that she has had an incident which pit her renewal up 200( and she didnt think to look around!!), if she changes insurance company this year will she have to inform them or is it irrelevant and still have her no claims? Thanks in advance

I'm no expert, so in relation to the first question, I guess it's best to ask your insurance company and see what they say.

And the second question, unfortunately that's one of the ways insurance companies rip you off IMO. If you're in an accident of any kind and it wasn't your fault, according to them you're now more likely to make a claim yourself in the next 3 years. How they work that out I'll never now. Especially as your other halfs car was parked outside the house, when she wasn't even in it. So not a lot you can do about it really. It will put her insurance up but the impact it has on her premium will be less and less as the 3 years pass if you don't have anymore incidents. That's just what I was told by my insurance company.

I don't know about the first part but as for the second one.

Your G/F should have said nothing to the insurance about the incident as they didn't need to know. 

Firstly she was not involved in an accident as the car was parked at the side of the road and she did not make a claim.

If the person involved paid for the damage then there was no claim made at all.

 

The questions asked by the insurance company is have you had any accidents or claims. Not has your car ever been damaged.