Celebrating 10 years of defending vehicle hire fraud, and saving over £45 million for insurers
We are delighted to have achieved savings in excess of £45 million in our specialist vehicle hire fraud team on our 10 year anniversary!
A montage of our results over the last 12 months can be seen below:
In 2010 we were the first law firm to identify the issue of vehicle hire fraud, and 10 years on we are still the only law firm in the market with a team of specialists dedicated entirely to identifying and repudiating vehicle hire fraud.
What is vehicle hire fraud?
There are five types of fraud, each requiring a distinct strategic approach:
- Credit hire fraud - The credit hire will be the primary source of concern. Examples include phantom hire (hirers, hire vehicles and hire organisations), simultaneous vehicle hire, staged accidents and induced accidents without personal injury.
- Fraudulent personal injury claims with a significant credit hire element – Familiar to most motor injury fraud practitioners, these will include low speed impact, phantom passenger, exaggeration as well as staged and induced accidents.
- Illegality and tainting – In addition to uninsured drivers, this type of fraud includes unroadworthy vehicles and unlicensed drivers.
- Sharp practice by credit hire organisations (CHOs) – Their intentional and deliberate practices exploit insurers by artificially inflating the cost of credit hire and associated losses.
- Fraudulent bent metal cases – Vehicle repairs or total loss claims are artificially exaggerated, with or without additional exaggerated associated loss claims (such as storage, recovery and diminution)
The team also has significant expertise in dealing with credit hire involving vehicles and drivers from outside the UK, with or without a fraudulent element.
Are you exposed to fraud?
Essentially, if you handle credit hire claims or green card claims, you will have exposure. Click here for our fraud indicators.
Case examples
Credit hire fraud - Multi faceted fraud claim featuring a taxi driver. There were concerns that this case involved a phantom hire organisation with exaggeration and document validation issues. A robust fraud and credit hire strategy was deployed, resulting in a discontinuance and a 100% case saving of £15,000.
Fraud with credit hire – Fundamental dishonesty finding with custodial sentences and case savings in excess of £170,000. Click here to read more on this case.
Where fraud is discounted - Staged concerns were discounted but technical credit hire handling resulted in case savings of £75,000. Maintaining duration arguments led to settlement at less than 14% of the pleaded claim.
Overseas fraudulent cases – Jurisdictional defective service resulting in a full repudiation and costs recovery.
What have we learnt that could help you?
There are three main observations:
- Our specialist vehicle hire & damage team can ensure that, while suspicious claims are under investigation, hire claims are limited and do not unnecessarily escalate as they have a unique combination of fraud and credit hire expertise.
- Understand the threat - Fraudulent activity can be CHO, accident management or claimant led. Ascertaining the perpetrator is the key to deploying the right KYO strategy.
- Don’t ignore the hire claim – Those handling fraudulent claims featuring credit hire need to have the skillset and confidence to handle the technical challenges emerging in the credit hire arena.
We would urge anyone who wants to understand more about vehicle hire fraud or green card claims with a credit hire element to get in touch
