Puls Biznesu in the article ‘A Pole can…scam insurance’ wrote that cases of encouraging clients by agents to give false information when buying MPTL insurance are being observed.
LINK4 complained about this unethical practice. Recently the insurance company sent an open letter to agents who cooperate with the firm. LINK4 wrote about cases of double activity by its agents (more: Link4 criticized the double activity of its agents). Currently the insurance company is cautioning agents for MTPL insurance scams.
The practice consists of encouraging clients to give false information during the process of buying MPTL insurance. It is not a new idea. Clients very often give false information when buying insurance which has an effect on the cost of these premiums.
But now, in this case, insurance companies are suffering because of serious mistruths which originate from their agents employed and rewarded by LINK4. Examples of such mistruths are: giving false testimony about the lack of recent car accidents, false information about cars such as brand and engine capacity. The agents also encourage the registration of private cars as company cars or lie that a car will not be driven by a young person. Insurance companies have found practises of hiding a car’s history, especially information about previous owners or the car’s usage. Agents have even insured trailers or refrigeration trucks as motor cars.
Agents do this to obtain clients. Recently the price of MTPL premiums has increased. So the agents make use of every chance to decrease prices and sell insurance in order to receive commissions.
The insurance companies know about the agents’ scams. If UNIQA, for example, discovers unethical behaviour, it does not pay any commission. LINK4 excludes agents from its database after the third case of any scam. Other companies punish the clients by re-estimating the premium on the basis of real data.
However insurance companies generally have a problem with proving any fraud. False information can be proved after a car accident and the database of MPTL insurance owed to the Insurance Guarantee Fund is helpful for the insurance companies. It contains information about all car accidents in which an insured car has been involved.
