What you need to know about insurance fraud in Ontario

Insurance fraud in Ontario is hurting all of us by increasing the cost of insurance, when the one thing we all want is cheaper car insurance. Defrauding or attempting to defraud an insurance company is a criminal offence that can result in jail time, and good luck trying to be insured again in the future.

What is insurance fraud?

While most of us would never try to defraud anyone, simply not being truthful on an insurance claim form is a type of insurance fraud. Even withholding information from your insurance provider about past accidents or driving convictions is considered fraudulent behaviour.

Other examples of insurance fraud are:

• Not being truthful or completely truthful about how an accident happened,
• Including existing damage to your vehicle in a new claim,
• Accepting insurance payments for treatments and/or services not received, and of course,
• Staging or deliberately causing an accident to make an insurance claim.

What you can do to fight insurance fraud

There are many ways we can help the police and the insurance companies, along with the Ontario government fight insurance fraud.

1. Know your own insurance: read your policy to know what is actually covered and not covered by it. Your insurance policy is a contract between you and your insurance company and you have responsibilities in it too.
2. Double-check your data: review any info you have given on insurance applications or claims forms to be sure all is accurate. And never sign a blank claims form for anyone. (Be suspicious if someone asks you to do this.)
3. Keep records of any accident: ask for the driver’s licence and insurance document, as well as names, addresses and phone numbers of all other drivers involved.
4. Get details in writing: for any work to be done on your vehicle, or for medical treatment or services to be sure you get what is promised.
5. Don’t be a victim: if you even suspect fraud, don’t let them get away with it. Contact the police first and then you can also contact the Ontario government’s fraud hotline at fsrao.ca or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (you can remain anonymous if you prefer.)

We all want to keep our insurance rates as low as possible and preventing and reporting fraud will certainly help us do that.

Insurance experts at your service

If you have any questions or concerns about how your policy works, feel free to contact the expert insurance brokers at Mitch Insurance at 1-800-731-2228 or info@nullmitchinsurance.com. We’d be happy to discuss any insurance topic on your mind.