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Everyday people in the United States partake in car insurance scams. This behavior has become a problem for many car insurance companies. The state that has become a breeding ground for insurance scammers is Florida. Most people think of sunny beaches and winter vacation homes for seniors but for many people who commit fraud they see a state that has easy car insurance loopholes to manipulate and make a quick buck.

Many Florida residents are angry that they have to pick up the tab for these incidents of car insurance fraud. Florida is currently ranked second on the list of states that pay the most for liability can insurance coverage. In a time where many people are struggling, the impact is quite real and is making many people choose to go without any car insurance coverage at all.

Car insurance industry groups have been trying to convince state politicians to take on the fraud that they see. Florida has the most staged car accidents in the United States and this pattern needs to be stopped very quickly before it has lasting financial implications for the state and its residents. One idea is that insurance officials should consider reforming the no fault insurance program.

No fault insurance programs often prove to be a problem for states because no matter who is at fault for the car accident, the insurance claim still gets paid. This alone has made the state of Florida have so much fraud that its liability insurance premiums now cost on average $736 dollars per year. The rest of the country on average pays approximately $471 dollars per year for the same type of car insurance coverage.

Now industry groups fear that the amount of money in insurance premiums that residents will face in a few years could total almost $950 million dollars.

Car insurance companies need to explore their legal options to help them combat instances of fraud. For example, when medical injuries such as whiplash are alleged, insurance companies should be able to have their own doctors give a medical exam to the person making the claim. Many insurance companies do not do this and they just take a doctor’s word that the person is in fact hurt.

Another avenue that should be explored is having people that file insurance claims to be questioned about their car accidents under oath. Then, if the person did commit fraud then they could be charged with perjury. Arbitration should also be recommended to those filing insurance claims because it keeps the matters out of court which eliminates high legal fees for both sides.

Many car insurance companies do not seriously investigate possible instances of fraud because they would rather pay out the money for the claim than spend thousands of dollars on legal fees. By utilizing arbitration and doing more thorough investigations, great strides can be made to deal with those that commit car insurance fraud.

Staged car accidents should be fairly easy for insurance agents to spot because the person committing the fraud often knows exactly what to say and is all about the money. Insurance agents in Florida and all other states need to be weary of everyone filing a car accident claim. Asking too many questions and possibly offending someone should not be something that agents worry about. The amount of fraud cases keeps increasing and eventually people will refuse to be insured. Florida needs to be proactive about this issue because it is only the hard working drivers that are suffering because of the fraud. Many people commit car insurance multiple times without ever being prosecuted at all.

Source: Sunshine State News