09/07/08
According to the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), 20,000 fraudulent crashes will take place during the next 18 months. The IFB has stated that fraudsters are not only targeting the private motorist but also moving into the Commercial Motor sector and rental industry. Fraudsters are staging accidents, or ‘slam-ons’, which involve a deliberate action by the fraudster to force an innocent driver to crash into the back of them.
TruckQuote advises operators to watch out for drivers behaving erratically at junctions, particularly if the third party is directly in front of your vehicle. Leave plenty of space between your vehicle and the one in front at a junction or roundabout and ensure the vehicle in front has completely moved off before you do the same. Don’t get frustrated and tailgate a vehicle if the driver repeatedly stop-starts at a junction - there's a good chance the driver is attempting to draw you into an accident deliberately.
If you are unlucky enough to be a victim of what appears to be a staged accident ensure you take the following steps:
- Inform the police of your suspicions immediately.
- Inform your broker & insurer immediately.
- Take photographs of the third parties involved. Fraudsters will be reluctant to be caught on camera.
- Take photographs of the damage to both vehicles.
- Take photographs of the road layout at the scene of the accident to better enable you to explain the events leading up to the accident and to show the direction which the Third Party should have been looking in order to spot potential hazards at the junction.
Staged accidents are difficult to prove, but successful convictions have been made. In order to help bring these individuals to justice and further protect our policyholders TruckQuote has negotiated special rates with a company who provide forward facing video cameras which automatically record 20 seconds up to the moment of an impact, and 10 seconds afterwards. This provides invaluable evidence (which is admissible in court) when seeking a criminal conviction for fraudsters.
If you would like further information about the cameras or about staged accidents generally, please drop us an email to thewagonreel@truckquote.co.uk and weíll be happy to help.
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