Don't Be "That Guy"

On February 14, 2013, I was “that guy”.  You know who I’m talking about.  It was pouring rain, 33 degrees and flirting with freezing.  I had a five hour drive ahead of me that was looking like eight, needed to be home in six hours, and I was on a mission to make up some lost time after a late start.  A little earlier in the trip I noticed that my tires had lost a little grip on the road, but being invincible that didn’t deter me.  I just let off the gas and watched the speedometer drop about five ticks lower than normal.  No big deal.

After getting off the state highway and onto I-94, it only made sense to make up for some lost time.  I was west bound and down, passing cars left and right.  Now I was in full “that guy” mode.  You know, that guy you all wish would either a) wind up parked on the side of the road with blue and red lights flashing behind it; b) down at the bottom of a ditch, far enough to not drive out but not bad enough to get hurt; or c) all of the above. 

It just so happened that somewhere between Mauston and Osseo the temperature dropped a few degrees.  My car doesn’t have a temperature gauge, so I first noticed the temperature drop when we were flying backwards down the interstate at about 60 MPH.  I suppose the rain turning into snow was a dead giveaway, but I didn’t really notice it until we were parked safely at the bottom of the aforementioned ditch.

So all of those who were rooting for option “c”, they got their wish.  The WI state patrol is thicker than mud in the Mississippi, so we had a trooper there within seconds for a very unpleasant experience.  I got the last laugh though and somehow managed to drive the car out of the ditch without getting a “too fast for conditions” ticket.  Me = 1, other drivers = 1, state patrol = 0.  We’ll call it a draw.

If you’re like me on most days, it seems like “that guy” who flies by you on the interstate always gets away.   The same goes with insurance as well.  Fraud amounts to roughly 10% of all property and casualty claims paid in the U.S. each year.  Whether it’s stretching out a work comp injury, adding some fluff to a property claim, or exaggerating damage from an auto accident, all of these add up throughout the year.  Many people consider these things harmless and find ways to justify it to themselves.  In reality it’s illegal, and the costs are getting passed on to you and me.  Believe it or not, the insurance companies are not charity organizations.  They are there to make a profit, and if their costs are going up they will look to their policyholders to make up the difference.

When was the last time that you heard about someone getting caught?  Well I came across this example today and thought I’d share.  http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/midwest/2014/04/23/327127.htm.  In a nutshell, an Ohio woman was ordered to repay more than $32,000 in connection with working while collecting workplace injury benefits.  She got her hand caught in the cookie jar, and she could wind up spending some time in the big house as well.  She’s not the first and certainly won’t be the last to cheat the system, but it’s nice to see that every once in awhile the bad guys get caught. 

“That guy” will keep getting away with it unless we all work together to put an end to the problem.  So the next time you hear of someone who may be playing the system, stretching a claim or double dipping, speak up.  Insurance fraud affects us all, and we all wind up paying for it in the end. 

Andy Bertram CPCU, ARM-E

Risk Advisor
C.O. Brown
Phone: 651-800-6173
abertram@cobrown.com