Florida Insurance Officials and Insurers Hold Staged Crash Workshop

Do you know what a “panic stop” is? Neither did most of the people who came together to learn about staged accidents.

According to the Sun Sentinel, officials call it a “panic stop” when a driver slams on their brakes and then forces the car behind it into a rear-end collision. Then, the driver who was hit pretends to be hurt.

Officials also stated that this type of staged accident is common in South Florida, where insurance fraud is to blame for the rise is everyone’s premiums.

On September 15^th, the Miami-Dade Police Department, Allstate Insurance and Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater joined together to educate the public on staged auto accident fraud by demonstrating the most prevalent scenarios, which includes the “panic stop.”

The demonstrations were held at the Miami-Dade County Public Safety Training Institute and aimed to help the public recognize the illegal behavior and encourage them to report the activity to authorities.

“So please, if anyone could bring it to our attention about one of these scams that are taking place, let us get engaged, let us get them in front of prosecutors, let us put them in jail where they belong,” said Jeff Atwater, who heads the state’s Division of Insurance Fraud.

Atwater and others state that staged accidents are a big reason that Personal Injury Protection (PIP) insurance premiums are rising despite a decline in the actual accidents being reported.

The insurance industry says Florida drivers each pay an additional $50 a year in insurance premiums because of fraudulent PIP-related claims.

“We still have a significant element to this organized crime here in South Florida that reaches into Broward County and up into Palm Beach County,” Atwater said.

PIP pays medical bills for policyholders who are injured in auto accidents, regardless of which driver is at fault. The intention is to protect Floridians who don’t have health insurance and to avoid lawsuits and their costs for minor injuries.

Florida drivers are required to have $10,000 in coverage.

Atwater said, “If we don’t bring it to a close, the consumer in Florida is going to start going bare, they’re going to start going without auto insurance; that’s not the answer.”

Also according to Atwater, in many cases, people are recruited by an organized group to take part in these staged accidents. That person’s information is then used by clinics to charge insurance companies for procedures that never take place.

“The biggest thing that’s going on right now is that people just say that ‘this is never going to happen to me,’ but the bottom line is, it’s happening all over the place in South Florida on a daily basis,” said Justin Herndon, an Allstate spokesman.

Some bills that were proposed earlier this year to attack fraudulent PIP claims weren’t approved by the Legislature due to concerns about hurting policyholders with legitimate claims along with their attorneys and doctors.

Some state leaders and insurers are already working towards curbing insurance fraud in Florida.

Senator Mike Bennett filed a bill on September 14^th that would allow insurers to give policyholders discounts if they agree to use the insurers’ preferred doctors. Representative Jim Boyd also filed a bill with about a dozen provisions such as expanding the reasons insurers can deny claims.

Robin Westcott, the state’s Insurance Consumer Advocate, started a series of meetings that will help her develop PIP fraud recommendations for lawmakers. She has assembled a group of insurance, medical and legal industry officials, along with legislative and regulatory representatives and a consumer advocate to help.