the most outlandish insurance claims you ever heard of

Master and commander · 25-08-2011 11:39AM #1

I wonder what are the most proposterous and insane reasons people claim insurance for, and what are some of the bonkers compo's handed out for .

Here are a few i have heard of, all of which are true stories that i have been told.

One of my work colleuges was just saying at lunchtime that he asked his daugher was she going to her mates birthday party as it had been planned a few weeks prior. The daughter (9) said she had been told not to come because the party was cancelled.
My colleuge phone the mates parents to see what happened as they are friendly also, and the mates mother said that they could not have other peoples kids over to the party because they had no public liabillity insurance on the house.

WTF like, have we gotten to this stage now, that we can't allow kids to visit their friends homes in case somone grazes their knee and SUES!
It truely a sad state of affairs. The litigious culture of this country has now extended to the friendships between kids. We were all laughing at this at lunch, but its quite sad really. I feel sorry for the child who had no birthday party, they must have been devasttated

Thing is, parents like this are EXACTLY the ones who would themselves sue at the drop of a hat if one of their kids got a papercut off a book in school or something.

the most outrageous claim i've heard of so far was when a taxi was parked on the street with the driver sitting in it. Another car is parralel parking into the spot infront of the taxi and bumps, no, brushes his bumper off the taxis bumper. Not even a tip, it was a <0.5mph brush - absolutely no damage whatsoever! The guy finishes parking the car OK and then gets out and as he's passing the taxi man says "oh sorry 'bout that". At this the taxi man completely flips out and starts screaming and shouting that he has whiplash and concussion and all sorts of back and neck injuries!!!!
It was a new car almost - a 2009 avensis. He goes on to demand the guards, ambulance, firebrigade, the whole works. They arrive on the scene and since he was going on about his neck, the fire brigade got the jaws of life to cut the roof and door off the car and the bollix was lifted out of the car and put into the ambulance on a spine board. The firemen and paramedics were just shaking their heads in disbelief but were obliged to do it since he said he had a neck/spine problem. After getting to the hospital he practically immediatley (less than one hour) discharges himself and walks off. Then the geezer sues the other poor man and ends up coming away with €182,000 plus a brand new car.

A guy i know told me a true story where someone who had a tip and settled for cash fix up between themselves. Then a few months later the guy decides he wants to sue for personal injury, whiplash and all that. The guy who hit him then finds out his insurance will not cover him as he never declared to them he had an accident for which he was responsible. He tells the guy sueing him to no avail, he goes on with the lawsuit and wins 87,000. The other poor shagger has to pay out of his own pocket and has to sell his house and everything to pay him and is in debt for ever more. Now thats fecking bad form i tell you. Now people are saying that if your settling in cash, you should make the person sign a waiver to say they will not be claiming PI down the road.

BuffyBot · 25-08-2011 01:55PM

Not really within the remit of the forum. Might be better suited to AH.

Marcanthony · 26-08-2011 06:28AM

Heard of people trying to make bizarre property claims for items such as

Water damaged towls damaged by clean water

Water damaged Hearing aids (that where and would again be provided free of charge from the state to the individual).

Claim for the cost of a 2 mountly esb bill after repairs for damage claimed for was carried out. (it was the xmas time bill)

Accidental damage to repair a wall at he back of a door that the handle had damaged .

And best of all

A Bin that went on fire and caused smoke damage they claimed a bin tag was on it at the time.Hard to prove there was not one on it really.

Storm damage to a roof at a time during the summer we had a heat wave and no raiin for over a week.

phill106 · 26-08-2011 06:54AM

oldie..

A cigar smoker bought several hundred expensive stogies and had them insured against fire. After he'd smoked them all, he filed a claim, pointing out that the cigars had been destroyed by fire. The company refused to pay, and the man sued. A judge ruled that because the insurance company had agreed to insure against fire, it was legally responsible. So the company paid the claim. And when the man accepted the money, the company had him arrested for arson.

mikemac · 26-08-2011 07:19AM

because they had no public liabillity insurance on the house.

It's something every house should have
Covers lots of things

For example if your dog runs out onto the road and causes an accident, the public liability insurance will cover it

Any business and farmers will have this, something for householders to think about

oldyouth · 26-08-2011 07:37AM

mikemac wrote: »

It's something every house should have
Covers lots of things

For example if your dog runs out onto the road and causes an accident, the public liability insurance will cover it

Any business and farmers will have this, something for householders to think about

Agreed. Household policies include public liability for domestic uses, such as a party. There may be an exclusion though if the homeowners wanted to use a bouncy castle etc where the operator didn't have insurance

MugMugs · 26-08-2011 07:50AM

Witnessed a claim where a woman claimed for a new couch after her friend gave birth on it.

A Dub in Glasgo · 26-08-2011 07:56AM

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/man-discovers-theres-no-point-lying-over-spilt-milk-2858755.html?start=2

mikemac · 26-08-2011 08:03AM

If you've heard of this before it's because every year on Joe Duffy, angry women phone in furious that staff won't heat their baby's bottle

Was a hotel porter
Lady asked me to put the baby's bottle in the microwave and warm it and told me how many seconds for.

An industrial standard microwave is different to what's in your kitchen, got a bollocking from the manager as if the baby got scalded the hotel gets sued.

So I shaved the time and made sure the milk was not too hot and the lady gave out to me for returning with cold milk.

I suggested she go to the kitchen and do it herself but can't do that as if she slips in the kitchen and didn't have anti slip shoes, hotel gets sued

So we got a microwave in the lobby but that didn't last as the drunks would be returning from town and fooking around with it with their feed from the chippers. Making a right mess

Unhappy customers
Stressed staff

If you ever get refused in a hotel/restaurant it might sound unreasonable if the staff won't heat the bottle but if the child is scalded, well they get fired and the owner gets sued and the child is hurt.
Bring a flask with you and we'll give you a bowl

Marcanthony · 26-08-2011 08:17AM

A fumbling thief in the united states was in the process of burglarizing a home, when he accidentally locked himself in the garage. The garage door opener was broken, so there was no way for him to open the door from inside.

The thief ended up locked in the garage for a total of two weeks while the homeowners were on vacation. During that time he subsisted on dog food and soda, the only food items being stored in the garage.

After serving his time for the burglary, the thief filed an insurance claim against the homeowner for mental anguish. Even more bizzare he won his claim.

GrizzlyMan · 26-08-2011 09:52AM

Some guy in America a few years back decided to get some money on his car insurance so his plan was to set fire to his car then stab himself so it would look like he was attacked:rolleyes: anywho he ended up stabbing himself in the neck and hit a main artery and died beside his burning car!

kingtut · 26-08-2011 10:11AM

phill106 wrote: »

oldie..

A cigar smoker bought several hundred expensive stogies and had them insured against fire. After he'd smoked them all, he filed a claim, pointing out that the cigars had been destroyed by fire. The company refused to pay, and the man sued. A judge ruled that because the insurance company had agreed to insure against fire, it was legally responsible. So the company paid the claim. And when the man accepted the money, the company had him arrested for arson.

Brilliant!

Dan133269 · 26-08-2011 10:27AM

Marcanthony wrote: »

A fumbling thief in the united states was in the process of burglarizing a home, when he accidentally locked himself in the garage. The garage door opener was broken, so there was no way for him to open the door from inside.

The thief ended up locked in the garage for a total of two weeks while the homeowners were on vacation. During that time he subsisted on dog food and soda, the only food items being stored in the garage.

After serving his time for the burglary, the thief filed an insurance claim against the homeowner for mental anguish. Even more bizzare he won his claim.

BOLLOCKS!

eilo1 · 26-08-2011 10:41AM

A family friend of mine asked my advice on a case once because it involved a horse.

Basically a farmer was trying to claim that a neighbour was responsible for the death of his broodmare. The neighbour had a party and the animal in the field next to the house got spooked and tried to jump out of the field. The farmer had the field secured with barbed wine instead of post and rail fencing. The horse ripped itself open trying to get out.

Poor horse but what an idiot!

discus · 26-08-2011 10:47AM

My grandad was stuck at lights one time, and his car was in the cycle lane. It was ok though, as it was a broken line marking the cycle lane, which means traffic can drive on it if necessary. A cyclist clipped the back of my grandads car as he tried to squeeze past at speed, and hit his face off the rear window.

When the Gardai arrived, they sussed that the cyclist was not the full shilling, and warned my grandad to sue the cyclist as soon as possible for any damage, no matter how minor. My grandad brushed it off, he just wanted to make sure the lad was ok... In the end, the cyclist made a successful claim against him. Fair play to the Gardai who kept in touch with my granda, they sympathised with him through the whole process. They almost felt guilty doing their job, which we as a family couldn't fault

bijapos · 26-08-2011 10:50AM

the most outrageous claim i've heard of so far was when a taxi was parked on the street with the driver sitting in it. Another car is parralel parking into the spot infront of the taxi and bumps, no, brushes his bumper off the taxis bumper. Not even a tip, it was a <0.5mph brush - absolutely no damage whatsoever! The guy finishes parking the car OK and then gets out and as he's passing the taxi man says "oh sorry 'bout that". At this the taxi man completely flips out and starts screaming and shouting that he has whiplash and concussion and all sorts of back and neck injuries!!!!
It was a new car almost - a 2009 avensis. He goes on to demand the guards, ambulance, firebrigade, the whole works. They arrive on the scene and since he was going on about his neck, the fire brigade got the jaws of life to cut the roof and door off the car and the bollix was lifted out of the car and put into the ambulance on a spine board. The firemen and paramedics were just shaking their heads in disbelief but were obliged to do it since he said he had a neck/spine problem. After getting to the hospital he practically immediatley (less than one hour) discharges himself and walks off. Then the geezer sues the other poor man and ends up coming away with €182,000 plus a brand new car.

I call shenanigans on this. He claims ha has blackouts in the 30 secs that the guy parks the car and gets out? He claims whiplash even though there is no damage to the car. He discharges himself after one hour from a hospital? Whiplash takes a few hours to start hurting properly.

No insurance company pays out €182,000 without doing a massive investigation on the claim. I have a relative who got a serious injury in a car accident, she got €48,000 had to go to counsellors, psychiatric assesments and had to go to specialists of the insurance company several times. That story is too far fetched for me. Got a link to it?

eyescreamcone · 26-08-2011 11:00AM

Anybody got any stories about insurance companies not paying, delaying payment or asking for crazy information before processing the claim???

In my opinion insurance companies are the new scum - overtaking solicitors and estate agents in their ability to scam the public.

All the advertising regarding "if you know someone who exaggerates a claim..." etc but then they will try to dumb down every single claim.
Who should we report them to???

My advice - keep as little insurance as possible.
It's not good value.

subway · 26-08-2011 11:00AM

bijapos wrote: »

I call shenanigans on this entire thread

FYP

http://jlunce.me/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/rage-comic-true-story.png

seamus · 26-08-2011 11:07AM

bijapos wrote: »

I call shenanigans on this

+1
I also call shenanigans on the last story in the OP. Your obligatory 3rd party insurance covers you against all third-party claims made against you in relation to using your vehicle. They cannot arbitrarly decide to not pay out because you never declared the accident. In fact they cannot arbitrarily decide to not pay out at all.
If the accident occurred, the insurance company are liable. That's the law.

In addition, there is no way that any court would award such massive 3rd party damages against a private individual who is not insured, particularly for relatively minor injuries like whiplash and back pain.
They would definitely not award an amount which required them to sell their principle residence and get into serious lifelong debt.

Don't believe stories that you hear down the pub from someone who heard the story in another pub.

spiraleye · 26-08-2011 11:14AM

a couple on their holiday, got to their Hotel , checked in then went to their room, they heard noises coming from the bathroom, they opened the door to the bathroom and there was the porter on the toilet masturbating......outcome - they sued the hotel :eek:

bonzodog2 · 26-08-2011 11:20AM

GrizzlyMan wrote: »

Some guy in America a few years back decided to get some money on his car insurance so his plan was to set fire to his car then stab himself so it would look like he was attacked:rolleyes: anywho he ended up stabbing himself in the neck and hit a main artery and died beside his burning car!

So if he's dead in a pool of his own blood next to his burning car, how do we know his intentions regarding insurance ?

GrizzlyMan · 26-08-2011 11:25AM

bonzodog2 wrote: »

So if he's dead in a pool of his own blood next to his burning car, how do we know his intentions regarding insurance ?

good point well i read it on the interweb so it has to be true:)

Aodan83 · 26-08-2011 11:55AM

bonzodog2 wrote: »

So if he's dead in a pool of his own blood next to his burning car, how do we know his intentions regarding insurance ?

You've clearly never watched CSI. It's amazing what they can do with technology these days!

pcardin · 26-08-2011 12:02PM

bijapos wrote: »

I call shenanigans on this.
No insurance company pays out €182,000 without doing a massive investigation on the claim. That story is too far fetched for me. Got a link to it?

Totally agree. Doesnt sound true though this kind of scam is quite common here. For some d1ckheads having soemone crashed into their cars back is like winning lottery. :mad:

donutface · 26-08-2011 12:18PM

phill106 wrote: »

oldie..

A cigar smoker bought several hundred expensive stogies and had them insured against fire. After he'd smoked them all, he filed a claim, pointing out that the cigars had been destroyed by fire. The company refused to pay, and the man sued. A judge ruled that because the insurance company had agreed to insure against fire, it was legally responsible. So the company paid the claim. And when the man accepted the money, the company had him arrested for arson.

This one isn't true. You can't profit from insurance, and insurance only covers you against accidental loss.

If you intentionally burn down your own home, insurance wont pay you a cent. Cigars aren't any different.

phill106 · 26-08-2011 12:22PM

donutface wrote: »

This one isn't true. You can't profit from insurance, and insurance only covers you against accidental loss.

If you intentionally burn down your own home, insurance wont pay you a cent. Cigars aren't any different.

Indeed, I don't believe it myself, which is why it was the most outlandish claim I ever heard of. More debunking of it here

Marcanthony · 26-08-2011 12:23PM

Hi dan133269,
Heres a link to the sourse I got it . http://autocricket.com/blog/blog/15-funniest-insurance-claims-ever-filed/.

the most outlandish insurance claims you ever heard of

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