Insurance Companies Insist 'Unbreakable' System Means You Stole Your Own Car

from the sorry,-won't-pay-out-for-that dept

Mon, Jul 31st 2006 1:24pm — Mike Masnick

It's no secret that insurance companies have to deal with plenty of fraud -- but it appears they sometimes take fighting that fraud too far. For instance, apparently many insurance companies really believe that the various car anti-theft systems are unbreakable, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Just a few months ago, researchers showed how easy it was to break auto anti-theft systems found in many vehicles today. Yet, insurance companies apparently like to believe in the fiction that it's impossible to break the RFID-based system that protects these cars. It gets them out of paying insurance claims -- though, it leaves plenty of victims in a pretty deep hole (with the insurance company often accusing them of fraud), through no fault of their own. At what point does someone sue an insurance company over the false claim that these systems are unbreakable? Of course, the insurance companies will probably just respond by raising your premium and noting that you shouldn't get a discount for such anti-theft systems, since they're ineffective.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

25 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Joe, 31 Jul 2006 @ 1:39pm

Just another reason why everyone hates insurance companies...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 31 Jul 2006 @ 2:06pm

next they are going to say, I burned my own car because I owed more than it was worth. And they are going to say I used 3 gallons of gas to burn it, yea right I only used 1, you know how expensive gas is?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- DittoBox, 31 Jul 2006 @ 2:23pm
  
  Re:
  +5 Funny.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
rijit (profile), 31 Jul 2006 @ 2:23pm

If you can sue them...
Insurance companies spend a lot of money in Washington to get legislation passed so you can't sue them. It has happened in the past, is happening now, and more than likely, it will happen again. After all, with government on the take, who could blame them? If you can buy laws to keep people from sueing you, why not? It will save them money in the end. Pay a million or two now in contributions or pay hundreds of millions in law suits.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- DittoBox, 31 Jul 2006 @ 2:25pm
  
  Re: If you can sue them...
  A million or two? That's one lucky-arse politician. Most of 'em start whoring themselves out for a few thousand...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
rijit (profile), 31 Jul 2006 @ 2:29pm

RE: DittoBox #5
Yeah million or two, you have to buy a lot of politicians now-a-days, one is just not enough anymore. Paying hundreds of people thousands of dollars, it adds up.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lee, 31 Jul 2006 @ 2:39pm

Auto insurance companies are reporting record profits and reduced claims. Go figure.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Jim B., 31 Jul 2006 @ 2:48pm

The Senator from State Farm & the Congressman from Allstate resent the comment about them being whores.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
toby, 31 Jul 2006 @ 3:22pm

auto theft systems are ineffective
Has anyone ever not had a car stolen because of an anti-theft system? If you are smart you won't waste the money on it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
AMP, 31 Jul 2006 @ 3:47pm

Yeah, this is a bunch of crap. Auto insurance premiums are supposedly lower the more anti-theft devices you have on your car. So you spend $ up front to "lower" your premiums. Then your car gets stolen and they tell you that because you had anti-theft devices this is a fraudulent claim so you are screwed. They get you coming and going.
How much would my insurance premiums be if I took my anti-theft device and shoved it up my insurance agent's ass?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 31 Jul 2006 @ 3:59pm

#11 !
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Neopolitan Bone'na'park, 31 Jul 2006 @ 4:06pm

Revolution!
I say we stage a new revolution, lets take our kids and as many worldy possessions as we can fit in a blanket tide around a stick and head for some foriegn land where people are not as corrupted and insurance executives arn't ruling there villages with an evil fist, and pressing their whoremongering religion on the poverty stricken towns people. What do you say! ONWARD BACK TO ENGLAND! ... I wonder if they still like tea, I hear theres a bunch of it in Boston.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Dizzle, 31 Jul 2006 @ 4:25pm
  
  Re: Revolution!
  Good luck! When you get kicked out of there for being a psycho commi don't come back!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Neopolitan Bone'na... Stupid! OOOHh!, 31 Jul 2006 @ 4:31pm
  
  Re: Revolution!
  Yeah your a stupid face pants head! And your crazy too. Nobody likes people who see the fall of our nation to the money hungry @55 phU|
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
jime, 31 Jul 2006 @ 4:27pm

best anti-theft device goin' is drive a vehicle thief's aren't after....
you can creatively bash a fender or three, and have a car or truck thief's won't look twice at, n still have a mechanically sound & good runnin' ride.........
havin' slick pimped out, or high end rides are all BS anyway, just cost more $$ to insure, n higher payments to the robbers, errr, dealer n bank....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 31 Jul 2006 @ 4:43pm

we all know i fauto insurance was not manditory it would be dirt cheap. Because the government states we must have it or we face tickets and other troubles the insurnace companies can stick us for what ever they wish. If there was no supporting it then they would be at the mercy of us buying it and we could get good coverage for peanuts.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ProgramAIR, 31 Jul 2006 @ 4:48pm

I Stole My Own Car, sort of...
A month after I bought a used car, it suddenly refused to start. I figured the starter was bad or a fuse was blown. So, since it's a manual transmission I pushed it up to 5mph and dropped it into second gear to start it.

I continued push starting it for a few days, about a dozen times. I replaced the starter, checked the wiring, ignition switch, fuses, fusible links, relays - all to no avail. Eventually I took it into a repair shop and they discovered there was a well hidden 3rd party anti-theft system. I wasn't told about it when I bought the car, and it had been set off some how.

Clearly, that anti-theft system didn't prevent me from starting and driving away in the car.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Chris, 31 Jul 2006 @ 7:18pm
  
  Re: I Stole My Own Car, sort of...
  And do you know what would have happened if your car had been stolen, thats right! The insurence company would have sued you for a fraud claim, dropped your coverage, and added you to the bad list (The list you dont want to be on!)
  
  Come on, when does common sense kick in. Next they will say that because our homes have buglar alarms we couldnt have been robbed so we are making a fraud claim.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Joe Blow, 31 Jul 2006 @ 7:40pm

The best theft device ever used is a ...
tow truck or "roll back" as we call'em down here in the SE USA. I don't care how unstealable your system ain't nothin' gonna keep somebody from drilling a hole through the battery to disable the alarm and then dragging that sucker up on a flat bed roll back and driving off.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Andy, 1 Aug 2006 @ 6:54am
  
  Re: The best theft device ever used is a ...
  Drilling a hole through the battery? Wouldn't be easier to take the red wire off the one of the terminals? Wouldn't be easier to use a normal tow truck than a flat bed truck? With a tow truck you can just pull in front of said car with unbreakable anti-theft devices and have the car jacked in less than 10 seconds, no drilling or chains required. Or you can do it the Chicago way: at a stoplight or gas station order someone out of their car at gunpoint, drive to West-Loop chop-shop, buy crack, write home to mom. You: 1 + Crack, Anti-theft device: 0.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
JL, 31 Jul 2006 @ 10:19pm

"we all know [if] auto insurance was not manditory it would be dirt cheap."

Quite possibly. Did you know that you can get aircraft insurance which includes a million in liability + full coverage of the aircraft (over $150,000) for around a thousand dollars a year (give or take, depending on the type of aircraft and pilot certificate held).

Try insuring a similarly priced motor vechicle for that rate!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 1 Aug 2006 @ 7:44am
  
  Re:
  well how often do air planes get in fender benders?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
RandomBoy, 1 Aug 2006 @ 2:34am

the obvious solution ...
Don't buy insurance! Why can't everyone see that the insurance companies are making a fortune from our risk-aversion?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 4 Aug 2006 @ 12:34pm

Unbreakable...

LOL
LOL
LOL

There's not much else that needs to be said...
Just like your credit card data is secure right.

How can they be so stupid.... sheesh
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
auto insurance, 21 Apr 2016 @ 4:47am

insurance
auto insurance
[ link to this | view in chronology ]