Will my auto insurance company find out?
With insurance costs consuming a significant percentage of family budgets, people may ask themselves, “will my auto insurance company find out if I fib a little on what I tell them?” The answer is that if you make a claim, it is likely they will find out about the fib. Worse yet, the larger the dollar value of the claim the more aggressively the insurance company will investigate. Worst of all, in some situations the insurance company could accuse you of fraud. Being accused of fraud means the potential for fines, jail time and no insurance to cover the cost of the accident. You will wish you hadn’t told the fib.
The attitude insurance companies take toward their policyholders is a function of the management team and the corporate culture those managers create. To find out how your car insurance and home insurance companies perform for their customers, get a free rating. Just click the button below.
Will my auto insurance company find out?
The following are five common ways people mislead their auto insurance company that could cost them dearly later. Do not be tempted to try any of these fibs.
Lying about how you use your car.
If you use your car for business, admit it. Not admitting this is fraud. Fraud is a serious offense, punishable by fines, jail time, and no insurance coverage.
In recent times, many more people are using their car for business. Particularly with the pandemic, more people are driving for shopping services like insta cart. In the very short-term, a few months after the pandemic started, several insurance companies have agreed to look the other way for those newly using their vehicle for business. However, this is temporary. You still need to get proper coverage.
Pretending you are the primary driver of a car when you are not.
Naming yourself as the primary driver when your child, or some other high risk driver, is actually the primary driver is fraud.
Frankly, it doesn’t really save much money anyway. If you want to find out how much this is likely to save, use our car insurance calculator. It’s free.
Using the wrong address.
Where you live impacts the cost of your car insurance rate. Using the wrong address is fraud and easy for insurance companies to detect. Always use your correct address.
Underestimating the miles you drive.
This was such a prevalent way of unfairly misleading insurance companies that a lot of companies stopped using estimates coming from drivers altogether. Instead, many auto insurance companies now require a cell phone app to measure milage or a telematics device installed in the car.
Not admitting to traffic tickets you have gotten.
Insurance companies have access to computer databases with information on traffic infractions and accidents. This makes it easy for them to check your driving history, and embarrassing for you if you fibbed.
Taking these simple precautions will prevent you from worrying about “will my auto insurance company find out,” allowing you to sleep better at night and have better insurance coverage when you are in an accident.
Lessons learned over the years
Always work with the best companies. Treat them with respect and expect them to treat you with respect. This is a winning formula. The issue with insurance is people don’t know which companies are the best. Typically, they’re companies without advertising budgets. Therefore, you probably haven’t heard of them. To find the best auto insurance companies in your state, just click the button below.
About Dan Karr
Dan has been a CEO or Vice President for high-technology companies for over 20 years. While working as a Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales for a technology company, Dan was seriously injured while commuting to work. After dealing with trying to get insurance companies to pay his significant medical bills, or to settle a claim so Dan could pay the medical bills, he became intimately aware of the complexity of insurance claims. Dan founded ValChoice to pay forward his experience by bringing consumers, insurance agents and financial advisors easy-to-understand analysis needed to know which insurance companies provide the best price, protection — claims handling — and service.
