If you live in San Diego, car insurance is getting more expensive all the time. It seems like almost every time you renew your policy the price has gone up rapidly. Wisely, you’ve decided to switch insurers, and you’re looking around for a great deal.
You see an advert from a local insurance agent, promising the best deals in San Diego for car insurance. You decide to get in touch and see what this local guy has to offer. You’re astounded at what a good deal he’s offering you. It’s so much cheaper than you’ve ever paid before. However, he’s promising a great deal with a big, reputable car insurance company like GEICO or Progressive, so you can’t believe your luck. Your local broker says he’s got the contacts with the big insurance companies to make sure that his customers get the absolute best deals on the market. With the prices he’s quoted you, you are in no doubt when he says you’ll never get a better deal elsewhere.
So you decide to pay for the insurance policy, and a few days after you hand over your money, you get all the documents from the insurance company. It all looks completely legitimate, just like the car insurance documentation you had before.
Everything is going well, until you get into a car accident. The glare of the sun in your eyes caused you to lose concentration for a moment, and you crashed into an oncoming vehicle. Luckily no one was seriously hurt, but both cars are damaged beyond repair.
So you call up your insurance company, but when you do, they say that your information is wrong. They tell you that you’re actually covered for a completely different vehicle, in a completely different area. In short, your insurance policy is completely invalid and they won’t even think about paying out for your insurance claim. Sadly the documentation that you’ve been given is a complete fabrication.
You try to get in touch with the car insurance agents who sold you the policy, but when you do you find they are long gone. You’re left with an absolutely massive bill for repairs that could even bankrupt you. Sadly unscrupulous fraudsters have fooled you, and the bill could cost you thousands of dollars.
So who were the San Diego car insurance agents you purchased the insurance from?
This fraud is called “ghost brokering”. The San Diego car insurance agent that you arranged your insurance with was a complete fraudster, and this practice is becoming more and more common every day.
The reason that you were able to get a much lower price than you’ve ever paid before for car insurance is that the agent supplied the insurance company with false details. They’ve said you are driving a smaller car, in a safer area, or some other combination of lies. By filling in your car insurance documentation in a certain way, they can bring your car insurance costs down to a level that you would never be entitled to if you had filled in your documentation truthfully.
Sadly this practice is becoming very common in San Diego today. Thousands of drivers could be affected by this fraud. Huge numbers of people are trying to get by on incredibly tight budgets in the current economic climate, and they may take any opportunity to save a few dollars. There are also less scrupulous people who, when faced by tight financial circumstances, will turn to crime. In that kind of situation, frauds like this become incredibly common.
Some fraudulent San Diego car insurance agents have defrauded over 2000 people, and stories like this are not isolated. Every day, more and more people are taken in with promises of rock bottom prices on their car insurance.
How can you spot the fraudulent San Diego car insurance agents?
These “ghost brokers” don’t advertise their services in the usual way. You’ll never find them advertising with big glossy adverts or with slick, professional looking websites. Instead you will find the most amateurish marketing possible. You’ll find Xeroxed pieces of paper lying around a bar, or underneath your windshield wiper. You may find their details on suspicious and badly designed websites.
You will also be asked to pay cash. This is so the payment is untraceable. The fraudulent insurance agent will often pocket all the cash and pay the insurance company with a stolen credit card or some other kind of financial fraud. To maximize their profits, they are prepared to defraud two individuals, you and the legitimate owner of the credit card they use to buy your worthless insurance.
You should make sure that you never pay cash for your car insurance under any circumstances. It’s very unusual for legitimate insurance agents to ask you to do so, especially in San Diego.
If something is too good to be true, it usually is. You should be incredibly suspicious about any offer that is incredibly cheap, and all the more suspicious with car insurance. Although everybody wants to save money on his or her car insurance, it’s an essential purchase. You shouldn’t skimp and save to the point of getting cover that is not legitimate.
If you are buying car insurance in San Diego you should expect to see very official looking documentation. If you are in even the slightest doubt that your documentation isn’t genuine then you should contact the insurance company and double check the details of your policy. They will soon be able to confirm whether or not the policy is valid, and whether your details are correct.
If someone approaches you that you suspect is a fraudulent San Diego car insurance agent, then you should contact the police immediately. Even if they do not fool you, someone else might be taken in by their empty promises. Don’t try to confront them on your own, instead get in touch with the proper authorities. These people might be extremely dangerous criminals.