Insurance is quite a fickle industry where you pay for a virtual product and when in need you can make a claim. I do understand it is a scheme where the majority pays for the minority. Even with Cash Backs after a set number of years – what happens to the remainder of your money? Why do they keep your money? You actually haven’t paid for anything (service) if you haven’t made a claim at all – your insurance takes your money for just in case something bad happens. In my eyes you basically pay for peace of mind.
One can reason that you are entitled to make “white lie” claims, as you already paid for being covered. Unfortunately, claims like these are seen as FRAUD. It is a criminal offence if you get caught – you can go to jail as it is seen as Commercial Insurance Fraud.
Let me give you an example – The motor vehicle is insured by the Father and the young son which would be penalized if he got his own insurance “piggybacks” on the father’s insurance policy. Instead of the son insuring his vehicle, the father opts in to tell the insurance it’s his vehicle. The son is added onto the main policy holders (The Father) insurance as a “secondary driver” of the insured vehicle. This makes it more affordable and seems to be ok with the Insurance Industry.
The twist comes in that the Son (Secondary Driver) gets into a massive head-on collision. The son gives a statement/affidavit to the Investigating Officer stating that “I can’t remember anything” but the father gives a statement saying the following “the other driver failed to keep a proper lookout, from an opposite direction lost control and caused a head on collision with my vehicle.” A full payout was made to the Father.
Would it not be common sense that the statement which was given to the South African Police Service should be also used as statement on the Insurance claim?
Would it be acceptable for the Insurance to make a payment for a claim such as this?
Why is “piggy backing” even allowed by Insurance Companies?
Should it not be industry standard to check up on clients claims and interact with the IO on an open Police case before making a payout?
Clearly, people bend the truth to fit their own agendas. Good people need to pay more on insurance policies because of fraudulent claims made by unsavory characters. I suggest that Insurance Companies should amend their Terms of Services – for one, when making any Motor vehicle claim, the statement/affidavit made to the SAPS (AR) must be also used in the Insurance Claim form.
What do you think – please let us know what you think in the comments below?
