Don’t Drive Off a Cliff, It May Not Be Covered

Read the full article at https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6924706215813951488?updateEntityUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afs_updateV2%3A%28urn%3Ali%3AugcPost%3A6924706215813951488%2CFEED_DETAIL%2CEMPTY%2CDEFAULT%2Cfalse%29 and see the full video at https://rumble.com/v12cg12-true-crime-of-insurance-fraud-video-no.-61.html and at https://youtu.be/MSCx8DTGR0M and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4200 posts.

Jimmy wanted a new pickup truck in the worst way. He decided to deliberately wreck his old car, make a claim against his insurance policy and use the proceeds to buy a new F150.Jimmy disclosed his plan to his best friend, Winifred. She agreed to help — as a lookout for oncoming traffic —on the night they chose to destroy the car.

Jimmy, with his friend Winifred as a passenger, intentionally drove his pickup off the road and over a small cliff at 35 mph. He did not let her out of the truck to be his “look out” as planned. He thought it would be more realistic a claim — one that would not be questioned by his insurance company, if Winifred was in the car with him.

As planned, the car did not survive the crash. Unfortunately, neither did Winifred.

The heirs argued they were entitled to Under Insured Motorists (UIM) benefits under the Farmers and County Mutual policy because Jimmy was under insured. Furthermore, they claimed Winifred’s death was “accidental.”

Farmers and County Mutual’s response was, translated from the lawyerese: “Give us a break.”

People who do wrong should not profit from it. Paying Winifred’s heirs for her death while admitting that she was intentionally a part of a criminal act is the same as the police paying the heirs of an armed robber who is shot to death by the police in the course of his armed robbery.

If our courts continue to honor criminals, and their heirs, for causing their own injuries the system will destroy itself. If insurers continue to pay to settle this type of fraudulent claim because it is less expensive than fighting to a conclusion all of us who buy insurance will suffer.

Every person who buys insurance should shout to their insurers – GIVE US A BREAK!

(c) 2022 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.

Barry Zalma, Esq., CFE,is available at http://www.zalma.com and [email protected].

Subscribe to Zalma on Insurance at locals.com https://zalmaoninsurance.local.com/subscribe.

Subscribe to Excellence in Claims Handling at https://barryzalma.substack.com/welcome.

Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://rumble.com/c/c-262921; Go to Barry Zalma on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCysiZklEtxZsSF9DfC0Expg; Go to the Insurance Claims Library – https://zalma.com/blog/insurance-claims-library/