Insurance News in Brief: Women, their Handbags and Faking it for money

NCD News: Insurance News in Brief: Women, their Handbags and Faking it for money - 20.04.09

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Insurance News in Brief: Women, their Handbags and Faking it for money:

>>>>> Direct Line have released their handbag research, stating that stolen handbags have cost the UK £582 million in recent years. 20% of women have had their handbag stolen with an average replacement cost of £109. Though this is considerably lower than Diamond.co.uk's replacement cost estimate of £438. Who is right probably depends on the woman.

Earlier, Direct Line's sister company Churchill reported that the most common items of value in a handbag are sunglasses, MP3 players, mobile phones, cosmetics and money.

The Hollywood touted New-York-style street handbag snatch is not the most predominant form of such a crime here in the UK. According to the national crime statistics for 2007, handbag theft from cars outstrips "street snatch crimes" by nearly 5 to 1.

>>>>> Approximately 4,300 of the 100,000+ fraudulent claims detected in 2008 were against travel insurance policies. The ABI released details of their research which stated that one in five people were willing to attempt insurance fraud. The association's Nick Starling stated: "Cheating on your insurance really does not pay - you will get caught, future insurance will be more expensive and, along with credit, harder to obtain."

>>>>> With the Government failing to provide compensation for victims of the Equitable Life insurance group collapse, a High Court bid has been instigated by Emag (Equitable Members Action Group) against Equitable Life in an attempt to sue on behalf of those who lost savings.

>>>>> A survey by esure has found that British driver's understanding of traffic light colours was lacking. Only 4% of those polled knew what each of the traffic signal combinations meant. 60%, though understanding that a red light meant stop, stated they had driven through anyway.

>>>>> With the Government proposing to automatically fine people who do not renew their insurance cover, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has spoken out warning that such a system could only work with a reliable database - something that has not existed so far with many people being arrested by police for having no insurance due to their insurer's laziness in getting information updated on official channels.

>>>>> Joanne Kirk of Preston, is suffering from, what has been deemed as, a landmark judgement against her for insurance fraud. Initially attempting to claim £800,000 in compensation after a rear-end shunt in 2001 the claim was finally settled for £25,000. Of course, such a case will involve a level of investigation and it seems Ms Kirk had no inkling that insurance fraud investigators might be filming her driving, walking and carrying shopping despite her claiming she had developed fibromyalgia, a condition which causes chronic pain in muscles and ligaments. She originally stated she required crutches or a wheelchair to get around and could only walk a few steps without the assistance of another person.

Unlike most insurance fraud convictions which see defendants given no more than a slap on the wrists, Joanne Kirk was fined £2,500 and ordered to play the insurance company's legal costs. The tables were certainly turned as her legal protection insurance was revoked leaving her with the cost of the entire bill - somewhere in the region of £125,000.

It is sad to see such a, relatively speaking, "small" fraud being the first to receive any punishment -- and choosing to make an example of someone who only exaggerated her actual existing injuries whilst those who fake crashes and injuries altogether get off scot-free seems rather skewed justice.

A selection of news highlights compiled by Michael Beverley, NCD News Editor. †