How To Avoid Fraud In Car Insurance
Although insurance fraud cases have been in existence for a long time, they have become rampant during this age of online insurance. We need to be clear about the term ‘insurance fraud’. While most people think that insurance fraud predominantly involved false claims, it is not true, as it is actually fake insurance policies that constitute the major chunk of insurance fraud. And the losers of this kind of fraud are both you the insurance seeker and the insurance companies. You, because you are shortchanged into buying a fake policy, and the insurance company because they are defrauded of revenue worth thousands upon thousands.
Understanding insurance fraud
We also need to understand what a fake insurance policy is. It is any policy document which is not issued by an authorized insurance company. Fraudsters just need a printer at home to print a fake insurance policy which they very ingeniously sell you by posing as authorized insurance agents. They thus cheat not just you, but the insurance company as well. If you have bought such a fake policy, you are likely to find out only when you get involved in an accident, and the purported insurance company denies having issued the policy. The shock of the accident compounded by the third-party liabilities you may have to incur is enough drive a person insane. So, you need to be very careful at the very outset and avoid buying into such frauds. You need keep certain things in mind to avoid such fraud, which are as follows:
- Ensure that you buy your car insurance online directly from the insurance provider: To be absolutely safe, you must buy your car insurance online directly from the insurance company. But if for some reason, you have to buy it from someone else, then, irrespective of how well you may know the person, always ensure that you cross check with the insurance company through email, customer care, or by getting in touch with their nearest branch office.
- Ensure that you take receipts for every payment you make: Make it a point to ask, and get, a receipt for every payment you make to the agent, so that even if the policy turns out to be a fake one, you can still slug it out in court against the agent as you have proof in the form of a receipt.
- As far as possible pay only by cheque or card:When buying an insurance policy make it a point to pay directly into the company’s account through net-banking, or through debit or credit cards, or at least by cheque. Following this process, at least you will have proof that you made the payment.
- Scan the QR code: As of 2015, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has made it compulsory for insurance companies to print a QR code on every policy, and to avoid buying a fake policy you should scan this QR code with your mobile. If the policy is real it will take you to the official company page, while if the policy is a fake one, it will probably not have a QR code, or even if it does, it will probably be exposed as a fake as soon as you scan it with your mobile. To get the best and real deals, buy your car insurance online from Bharti AXA.
