Oakland auto glass workers charged with insurance fraud

by Quenlin » Mon Dec 17, 2007 01:52 am
Posts: 192
Joined: 13 Dec 2007

They swindled large amounts of money out of several insurance companies by installing regular windows on cars, and claiming that they had put in little extras like rain sensors. The truth is that they were just regular windshields with nothing fancy.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/16/BACHTVERT.DTL

This kind of thing can be hard to combat, you can't exactly inspect every windshield of every client to make sure that the books haven't been cooked. Your thoughts on this?

Total Comments: 23093

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 07:37 am Post Subject:

It seems we are just not getting enough of these automobile insurance scams. It's happening in every possible form and involving people form every walk of life-body shop owners, policy holders, agents, medical practitioners and so forth.

Nice effort on your part Quenlin, to make people aware of its existence.

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 07:45 am Post Subject:

Shame!! That's the owner of a glass company was actually involved in such fraudulent activity. Francis is right, insurance scams have become a day-to-day thing now. And the repercussions are falling on the common mass. These incidents make the premium rates sky-rocketing. This is another reason why we are asked to pay such ridicules premiums.

Alas!! The preventive measures are just not enough to curb this menace.
:(

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2007 08:55 am Post Subject:

Hi Quenlin, thanks for the story. Its really an eye-opening story for many.
Insurance frauds operate in large forms as well. There are organized rackets involving professionals form all fields. Fraudsters may even stage accidents to scam policy holders.

Posted: Thu Dec 20, 2007 07:45 pm Post Subject:

this is sad, when we take our vehicles to have them repaired we expect to have good quality service and the insurance company should be there to inspect and give the okay on the repair.

We depend on the experts to do a good safe job and we leave with a safe, repaired vehicle to drive without any worry. I think this is sad and casts doubt on those who are out there fixing our vehicles in an honest and professional manner, I do believe that the insurance company should have the final inspection to make sure that the job is done right.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 01:00 am Post Subject:

Seems you can't depend on anyone these days to do an honest job.Well, it says in the bible "money is the root of all evil" guess that proves it.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 04:58 pm Post Subject:

I heard of a similar case where these people were going out and like at car washes and getting people who had dings in their windshields to let them replace the whole windshield at the insurance costs instead of repairing it. Of course they were caught.

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 01:56 am Post Subject:

So do you think that the adjusters need to start inspecting the cars after they have been repaired to make sure that the proper repairs are made? What other action can a consumer take to insure that they are getting quality parts? Do insurance companies have anything in place to protect consumers from this type of activity? I would think it would be in their best intrest to make sure that safety glass is being used. Can you imagine if the person was in an accident with regular glass in the windows, this could turn a small claim into a catastrophic injury from glass cuts and damage or even death. I would hope the insurance companies are keeping a watchful eye on this type of activity. The normal every day Joe would have no clue, we would just believe that it was fixed properly.

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 03:10 am Post Subject:

Yes, That would be terrible. But they are participating in a scam with the other guy who asks them to let them replace their windshield instead of just repairing the ding. The scam was that they turned in a replacement windshield when it could have been a simple repair.

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 04:05 am Post Subject:

I could see how they could get away with this, now would it be worth it for a windsheild, that has got to be one of the cheapest repairs on the vehicle, it would not be worth risking your business for? I don't think so.

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 01:38 pm Post Subject:

oh, I guess, I got the entire article wrong and the post, I apologize.

I do think it is silly for a shop to put themselves in trouble for any type of fraud, this is unreal, why would you put your livelihood on the line. Some people will do anything to make a quick buck.

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