The National Crime Insurance Bureau or NCIB is an organization that assists insurance companies in combating insurance fraud. The NCIB provides investigative services to member companies when suspicious claims are referred to the NCIB.
According to the NCIB, approximately 50,000 airbags are stolen annually. Because of the ease of theft, airbags that have not been deployed as a result of an accident can be easily removed. Airbags that have been deployed can be quickly installed making the vehicle appear as if the replacement of the airbag is a necessary item and should be included in the repair estimate. Once the estimate has been approved, the original airbag is then reinstalled and the insurer billed at the cost for a new airbag. This tactic is called "the switch". A second tactic used by dishonest repair shops involves removing the airbag so that it appears to have been deployed. The cost for a new airbag is then included in the repair estimate. Once approved, the airbag is replaced with a substitute obtained from an other than legitimate source at a cost far below the cost of a new airbag. This technique is called "the pullout". In order to recognize fraudulent work, the NCIB recommends looking for the following indications: factory installed airbag trim covers will match the vehicle interior color, any differences might indicate that the airbag has been replaced, inspecting the invoice could determine if the airbag was purchased from a reputable company, and, using a reputable automobile collision repair facility that employs ASE certified mechanics.
Cloned vehicles are also a source of fraudulent activity. Vehicle identification numbers can easily be stolen from legitimate vehicles. Vehicles of the same make and model as those from which the vehicle identification numbers were taken are then stolen and the legitimate numbers replaced with the stolen numbers creating a cloned vehicle. Cloned vehicles can easily be sold without detection by government agencies whose function it is to keep records of registered vehicles. According to the NCIB, thieves will often create their own phony documents so as to legitimize the vehicle. Since vehicle cloning is very lucrative, thieves will often travel across state lines and into other countries in order to sell the stolen vehicles. The NCIB recommends that the vehicle's identification number be checked with appropriate government agencies if fraud is suspected. In addition, the NCIB also recommends researching the pattern of past ownership for any new or late-model vehicle with no lien holder. Furthermore, the NCIB considers conducting a title search a prudent practice as well as avoiding the purchase of the vehicle from a newspaper ad with only an individual's name and cell phone number.
The NCIB has identified several collision repair fraud scams which should be noted. Mention has already been made of the airbag fraud schemes. In addition to airbag fraud, some tow truck drivers have been known to come upon an accident scene. Upon doing so, the driver convinces the owner of the vehicle to allow him to move the vehicle to a legitimate repair shop. When the vehicle arrives at the shop, it is "held hostage" until the insurance company settles with the shop for whatever fees it wants to charge. Another type of scam involves burying the deductible. In this situation, both the owner of the vehicle and the repair shop operator conspire to hide the cost of the deductible in the repair estimate. In effect, the estimate includes the deductible so that when the insurer is billed, the insurer pays what was supposed to have been the owner's responsibility. The owner of the vehicle pays nothing and the shop owner makes a tidy little profit. Furthermore, chop shops represent themselves to be legitimate enterprises but are in fact "fronts" for illegal activities. Those activities involve stripping stolen vehicles of parts and reselling those parts to dishonest repair facilities.
The above information was obtained from the NCIB website. For further information about insurance crime, please visit the NCIB website at www.NCIB.com .
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