Tips to Help You Prevent Auto Insurance Scams

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People who become victim to scams often make avoidable mistakes. A person can prevent falling for auto insurance scams by reading up information on how these scams work and ways to prevent these scams. The following paragraphs will elaborate on some common vehicle insurance scams and a few ways you can avoid them. 

Illegitimate Websites Selling Auto Insurance 

The internet is definitely a handy tool that can help you save time while searching for vehicle insurance but the internet also has many illegitimate or fake websites that are made to scam people. The most common type of auto insurance scam is fake companies offering to insure people’s cars through the internet. 

The best way to ensure that you do not become a victim of auto insurance scams is to buy insurance online only through reputed websites. If you get an email from an unknown person and the email suggests that you should buy auto insurance from an unknown website then you should be aware that such emails are known as spam emails. While shopping for vehicle insurance online you should stay away from websites that promise extremely low rates since these websites are mostly fake. 

Chaser Auto Insurance Scams 

Another type of vehicle insurance scam is the chaser scam. In this type of scam a body repair shop asks a tow driver to reach at the scene of accidents and tow people’s cars to nearby body shops. This is considered a scam since these trucks are not registered with the municipal authorities and such tow trucks often ask devastated car owners to pay large amounts once they are at the body shop. Some paralegals also scam people by referring them to health care providers after the paralegals have provided legal advice. This type of referring is illegal hence it is considered as a scam. 

Preventing Auto Insurance Scams

The best way to prevent vehicle insurance scams while buying insurance is to know the name of the representative the insurance company is going to send over and then asking the representative for an identity proof before dealing with him. Before signing up with the selected auto insurance company you should read reviews and find out if the particular vehicle insurance company is legit or not. You should also carefully read the agreement including the fine print before signing any contract with a vehicle insurance company. Another way to prevent vehicle insurance fraud is not to pay the insurance company via wireless transfer since this mode of payment is most likely to be used by scam artists.

The other way to prevent vehicle insurance scams is to watch out for drivers that back in close to your car without their brake lights flashing. Many scammers back up close to the victim after disconnecting their brake lights and then they gain from your loss. These scammers may either try to settle the accident by asking you to pay cash up front or they may ask you to contact your insurance company to pay for their loss. Since these events are planned the scammer will most likely have a witness ready to back up his event. The best thing to do in such a situation is to contact your insurance company immediately and alert them of your suspicion. You should also find a true witness who can back up your story and you should get the contact details of the witness.