A Singaporean woman has accused a taxi driver of making a false insurance claim and allegedly trying to extort over SGD2100 in an accident where the taxi was not damaged at all.
Ros Chia took to social media to call out an unnamed SMRT taxi driver. She claimed that on July 6, she was in a car with her husband, who was driving, when the taxi in front of them suddenly braked along the expressway. Mr Chia was able to brake and did not hit the taxi, but another car behind them was unable to stop in time and hit their car. According to Mrs Chia, the taxi remained undamaged throughout the incident.
However, when Mr Chia and Mr Ang, the driver of the car that hit them from behind, discussed the incident to resolve it, the taxi driver joined in, according to a report by The Independent. The Chias and Mr Ang were surprised that the taxi driver claimed that his car was also involved in the crash.
The Chias and Ang filed police reports after the accident, in case the taxi driver filed an insurance claim.
In October, three months after the incident, the Chias received an insurance claim on behalf of SMRT worth SGD2,114, saying it was due to Mr Chia’s “negligent driving”. The claim indicated costs of SGD1,450 for repairs, along with over SGD650 for loss of income expenses.
“This taxi driver has obviously filed a fake insurance claim! Mr Ang happened to have a passenger in his car as well, and both of them have kindly offered to be witnesses,” Mrs Chia wrote on her blog.
“For your reference, the repair cost for our car’s bummer that was hit by Mr Ang’s car from behind was only SGD250.”
Mrs Chia posted photos on her blog, and she called on SMRT and the police to look into the matter and to conduct a more thorough investigation.
“I strongly appeal to you to please look into this matter seriously and make a thorough investigation; so as not to allow errant taxi drivers as such to get away from trying to make a profit out of the insurance companies and implicate innocent victims,” she wrote.
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