Question about possible car insurance fraud

[eartha]

Two years ago my tires skidded in the rain and I bumped into an SUV. I was only going like 10 miles and hour and there was no visible damage to their car. Really, it was just a tap. At worst *maybe* a bolt was loosened in the bumper. The ladies that were in the SUV were fine, and they stood and and joked with me about it while taking my insurance information. They even said that it was the passenger lady's bad day because she was in another car wreck earlier that morning. To my chagrin, they went straight to my insurance company without getting an estimate first to see if it was even worth reporting. I owned up to it to the insurance company and didn't hear anything again until I received a letter yesterday (a full two years later) saying that my insurance has settled the bodily insurance claim from that accident. WTF?! I genuinely think the ladies defrauded my insurance company! How should I handle this?

[Judge Roy Bean]

IMHO, you should call your insurance company and speak with the adjuster who handled the claim. The term "bodily injury" and the fact that it took a couple of years to settle indicates this was something that cropped up after the accident and my guess is somebody's neck started hurting.

Even 5mph impacts create significant acceleration forces. I was once "tapped" in a parking lot and felt fine until I woke up the next morning with a headache like I'd never experienced before and I couldn't turn my head. I wore one of those stupid collars for almost a week. I didn't realize the forces involved until I opened the ashtray in the truck to get some change and discovered it had opened partially and all the coins were down under the seats.

[Sarris]

Don't worry about it. In most cases they gave them a little cash. Most settlements are the cheap way to avoid costly court trials. (Which ironically most insurance companies win because the law is stacked in their favor.)

I wouldn't worry about it. Your insurance company did what was best for itself. I know this will come as a shock, but insurance companies DO NOT care about you. They only care about their bottom line and in your case it was obviously cheaper to settle than to fight it in court.

Take some solus in knowning that they most likely only got $1,200.00 or so.