How to Tell if an Auto Accident was Staged

Though it sounds a bit far-fetched, there are more and more drivers out there who are being involved in staged auto accidents. Essentially, what appears to be an accident was actually a calculated effort for the other driver to receive money or other benefits. Listed here are some ways to tell whether or not your auto accident may have been staged.

An Invisible Car in the Intersection

There are a few tactics that crooks use to trap unsuspecting drivers in intersections, but they all involve suddenly swooping into the intersection from what would appear to be absolutely nowhere. In some cases, one driver may motion for you to go ahead through the intersection but then pull out and block your path as you try to proceed, allowing a second fraudster to crash into you – purposely. Another tactic involves a driver who sits idle on the right side of the road just prior to a stop sign and then hits the back of your car as you turn right. Then, the driver will tell the police that you ran the stop sign and caused the collision.

Jump-Ins

One of the best ways to tell if you have been involved in a staged auto accident is if other people appear from seemingly nowhere and jump into the car that you hit. These people will then feign injuries – sometimes slight, others more severe – so that they can get money from your insurance company. You should also be very wary of anyone who claims to have severe pain or injuries after a very minor accident that results in only a small amount of damage to the vehicles involved.

Sudden Stops

There are two ways that crooks will use what is known as the ‘swoop and stop’ to their advantage, but because the result is a rear-end collision, the innocent driver is always found to be at fault. Here, it is important to stay alert and drive defensively at all times. In the first, a car will pull up beside you in another lane and block your ability to merge while the car in front of you slams on its brakes, causing a collision. In the second and more daring staged auto accident, the driver will simply pull out of you and stop dead in the center of traffic.

Fake Witnesses

Finally, it is important to quickly assess the situation any time you are involved in an accident and determine who is in the other car and who may have been able to see the accident occur. If someone else pulls up at the scene a moment later, steps out of his or her car and backs up everything the other driver says but wasn’t anywhere near the scene of the actual accident, it is likely that you are being swindled.

While you may find it difficult to argue your case, particularly if there are false witnesses or you have been involved in a rear-end auto accident, it is important to point these things out at the scene to the responding officer and to your insurance agent, as well. If necessary, an investigation can be implemented and real witnesses can be questioned.