Toronto, Ontario — A recent survey conducted by InsuranceHotline.com has found that one in 10 Ontario drivers have experienced some form of auto insurance fraud.
Specifically, the survey found that nearly 53 percent of respondents believe auto insurance fraud is a serious problem in Ontario, while an additional 24 percent believe that it could be a problem.
More than one in 10 respondents also reported having fallen victim to some form of auto insurance fraud such as a staged accident, a tow truck scam or an inflated bill.
However, just less than one in five respondents, or 17.5 percent of the total polled group, said that they personally knew someone who had experienced auto fraud recently.
These responses fall in line with a previous survey done by the Financial Service Regulatory Authority of Ontario in which nearly 75 percent of respondents with auto insurance believed that auto insurance fraud was a widespread issue in the province.
This poll also revealed that 56 percent of all respondents don’t know enough to protect themselves from auto insurance fraud. For drivers, some of the hardest scams to identify are fake pink slips at 56 percent being unable to identify potential issues; insurance agent scams at 51 percent; staged auto collisions at 43 percent; and inflated repair costs at 40 percent.
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Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.