Money Mails Top Crazy Claims!

Money Mail have assembled a top ten of the UKs craziest insurance claims.  Since we have covered a couple of fraud items this month, it seems appropriate to list these five claims which range from the crazy to the insane!  Click here for their full article.

1. Claimant insisted she burned her bingo winnings!

2. Man makes a genuine claim for a Rolex which ends in a domestic when he finds the present from his partner was a fake!

3. A woman made repeated claims for printing reward flyers for lost dogs, even doctoring the receipts to add value! 

4. An accident claims company submitted the cases of 34 bus passengers to solicitors following an accident.  However, the bus was only a 31 seater and was half full at the time of the accident!  21 claimants subsequently admitted falsifying claims to police.

5. Incredibly a man took roadkill and subsequently claimed on pet insurance policies!

Business Insurance | Tenants Insurance

How much does Insurance Fraud cost?

The ABI have released stats that show that the cost of insurance fraud is the equivalent of £44 for each UK household.

The total insurance fraud bill is estimated as over £5million per day.  The ABI also state that fraud has increased in recent years.  These increases have been seen before as ressessions kick in to the UK economy.

Frauds can be anything from withholding material facts, exagerrated claims,  fictional claims and even organised crime.

HSBC Data Loss £3m Fine!

HSBC have had three parts of their group fined a total of £3million for insufficient data security.  Various parts of the huge banking and financial services group lost data and they were found not to have controlled data with sufficient care.

This high profile case of data security further highlights the risks individuals and organisations face from use of personal data.  In the case of HSBC it was life insurance and other bits of personal data that leaked and whilst no widespread harm occured from the leak, the business has suffered a significant fine for its weaknesses.

Identity theft products are now widely available on the market and data security remains a topical issue in the UK.

ABI Reports on £1.9bn Fraud in UK Insurance!

An ABI report has suggested that there is £5.2m of undetected fraudulent insurance claims made daily in the UK.  This represents a quarter increase on figures released two years previously.

The fraudulent claims referred to range from people not declaring motor convictions on their car insurance policies to completely staged car accidents and home contents claims.

People who subsequently have insurance refused find it very difficult to subsequently reinsure.  Naturally, insurers are particularly concerned with people who have previously tried to defraud them.  However it is possible to find insurance for previously refused policies as well as ex offenders insurance.

One specific form of fraud which the ABI have identified is the claiming on home insurance policies for items accidentally damaged, when the damage was deliberate.

120 small businesses going under each day?

In many economic forecasts and bits of news in the last few months, a figure has been rolled out that 120 small businesses are failing each day. 

The figure was used by the Times back in March and repeated in April.  Other major news organisations, such as the Guardian, have also used the figure and attributed it to the Federation of Small Businesses

It is an astonishing figure and represents a serious threat to the UK small business sector.  Small businesses employ most of the UK workforce and is generally seen as the engine room of the UK economy.

Click here for small business insurance.

School Holidays Claim Increase?

Swinton have issued a press release stating thatb they experienced a significant increasse in claims when the schools break up for summer.

Typical balls through windows and other household breakages are typical and they speculate that this year may be worse with more people not opting for a foreign holiday.

You have been warned!  Check your home insurance!

Michael Jackson – Concert Insurance

Michael Jacksons death has not failed to make the headlines recently and people seem to have an unending appetite for news on the deceased star.  His army of uber-faithful followers and the intrigues of his health and family life have made the death of the pop star a global news story with real legs.

At Superquote, we don’t want to miss out and so we wanted to highlight a concert insurance policy that may be called upon following the stars death.  AEG the concert promoters paid 25m$ to cover the series of concerts in Michael Jacksons world tour.  However, achieving a payout for the organisers may be far from certain and may take some considerable time to work out.

The policy was sold from a UK specialist, Robertson Taylor, which provides cover in case performers let concert organisers down.  The underwriters were a Lloyds syndicate used to underwriting these types of risks.  The broker has not confirmed the size or detail of the cover. 

Payout will be dependent on whether the clauses of such a policy exclude certain types of performer deaths.  For example the policy may exclude suicide and that may be an arguable point.  Who administered what drugs at whose instruction may come under the spotlight as the clauses of the contract are scoured to see if a valid claim can be made.