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These days, auto insurance fraud still poses a major problem for many policy issuers, and that, in turn, ends up resulting in costs passed on to drivers who were in no way involved in the issue. As such, these companies are now doing more to help detect the things most commonly linked to this type of crime. Nonetheless, insurance agents may want to let consumers know the ways in which fraud affects their premiums, and help them to better understand the issues typically associated with it.

Auto insurers and officials in Miami-Dade County recently came together to do a few controlled burns of vehicles so that they could better spot cars that had been torched in an attempt to make a fraudulent insurance claim, according to a report from Miami television station WPLG. Miami is often listed among the top five cities in the U.S. where auto insurance happens most, and nearby Hialeah is likewise typically included. In fact, the vast majority of such cases usually take place in Florida every year.

""We've decided to burn a couple of vehicles to teach the investigators how to detect this fraud,"" Carlos Torres, who works for a local insurance company, told the television station. ""The fraud in Florida is very high. Usually people have a financial motive or don't like their car anymore, so they'll set them on fire to make them a total loss.""

Part of a larger trend
This attempt to crack down on auto insurance fraud is just one of many regularly undertaken by authorities at the state and local levels every year, and a number have taken place already in 2014. Los Angeles recently began a major investigation as well, and officials in Arizona are likewise trying to determine why these kinds of crimes happen most often, as a means of better understanding the ways in which they can be effectively stamped out.

Insurance agents who can explain to consumers exactly why their policy costs occasionally go up through no fault of their own - sometimes the result of rampant insurance fraud - might be best positioned to see improved levels of customer satisfaction and retention. In general, Americans seem to prefer improved service on their accounts to lower prices, and bridging that gap can go a long way toward helping boost policyholders' loyalty overall.

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