About a month ago, a band that my son likes was playing at a local pub. He parked his car in the pub parking lot and when he came out he saw someone had hit his car and scratched the front of his car at the side.

When he took the car to SGI (Saskatchewan Government Insurance) - and the damage is not severe - a dent just under the headlight and a long scratch - the adjuster accused him of hitting a post and told him that over 50 percent of claims are false. So now he has to go back again and try to convince them!

This is not a heap of junk. Its an almost brand new Audi A4. While repairs to an Audi might be expensive (I have no idea) its not like the whole side is stove in. Now he has to take time to go back again and maybe dispute SGI's decision. I think its absolutely ridiculous -- that is like saying that because we think 50 percent of claims are false we are going to dispute every piddling claim that comes in.

So where is "innocent until proven guilty"???

So now - all the rest of you can post all your contributions.

Oh, the joys of compulsory government insurance. ICBC are just the same.

When my car was hit in a parking lot this last August I went and got an estimate from a body shop first then decided it was not worth claiming. Damage $1,000 deductible $500. Possibility of rates increasing not worth even mentioning to the insurance company.

I have heard that even if you phone the insurance company to tell them of the "accident" but decide not to claim they still consider it a claim for renewal purposes. I can't say that is actually the case but I'm not willing to take the chance. I've already had my insurance cancelled back in the early nineties for three minor claims, don't want to go there again.

As far as I am concerned auto insurance is a necessary evil, nothing more.:curse::curse:

Actually something similar happened to me. Someone scraped the rear fender of my car in the Walmart parking lot last winter. I waited until spring and went to a body shop where the guy said why didn't I get it repaired under my insurance? As I hadn't had a claim for years and years, it didn't occur to me. So anyway, I decided to report it to SGI. The inspector guydidn't actually accuse me, but he said the paint on the car was yellow (I thought it was kind of a yellowy green) and it looked like I had driven into one of those (and he pointed) big yellow metal posts.

I said that as a matter of fact I was originally going to pay for the repair myself until someone at the body shop suggested I come to SGI, and if I had driven into a post I wouldn't have bothered coming to SGI I would just have gone ahead and paid for the damage. The adjuster told me that if the repairs were below a certain amount, and I forget what that was, I wouldn't pay extra on my insurance. So I just went ahead and paid the deductible.

But it is really annoying being accused of doing something you haven't done and wouldn't consider doing - just because they think lots of people do it.