Insurers, like doctors, get to see some extremely bizarre results from human behavior. For every ten lost ipods or broken vases there is one of these (all real):
A family in Surrey recently submitted a claim for the loss of their entire driveway. While they were sunning themselves in the Costa Del Sol, thieves set up camp at their house and stole the entire driveway, brick by brick. The family came hoem to be greeted by a muddy mess and a driveway that was no more. Neighbours reported believing they thought the thieves were simply repairing the drive.
In Pennsylvania, USA one unlucky family were robbed whilst on holiday. Not only did they have to claim for the damage to their property but they were also forced to pay compensation to the robber who got trapped in their garage thanks to a faulty garage door. The thief was forced to remain there for a whole week and had to survive on dog food and water. Unbelievably he successfully sued the owners for mental anguish.
Another crazy American litigation case involved a lawyer who bought an expensive box of cigars, insured them against any damage from fire and theft and them promptly smoked the lot of them. Once he had smoked them all he claimed on his insurance that they had each been destroyed by a number of very small fires. The insurance company laughed it off and refused to pay him, were taken to court and unbelievably lost – he won $15000. The matter did not end there however, as once they knew he had cashed the check, the insurance company got him arrested on 24 separate charges of arson. The statements he made in the first case were used to convict him and he went to jail for 24 months and paid $24000 as a fine.
When it comes to car insurance claims there are hundreds of stupid claims made every year but how about this statement from one claims form for sheer clumsiness:
“When I was moving forward I accidentally hit and smashed the tail light of the car sitting in front of me. Consequently I backed up quickly and ended up smashing into the bumper of the car waiting behind me. By now I was in such a panic that I had to get out of the car, but as I opened my door I knocked down an oncoming cyclist using my car door.”
Alex is a journalist and financial blogger. He currently writes a blog on consumer finance, covering everything from mortgages to term life insurance and whole life insurance .
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