And the funny thing is...
"By detecting and preventing these claims, we’re helping protect honest customers from the cost of fraud."
... I can't tell if this is ChatGPT ending Aviva's reply in the way it usually does or if it's a real human.
UK fraudsters using AI to doctor 'evidence' in motor insurance claims
UK insurer Aviva is receiving tens of thousands of reports from scammers looking to profit from claims embellished using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Aviva and its wider brand portfolio received an estimated 18,400 plus fraudulent claims in 2025, backed by doctored evidence includeding AI-generated car accident scenes, …
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Monday 8th June 2026 11:32 GMT lglethal
Re: "fabricated images exaggerating damage"
Easy, because a person is expensive, and they would rather do it on the cheap.
They would have calculated how much a necessary host of Assessors would cost, and then assumed a level of false claims when the assessors are no longer there. And so long as the level of false claims was lower than the cost of the assessors, then goodbye Assessors.
But now people are cheating with AI and it's costing them more than the cost of the Assessors, and that's just not fair on the poor Insurance Firm and their poor little C-Suite...
Aw diddums...
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Monday 8th June 2026 13:29 GMT munnoch
Re: "fabricated images exaggerating damage"
The rear door of my car was slightly damaged, other party left a note taking responsibility.
[Aside, it was a post office van and he left the note on one of his "sorry we missed you" cards! The irony did not go unnoticed.]
First point of contact was a lawyer who asked for pictures. Then I was passed to a claims manager, who asked for pictures. Then I was passed to a repair company who asked for pictures. When questioned how long they'd have the car in for response was "we don't know until we see it".
They picked up and dropped off my car on a flat bed, and I got a hire car for the duration equivalent to mine rather than a tiny little courtesy car. How nice being the injured party. The hire car was dropped off and picked up at my home, with a van from the hire company making the same journey to collect/drop off their driver. All of these journeys were 30 to 40 miles each way.
It gets better (worse). They cocked up the repair leaving a very obvious pattern in the paint where it had been filled. When I raised it they, guess what, asked for pictures. Chased them about it, no mention of the pictures but, can you bring it in so we can have a look? Round trip an hour each way plus an hour sitting in their reception hearing what all the girls on the phones had for tea last night whilst the workshop tried to magic the defect away. Without success. Maybe if they'd looked at the pictures...
Its now booked in for "correction" so presumably the same sequence of drop offs and pick ups.
With the number of people involved all apparently clueless or unable to make decisions perhaps having an assessor involved would be an improvement. This was an incredibly minor repair that didn't require any over-priced manufacturer parts, yet the bill to the insured will be many thousands. I'd be worrying far more about inefficiency and stupidity in the industry as a whole than fraudulent claims as a source of high costs.
Or maybe this is the much vaunted increase in economic activity we've been promised....
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Monday 8th June 2026 16:03 GMT Sproggit
Re: "fabricated images exaggerating damage"
I'm not sure if this is still the case, but for anyone reading this and who experiences vehicle damage in the future...
1. You should have the right to have your vehicle repaired at an authorised repair centre of your choosing.
2. As long as the repair centre is accredited and recognised by your insurer, that is very rarely a problem.
3. Always, always, always, always pick a well-regarded repair centre as close to where you live as possible.
You want to go with a local repair centre for exactly the experience that munnoch describes above - what happens in the case of shoddy workmanship. If the vehicle is sent to a centre 40 miles from where you live, you'll find that the insurance company can start to kick off if you insist that the repair is re-done. The thing is, if your vehicle has metallic paint, getting a really good match with existing panels can be hard... If you park your vehicle "outside", your paint will fade, so getting a really good match with existing panels will be hard.
It seems terrible to have to write this, but you should go in to the insurance claim experience expecting to have to turn down the first repair and insist that some of the work is re-done. Make ABSOLUTELY sure that you get a very clear understanding of the work they are committing to deliver. For example, does the offer include the vehicle being "cleaned thoroughly, inside and out"? If so, insist it gets done.
Finally, especially if you're the not-at-fault party, be particularly careful about anyone offering to "manage the claim for you". The idea here is that by default your insurers will "offer" to manage the claim [or not tell you that you get a say in the matter]. However, there are circumstances, especially when you are the not-at-fault party, when having your repair centre manage the claim can be a good thing - because they are volunteering to put their neck in a noose for you. They are volunteering to "owning" all aspects of the repair to your satisfaction. It may seem at first blush that there is little difference between a remote insurer or your local repair centre doing this... but if you have a good quality local repair centre and you get them to manage the claim, then if ANYTHING goes wrong, you know exactly where to go to get redress. Even better, your local repair centre likely employs far fewer than any UK motor insurance company, so you have a 99.999% chance of being able to speak with the same person each time you visit or get in touch.
I was unfortunate enough to have a series of claims [all non fault] with a new car I bought in 2011... and I took the vehicle to the same local repair specialist each time. There was then an interlude of a few years of trouble-free motoring and then a random accident when a lady drove on to a roundabout without stopping or looking and came straight in to the passenger side door... When I took my car back to the same repair centre maybe 4 or 5 years after a previous visit, an estimator came out to look at the damage, took one look at me, pointed, and said (in a delightfully loud voice - and with a grin), "I know you! You're bl00dy fussy!"
We had a laugh and they did the work... and they did a flawless job of it, too.
Remember, we each pay a very great deal of money for our vehicle insurance, so when something unfortunate happens and it needs a repair, it's worth your time and effort to get a *good* repair. If for no other reason, you don't want an obvious and poor-quality bodge job, as it will reduce the resale value of your car when you come to sell it.
I've never hard to argue, only ever just be polite but firm and willing to stand my ground, be sure of my facts - and quote insurance company marketing material back at them if I have to. To be fair, it takes a while sometimes, but you can usually get very good quality service just by being clear, firm and fair.
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Monday 8th June 2026 20:06 GMT mark l 2
“Fraud isn’t a victimless crime – it drives up the cost of insurance for everyone"
So because they have caught all these fraudulent claims they can offer people lower renewal premiums for their next year? No thought not, those saving will get passed on as executive bonuses and to the shareholders. While the customers will get told they have to pay more because of 'market conditions'
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Tuesday 9th June 2026 11:55 GMT David Hicklin
Sadly fraud is driving up the costs all the time, then add in how complex it is to repair a modern car means that they are often written off.
And don't get started on electric cars were a bump makes the whole battery suspect (is this still the case ??)
Oh and pot holes but that subject could trigger a whole article on its own !
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Tuesday 9th June 2026 14:58 GMT tiggity
"“Professional enablers” – rogue white-collar workers, such as lawyers"
Aren't rogue lawyers fairly common?
I know a few decent legal people - but they have some scary stories about some of their ex* colleagues
* generally ex for ethical reasons. Even though we are talking legal companies, they often just get rid of people, rather than getting them disbarred / struck off (depending on what category of law jobs they come under) as it a lot less hassle than time consuming formal proceedings (so loss making) & ut can reflect badly on the partnership (even though they were not at fault) if it becomes known they employed a "wrong un" (& that all gets revealed if disbarring / striking off action goes ahead) -
