Florida, New York Tops in Insurance Claims from Staged Accidents

Suspicious insurance claims from staged accidents are on the rise— and nowhere more than in New York and Florida, two states with no-fault statutes.

Overall, the number of questionable claims from staged accidents increased by 46.3 percent from 2007 to 2009, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB)

Additionally, the ratio of staged accident claims to overall bodily injury (BI) and personal injury protection (PIP) claims has increased over this period while the total number of BI and PIP claims has declined.

Florida and New York are ranked first and second, respectively, in the top 10 loss states and five of the top 10 loss cities.

The top five states that generated the most staged accident questionable claims are: (1) Florida, 3,006; (2) New York, 1,680; (3) California, 1,619; (4) Texas, 792; and (5) Illinois, 433.

The five cities that generated the most staged accident questionable claims are: (1) New York City, 1,304; (2) Tampa, 562; (3) Miami, 511; (4) Orlando, 422; and (5) Houston, 376.

Staged accidents target innocent drivers with schemes aimed at defrauding insurance companies. Many of these staged accidents go undetected.

NICB has created a series of videos demonstrating some of the most common types of staged accidents. They can be viewed here: https://www.nicb.org/multimedia/staged-videos/staged-accident-videos.