With the Financial crisis that looms over us and many consumers having difficult financial times, we are seeing an auto insurance scam that is putting the public at risk.
The scam is fraudulent insurance I.D. cards and is currently predominant on the east coast. Insurance I.D. cards are being purchased by consumers in an effort to not pay for auto insurance and still get their vehicles registered for the road. These I.D. cards are also being purchased by honest, unsuspecting consumers who believe they are purchasing legitimate auto insurance.
Officials in New York estimate that New Yorkers have lost millions of dollars to fake insurance card scams. If you are involved in an auto accident that is not your fault and the at fault driver does not carry insurance, you are left holding an empty bag. Unless you carry uninsured motorist coverage on your policy, you are not going to collect for the damages to your vehicle. If an uninsured motorist hits a pedestrian, that leaves the pedestrian with the responsibility of paying his own medical bills, unless he has health insurance.
The swindlers are two groups of people. The first group of people are the ones who are seeking out fake I.D. cards to register their vehicles for the road and not have to pay for auto insurance. The second group of people are the con artist who are targeting undocumented immigrants as well as consumers who are not that well educated as to the process of buying insurance.
You can protect yourself;
1. Buy insurance from a licensed agent or broker. You can verify the agents license with the department of insurance for the state you reside in.
2. You can also call the licensed insurance company to verify that you have real insurance.
3. I also recommend that you carry uninsured and under insured motorist coverage on your policy. This will protect you from those without legitimate insurance and from those without enough insurance. Like the slogan from an old "American Express" commercial says. "Don't leave home without it".
No comments:
Post a Comment