A pair of consumer surveys probing Canadians’ perceptions about insurance fraud focus on very different elements of fraud but together they could suggest that consumers’ and insurers’ concerns about fraud may not be aligned.
The first from TD Insurance, which surveyed 1,641 Canadian adults, found that many struggle to identify what insurance fraud can look like in everyday life.
The TD survey’s results focus on what their own consumers may be doing which constitutes fraud, without knowing it.
They say only 58 per cent could successfully identify common, real-world fraud scenarios. The scenarios TD focused on included not updating mileage after driving more frequently, not disclosing tenants or short-term rental guests on a home policy, registering a vehicle under a parent’s name to reduce premiums, leaving a partner off an auto policy when they regularly drive the vehicle and padding repair estimates.
Consumers’ concerns
A second survey from Aviva Canada, was focused on consumers’ concerns. Top insurance fraud threats perceived by Aviva’s survey respondents included deliberate, staged vehicle collisions (a concern for 13.8 per cent of respondents), vehicle repair-related fraud (noted by 11.7 per cent of respondents) and unlicensed individuals posing as insurance brokers (a concern noted by 7.8 per cent of respondents).
Beyond these concerns, survey respondents were concerned about roofing or home repair fraud, deliberately inflating the cost of belongings and vehicle re-VINing. Only 5.2 per cent of those surveyed were concerned about providing false insurance details to obtain cheaper premiums.
Aviva adds that 59 per cent of the 1,569 surveyed agreed they were concerned about the costs of fraud pushing up premium costs.
