A new crime wave !

We live in the " information age " and all it takes is for one bright young mind to have an innovative idea - and a new crime wave is up and running.

Many years ago, disposing of an unwanted motor vehicle often involved organising it's supposed " theft ".   What happened next was subjected to a long list of interesting scenarios.    The one common factor was the destruction of the vehicle - and the consequent insurance claim that resolved the owner's problem.

Of course the insurance industry put protective measures in place.  Their investigators became adept at uncovering insurance fraud and each and every incident was subjected to a detailed investigation.  A few people got prosecuted and that type of fraud rapidly diminished - and where it still persisted it became the province of professional gangs - who would organise an insurance " job " with all the correct procedures in place to fool the sleuths - for a cut of the profits.

In recent years selling an unwanted, late model car has become harder.  Brand new, low priced cars from Korea and China have lured away buyers because these vehicles come with a five year factory warranty, and as a result the gap between a realistic selling price - and the insurance value - has become ever widening.
The number of cars available for private sale is huge, judging by the cars we see on the roads and parked in streets with sale details chalked on windows or on a sign fixed to the car.

In the past twelve months the Australian weather pattern has changed, and from drought we are now a land affected by floods.    Month after month - state after state - we see pictures on the television news of flood affected houses, streets underwater  - and cars submerged.    It didn't take long for the opportunities offered to filter through to bright minds -  and in this information age - mobile phones and SMS quickly spread the message.

Opportunity was knocking - and the forecasters were giving a helping hand.   The weather news was good at predicting rainfall and the forecasters were good at predicting precisely where the flooding would occur.   It became a simple matter of parking your car legitimately in the path of a coming flood - and waiting for the water to arrive.

In many ways, the insurance industry has been complicit in triggering this new crime wave.  New entrants offering insurance are involved in a heated advertising battle for business and the cover offered for cars bears no relation to what a car is actually worth as either a private sale or as a trade-in at a car dealership.   The more this gap widens, .the more the incentive for a contrived insurance claim.

And it's not over yet.    According to the weather people, the intense rain band that has swept across this continent during the past few days still has a lot more water to deliver - and the long range forecasters predict that autumn and winter will deliver a wet year.

What odds that we will see a big change in the value insurance companies  use to insure late model cars - in contrast to the contrived " market value " presently used.     The present wide gap simply invites a crime wave !