Are High Fuel Prices Accelerating Faked Thefts of Gas Guzzlers?
Blame stratospheric gas prices for fueling what seems to be an accelerating insurance scam. Hard-hit by prices that have more than doubled to nearly $4 a gallon over the past three years, a growing number of owners throughout the country are faking the theft of their gas guzzlers, experts suspect.
A “striking correlation” between increasingly expensive gas and the growth in claims over stolen vehicles that require costly fill-ups have led researchers at the National Insurance Crime Bureau to think that more owners may be filing fraudulent insurance claims over the “theft” of their gas guzzlers, reports the Miami Herald.
Among the vehicles most often reported stolen are the massive Dodge Ram and Ford F-150 pickups, according to the newspaper.
Insurance investigators are particularly suspicious when stolen cars are recovered as charred metal frames, in out-of-the-way spots, or found underwater “with rocks tied to their gas pedals and ropes around their gear shifts,” the Herald writes. Investigators say owners sometimes hire vehicular “hit men” to take out their gas-guzzling vehicles, rather than fake the theft themselves.
