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| Is my new high-tech home theatre covered by my home insurance? |
Answer:
Because most home insurance policies cover contents up to a certain percentage, it is likely that your new home theatre will be covered. However, the only way to be sure is to talk to your broker or agent as every policy is different.
Most Canadians have never been in a serious car crash, and may not know what auto insurance has to do with health care. In fact, Canada’s non-government home, car and business insurers pay more than $2 billion per year into the country’s health care system, most of it related to auto insurance.
If you are seriously injured in a car crash, most of the treatment you receive is probably covered by auto insurance, but because Canadians have universal health care, any emergency care or visits to your doctor will initially be paid for by your provincial health care plan. You will likely never see the bill, but your auto insurer will – in a manner of speaking. Every year, insurers reimburse provincial health plans for treatment given to crash victims. This is called a “health levy” or “aggregate assessment,” and is an important source of funds for provincial health care systems in Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland & Labrador.
In addition to funding health care through levies, auto insurers pay for a number of health services directly. Depending on the type of injury you have suffered in a crash and where you live, your Accident Benefits (AB) coverage may cover visits to a chiropractor, physical therapist, psychologist, speech or occupational therapist (usually for brain injuries), and/or massage therapist, and a number of other health care professionals. In addition, AB often pays for crutches, wheelchairs and other assistive devices, and may even cover improvements to your home or car to help you deal with a permanent disability.
Automobile theft is much more than an insurance problem; it's an expensive social menace. Every year, automobile theft costs Canadians close to $1 billion, including $542 million for insurers to fix or replace stolen cars, $250 million in police, health-care and court-system costs and millions more for correctional services.
Every year, IBC publishes a list called “The Top 10 Most Stolen Cars.” See if your car is a potential target. |
How often your make and model of car is stolen is one of the factors insurers use to set your insurance premium. It’s a good idea to check out these lists, as well as the publication .
1. For sale abroad - Stolen cars are often immediately packed – with their vehicle identification numbers (VINs) still intact – and shipped abroad, where they are sold for many times their original market value.
2. For sale to unsuspecting consumers – Stolen cars may be given a new identity with false VINs, and then sold to unsuspecting consumers. They can also be dismantled and sold for parts.
3. To get somewhere – This is commonly, but inappropriately, referred to as “joyriding.” Auto theft of any kind is still a crime, and innocent people do get hurt or killed as a result.
4. To commit another crime – Stolen cars used to commit other crimes are often recovered – abandoned and badly damaged – within 48 hours of their theft.
Insurance crime is not victimless. It costs Canadians more than $3 billion a year in insurance premiums and health care, emergency services and court costs. Insurance criminals take money right out of your pocket - when they cheat, you pay.
Insurance companies are committed to putting an end to this type of crime. Individual companies and Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) investigate insurance crimes and educate Canadians about their costs and consequences. IBC also lobbies for that will increase the risk and decrease the profit associated with this type of activity.
You can help combat insurance crime. Below are some precautions you can take to avoid being a victim of insurance crime, and some clues to help you identify an insurance crime in action. If you have information about an insurance crime, report it.
You can use the to note the details about the accident, the driver(s) and the passengers.
The Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) offers excellent advice about what to do when you are approached by a tow truck driver at the scene of an accident. This advice applies in most jurisdictions in Canada:
Criminals are lazy. They don't want to have to work for their reward so they will target businesses that make their job easier for them. Don't let your operation be an easy target for an insurance criminal looking to cash in big on a little "accident." There are some simple steps you can take to make your business less vulnerable to these criminals. to get some tips on managing the many types of risk that businesses face every day.
IBC continues to work with municipal, provincial and federal governments to promote changes that will lead to decreased insurance crime and, as a result, safer roads and a safer Canada.
IBC continues its efforts to have auto theft recognized as a serious and violent crime.
IBC was integral in the introduction of Bill C-343, a private member's bill that was not passed because the session of Parliament was prorogued. The bill had passed a number of readings and had been placed before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
Bill C-343 would have made auto theft, which is now a simple property crime, a separate offence in the Criminal Code and subject to harsher sentencing. Under the bill, the minimum sentence for third-time offenders would have been two years in jail and a tougher financial penalty. Bill C-343 would have recognized auto theft as a violent offence that endangers public safety.
IBC will continue to advocate for legislation, such as Bill C-343, that will result in the adequate punishment of auto thieves, putting more of these criminals where they belong - behind bars.
The CBSA (formerly Canada Customs) has worked with the insurance industry to tighten the borders against those who would export stolen cars. The “Ports Project” of 2004 was a three-month, cooperative effort involving Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), law enforcement and IBC. It was very successful; a total of 61 vehicles, worth over $2 million, were recovered.
IBC is working with law enforcement, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to establish a permanent presence at major Canadian ports.
IBC has submitted a proposal to CBSA that has the following objectives:
Organized insurance crime is an attractive avenue for criminals because it is a low-risk crime with high potential for profit. Insurance crime cases are very complex and difficult to prosecute, so the criminals very seldom suffer any serious consequences for their crimes.
Currently, IBC investigators prepare insurance crime case files and present them to the Crown attorneys who are responsible for prosecuting the offenders. However, because courts are consistently backlogged, the Crown attorneys often prefer to prosecute other crimes that are higher-profile and perhaps more likely to lead to a conviction. Therefore, prosecutors frequently choose either to plea bargain (often resulting in a slap on the wrist) in insurance crimes cases, or to drop the cases outright.
A number of jurisdictions in Canada and the US have assigned dedicated insurance crime prosecutors, who become experts in the field and are able to devote more time and resources to it than would otherwise be possible. This approach has met with considerable success.
Advantages of a dedicated insurance crime prosecutor:
A professional thief can steal your car in about 30 seconds – without a key. It’s really that easy. But there are few simple precautions that you can take to help make the thief’s target a little harder to reach:
IBC has teamed up with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to remind drivers to take these precautions. As part of the Lock It or Lose It! program, volunteers and OPP officers visit community parking lots across the province. They're on the lookout for drivers who leave valuables in plain view, leave the engine running unattended or leave doors unlocked. In each case the Lock It or Lose It! team leaves a notice under the car's windshield wiper to remind the driver to better secure the vehicle in the future.
With formal agreements in place, IBC works with many individuals, groups, professional associations and law enforcement agencies, both here in Canada and abroad, to reduce or eliminate insurance crime. Below is a partial list.
IBC could not have had the success it has in reducing insurance crime for honest policyholders without the generous assistance of these crime-fighting partners.
Early detection and timely exchange of information are the keys to recovering stolen cars before they leave the country. To this end, IBC facilitates the flow of information among police forces (local, provincial and federal), federal government agencies and export companies. Stopping a car before it leaves Canada minimizes losses for insurance companies (who avoid the cost of international shipping) and prevents the need for legal and administrative wrangling with other jurisdictions.
If a car cannot be prevented from leaving the country, all is not lost. IBC has agreements and procedures in place with governments in many countries that:
The insurance company that pays the claim for the stolen car (and, therefore, owns the car) is responsible for all costs incurred in the process of recovering it. Insurance Bureau of Canada charges a service fee for recovery that differs depending on whether or not the insurance company is a member of IBC.
The AutoFind program is currently operating in Laval, Toronto, Edmonton and Hamilton.
Between January 2003 and June 2009, the AutoFind program helped to recover over 8,200 vehicles with an actual cash value of $41 million. Almost 70% of the stolen vehicles recovered by AutoFind have been found within 14 days of them being reported stolen.
IBC helps police verify vehicle identification numbers (VINs) to ensure that recovered stolen cars get returned to their rightful owners more quickly, and that consumers can be confident about a car’s history before they buy.
All cars built for sale in North America since 1981 have a vehicle identification number (VIN) that consists of 17 letters and numbers. This is like the car’s fingerprint. A car’s VIN:
Car thieves often try to hide the fact that a car is stolen by:
In Alberta and Ontario, IBC assists police in determining the real VINs of stolen cars that are recovered with missing or altered VINs. If IBC cannot determine the real VIN and identify the car, the Ministry of Transportation will assign the car a new VIN.
Once the real VIN has been identified or a new VIN assigned, IBC removes all false or old VINs from the car before installing a brass plate with the correct VIN on the driver-side door frame and placing a sticker with the correct VIN on the dashboard where the original VIN plate would be.
IBC can also:
Any car registered in a Canadian province or territory has a permanent record that is linked to its . When a car is stolen or severely structurally damaged (sometimes called a “write-off”) authorities can add a note, or a brand, to that record.
Four different brands can be assigned. The names vary depending on the province, but the categories are essentially the same:
Branding makes it more difficult for criminals to pass off stolen or unsafe vehicles to the unsuspecting public. In this way, it protects consumers and makes roads safer.
Because every vehicle has a VIN that is linked to the vehicle’s record, crooks need to work very hard to make stolen cars look legitimate. Often, this involves removing the VIN from a car in the junkyard and putting it on a stolen car to mask its identity.
By disguising its true identity, a criminal can sell you a car that is stolen or that has serious hidden damage. Many unsuspecting consumers have purchased stolen vehicles and later had them seized by the police with little hope of recovering the money they paid. Others have bought seemingly fit vehicles, only to discover that structural damage makes the car undriveable.
If junk vehicles are branded irreparable or salvage, their VINs are of little use to criminals. Branding makes it very difficult for crooks to disguise the identities of stolen and damaged vehicles.
Branding:
Having your car stolen is not only emotionally upsetting, but also very time-consuming and expensive. Unfortunately, car theft is all too common and costs Canadians $1 billion per year.
There are human costs, too. Innocent Canadians are put at risk when a thief steals a vehicle. Each year, 40 people lose their lives and 65 more are injured as a direct result of car theft.
Other security devices, such as steering wheel locks, alarms, tracking systems and parts marking, can be combined with an immobilizer to provide additional layers of protection.
A legal representative can be an important resource for you as you pursue your insurance claim. Most lawyers and paralegals are honest, working in the best interest of their clients.
Regulators have issued Cease and Desist orders against specific paralegals for unfair business practices. One lawyer suspected of being involved in staged collisions left the country before there was an opportunity to have charges laid.
One scam involved a paralegal making off with their client’s insurance settlement. In this scenario, the legal representative negotiated a settlement with the insurance company for injuries suffered by their client, pockets the cheque and tells the client, a legitimate accident victim, that they got no compensation.
In response to inquiries from government about insurers’ experiences with paralegals, IBC recommended that there be rules in place dictating acceptable practices for paralegals, including a requirement for paralegals to have liability insurance to protect clients they treat unfairly.The vast majority of medical providers are committed to helping their patients get better and only look to be fairly compensated for their work. However, there are those that, instead of healing the sick and protecting the innocent, abuse the public trust by "doctoring" insurance bills. They inflate bills or give unnecessary treatment in an attempt to collect as much money as possible. Participants may include chiropractors, physicians, physiotherapists, pharmacists and their office managers.
In many cases, the patient, satisfied that he or she is receiving quality treatment and service, is unaware of the fraud.
An accident, no matter how minor, can be very stressful and confusing. And there are some people looking to take advantage of this time of uncertainty. Tow truck drivers may be paid a fee to refer accident victims to a particular paralegal. This is illegal.
A tow truck driver may also be paid a referral fee by a vehicle repair or body shop to have damaged vehicles towed there. This kind of tow truck driver is known in the industry as a “chaser.” Many “chasers” are owned or controlled by vehicle repair shops.
Vehicle repair facilities can be involved in a variety of insurance scams. Here are some of the more common ones:
The common auto insurance scams described below are carried out by seasoned criminals, who attempt to claim debilitating injuries in order to get income replacement and other financial benefits from insurance companies. These sophisticated criminals often plan accidents, hire witnesses to back up their stories, and provide all kinds of false documentation to support their claims.
In this scenario, a “swoop” car suddenly speeds up and cuts off the “squat” car (sometimes an innocent person in the wrong place at the wrong time and sometimes an accomplice). Unable to stop in time, the “squat” car rear-ends the “swoop” car. Usually, everyone who is in on the scam claims some sort of injury, and makes an auto insurance claim.
This sounds harmless enough – what’s a little fender bender? But in the past this scam has been known to go horribly wrong, with innocent victims being seriously injured and even killed.
Juan and Maria Lopez and their two-year-old daughter Joanna were burned alive when two men tried to stage a car collision on a California freeway in 1997. The criminals chose to cut-off a tractor-trailer (the “squat” vehicle), forcing it to stop suddenly. The Lopez’s, behind the tractor trailer, also stopped suddenly and were rammed from behind by a gravel truck, killing the young family.
Fortunately, such a tragic result is not the norm, but you never know what will happen when cars collide at high speed. Real accidents are dangerous enough. Criminals can try to stage a “safe” accident, but they have no control over road conditions and the reactions of other drivers. This happens every day on Canadian streets and highways, putting everyone at risk.
The criminal appears to yield and waves to the innocent victim to proceed with a merge or lane change. As the victim merges, the criminal drives into the innocent driver, and later denies that he or she had waved the victim on.
The criminal targets an innocent driver and purposely collides with the side of the target vehicle. This usually occurs in busy intersections with dual left turn lanes. If the victim in the inner lane drifts even a little into the outer lane, the criminal intentionally causes a collision.
In some auto insurance fraud schemes, no accident ever really happens. The criminal reports an accident and subsequent injury, and makes a claim, but the accident only exists on paper. In some cases, police are called to the scene of an alleged “hit and run,” where only one car is present, and damage has been fabricated.
This is a common feature of staged accidents. The principal perpetrator of the accident will “sell” passenger spaces in the car for a set price or a percentage of the passenger’s insurance claim. In some cases, the passengers do not even ride in the car when the accident occurs.
The common auto insurance scams described below are carried out by seasoned criminals, who attempt to claim debilitating injuries in order to get income replacement and other financial benefits from insurance companies. These sophisticated criminals often plan accidents, hire witnesses to back up their stories, and provide all kinds of false documentation to support their claims.
In this scenario, a “swoop” car suddenly speeds up and cuts off the “squat” car (sometimes an innocent person in the wrong place at the wrong time and sometimes an accomplice). Unable to stop in time, the “squat” car rear-ends the “swoop” car. Usually, everyone who is in on the scam claims some sort of injury, and makes an auto insurance claim.
This sounds harmless enough – what’s a little fender bender? But in the past this scam has been known to go horribly wrong, with innocent victims being seriously injured and even killed.
Juan and Maria Lopez and their two-year-old daughter Joanna were burned alive when two men tried to stage a car collision on a California freeway in 1997. The criminals chose to cut-off a tractor-trailer (the “squat” vehicle), forcing it to stop suddenly. The Lopez’s, behind the tractor trailer, also stopped suddenly and were rammed from behind by a gravel truck, killing the young family.
Fortunately, such a tragic result is not the norm, but you never know what will happen when cars collide at high speed. Real accidents are dangerous enough. Criminals can try to stage a “safe” accident, but they have no control over road conditions and the reactions of other drivers. This happens every day on Canadian streets and highways, putting everyone at risk.
The criminal appears to yield and waves to the innocent victim to proceed with a merge or lane change. As the victim merges, the criminal drives into the innocent driver, and later denies that he or she had waved the victim on.
The criminal targets an innocent driver and purposely collides with the side of the target vehicle. This usually occurs in busy intersections with dual left turn lanes. If the victim in the inner lane drifts even a little into the outer lane, the criminal intentionally causes a collision.
In some auto insurance fraud schemes, no accident ever really happens. The criminal reports an accident and subsequent injury, and makes a claim, but the accident only exists on paper. In some cases, police are called to the scene of an alleged “hit and run,” where only one car is present, and damage has been fabricated.
This is a common feature of staged accidents. The principal perpetrator of the accident will “sell” passenger spaces in the car for a set price or a percentage of the passenger’s insurance claim. In some cases, the passengers do not even ride in the car when the accident occurs.
In 2001, IBC studied the cost of personal injury fraud across Canada (except BC, the only province that chose not to participate). Fourteen companies, both public and private, of varying sizes and representing 60% of the insurance marketplace, participated in the study. Personnel reviewed files randomly selected from their records, looking for evidence of personal injury insurance fraud. A total of 4,066 closed claims files with payment were examined, providing IBC with a 3% margin of error.
These findings suggest that health-related costs to insurers could be reduced substantially by minimizing the opportunities for personal injury fraud. They also suggest that, regardless of who pays (private insurers or provincial health plans), our limited health care resources are often being misused.
Many people think of health services as “free,” so they may not consider misuse a big deal. But in the end, we all pay for it, either through our taxes or through our insurance premiums.
Personal injury fraud – as it pertains to home, car or business insurance claims – is any act or omission intended to result in a financial insurance benefit for an injury that is nonexistent, exaggerated or unrelated to any accident that would be covered by the policy. No matter what the circumstances, personal injury insurance fraud is a crime.
Personal injury insurance fraud can be “opportunistic” or “premeditated”:
Opportunistic personal injury insurance fraud – most commonly an inflated claim. Examples:
Such cases usually necessitate extra medical visits and medical examinations, thus adding to the societal cost of this crime.
Premeditated personal injury insurance fraud – when someone devises a way to make an insurance claim. Premeditated fraud often involves some extreme action. Example:
This kind of fraud also has related financial and human costs, as unsuspecting victims of staged car collisions often suffer very real injuries.
Stolen cars usually end up in one of the following places:
About 50% of stolen vehicles end up in "chop shops,” where stolen cars are dismantled into parts to be sold off separately, often to legitimate businesses unaware the parts are stolen. This is a big business that accounts for millions of dollars a year in profits for criminals.
Each year, tens of thousands of cars are stolen for export to other countries where they can be sold for many times their original market value. In some cases, these cars are recovered at Canadian ports before they reach their intended destinations. IBC is actively working on having CBSA take a more active role in preventing these vehicles from leaving Canada.
Many stolen cars are taken to commit another crime. Thieves take advantage of owner negligence, grabbing the first vehicle they can find. Why would criminals risk using their own cars when they can very easily use a car that’s been left running in a driveway?
Sometimes, thieves take cars just because they can or because they want them for transportation. It used to be called “joyriding,” but that term takes away from the seriousness of the crime. Auto thieves have no regard for people or property and often vandalize then abandon the cars that they steal.
Every year, hundreds of unassuming consumers buy stolen cars and face having their new cars seized by police. Stolen cars are often sold for a quick profit – sometimes to fund other criminal activity like drug smuggling and even terrorism. Thieves mask the true identity of a stolen vehicle by changing its vehicle identification number (VIN).
A consumer who unknowingly purchases a stolen car has no recourse, and no way to get his or her money back.
Everyone is a victim of auto theft, whether they have had a car stolen or not. On average, $35 per auto insurance policy goes to pay for the cost auto theft.
Regrettably the courts still look at auto theft with more compassionate eyes. Of course, some of their hands are tied by the restrictions within the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
IBC has been working to make the courts aware of the impact of auto theft – that it is not a victimless crime. IBC has made a victim impact statement available for all Crown Prosecutors. Additionally, IBC has also been actively advocating for changes to the criminal code to have auto theft treated as a violent and indictable offense.
Regrettably, some people still have a very misguided notion as to what auto theft is and isn’t. Let’s set the record straight.
Auto theft defies all boundaries - jurisdictional, political, geographical and administrative. And it is a big and lucrative business; on average, a car is stolen every three and a half minutes in Canada - that's approximately 420 per day. Because of the changing trends and complexity of the issue, the fight against auto theft requires the cooperation and involvement of many partners. It starts with automobile owners and includes the law enforcement community, automobile manufacturers, dealers of new and used cars, salvage operators, car repairers, automobile insurers, theft deterrent system manufacturers and installers, licensing and customs authorities, and the judicial system.
Auto theft is not a victimless crime – or just a property crime. First, on average, it costs each policyholder an additional $35 on his or her insurance premium. On top of that, auto theft costs all Canadians at least $1 billion per year, if one also considers health care, court, policing, legal and out-of-pocket costs, such as deductibles.
Second, and more serious, auto theft costs people their lives. Car thieves have absolutely no regard for public safety and the rules of the road. Every year approximately 40 people die and 65 are injured as a direct result of auto theft. When it’s in the hands of a thief, a stolen car is like a loaded gun.
Canada’s home, car and business insurers are committed to better preparing communities for natural disasters. As part of this commitment, the industry recently donated $500,000 to support groundbreaking research into making houses more resistant to extreme weather.
The research is being conducted by The Faculty of Engineering from the University of Western Ontario at a one-of-a-kind research facility called The Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes. It allows for the study of damage to houses from wind, snow, rain and mould by simulating extreme weather, including winds of up to 320 km/h – the equivalent of a Category Five hurricane.
The project permits researchers to assess the structural integrity of houses, and develop cost-effective ways to retrofit existing houses and build stronger ones in the future.
The insurance industry is a leader in natural disaster mitigation. In 1998, insurers partnered with Western to create the 
Evidence suggests that the severity and frequency of extreme weather will continue to rise. A financially strong insurance industry will be there to help rebuild Canadian communities when disaster strikes. And, through initiatives like The Insurance Research Lab for Better Homes, it can help make Canadian communities stronger and better equipped to deal with extreme weather.
