Car bumpers
Autobumser is the colloquial term for people who fake or provoke traffic accidents with exclusively property damage in order to defraud the other party or insurance companies , in particular motor vehicle liability insurance . The term is also used in Switzerland for these facts, in Austria it is called “shot drivers”.
General
The insurance industry assumes that around ten percent of all traffic accidents in Germany show typical signs of manipulation and cause annual damage to motor insurance of 2 billion euros. Confronted car accidents are a relatively recent criminal offense, which exploits the confusion caused by the accident and is difficult to prove. The neologism appeared in Germany in 1973 for the first time in the forensics on.
The financial advantage for the perpetrators is that they collude with car repair shops to cooperate, the excess for the most expensive car repair costs into account. Often an essential feature of the claimed damage is that it is as high as possible in monetary terms and, at the same time, can be repaired with little effort. The repair method provided in the damage report serving as the basis for billing is generally not adhered to, but the primary goal is the optical restoration with the least possible effort. Such vehicles are usually used multiple times. In some cases lawyers or experts are also involved in the fraud.
Constituent elements
Either both parties involved in the accident are involved as professional fraudsters or the perpetrators involve unsuspecting drivers in an accident in order to claim insurance benefits. In both cases, the criminal offense of fraud within the meaning of Section 263 of the Criminal Code is realized. In addition, there is also a dangerous intrusion into road traffic according to Section 315b (3) of the Criminal Code, since an accident was caused intentionally. Accidents provoked meet the requirements of Section 315b (1) No. 2 StGB in conjunction with Section 315 (3) No. 1 and 2 StGB (dangerous interference with road traffic).
In the case of a staged accident, there is no traffic accident in the sense of a random, involuntary event under insurance law . In terms of traffic law within the meaning of Section 7 (1) StVG , a reported accident is also a real accident. The consent is merely a justification excluding liability . According to the external picture, there is no doubt about the liability from §§ 7, § 18 StVG, § 823 , § 831 BGB and thus also the liability insurer's obligation to enter according to § 115 para 1 VVG . A collision did indeed occur, albeit on purpose. This form of inspection is a variant of insurance fraud that occurs frequently in practice . The injured victim and the injuring perpetrator jointly cause the accident. In this context, accident reconstruction plays a major role, as stereotypical conditions are encountered.
Accident constellations
Rear-end collisions, violations of right of way or driving against parked vehicles are the most inconspicuous constellations in which legal liability and thus also that of the liability insurer is triggered. In the case of alleged traffic accidents, the view has been taken that the essential characteristic of an accident is involuntary. There can be no question of a traffic accident, for which according to § 7 Abs. 1 StVG is responsible, if the "victim" (the driver of the involved damaged vehicle) has consented to the collision. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has rejected this view, mainly because of the effects on the burden of proof . For the BGH, consent is rather a general justification for which the perpetrator bears the burden of proof. This view no longer plays a role in judicial practice.
cases
The most spectacular case is the “Speyrer Kreis” with 7,740 accidents and 7,049 vehicles among 1,000 people involved. The case of an extended family in Offenbach with more than 70 provoked accidents also attracted media attention. An offender from Weiden with 90,000 euros fictitious loss amount was established in January 2013 at 5 years and 6 months imprisonment sentenced. The verdict was mild because of an agreement prior to the trial.
Precautions
These are usually stereotypical accident situations that are brought to the insurance companies through damage reports. With the help of centralized computer programs, the insurance industry can filter out suspected cases of car booming and thus largely prevent unjustified amounts of damage from being paid out.
Individual evidence
- ^ The view of December 7, 2008, Der Autobumser von Bern
- ↑ oe24.at of January 29, 2012, gang provoked 118 car accidents
- ↑ www.gdv.de ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Association of the German Insurance Industry
- ^ Adolf Wahl, "Autobumser", in: Kriminalistik Jg. 27, 1973, pp. 451 ff.
- ↑ cf. the case of BGH NJW 1989, 3161 , where the perpetrator's brother owned a car repair shop
- ^ Insurance fraud: lawyer from Saarland convicted. September 10, 2010, accessed January 5, 2020 .
- ^ BGH, judgment of October 20, 2009, Az .: 4 StR 408/09 = NStZ 2010, 216
- ↑ BGH, judgment of December 13, 1977, Az .: VI ZR 206/75 = VersR 1978, 862, 864
- ↑ Ulrich Staab / Richter, insurance fraud , p. 1416 ff. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 153 kB)
- ↑ FOCUS Magazine No. 26 of June 25, 2001, It can affect anyone
- ↑ Spiegel Online from January 30, 2013, 15 arrests: Extended family is said to have faked more than 70 accidents
- ↑ BR Upper Palatinate of January 17, 2013, judges impose prison sentence ( memento of January 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Jörg Schiller, Insurance Fraud as an Economic Problem , 2004, p. 36
- ↑ DER SPIEGEL 10/1975 of March 3, 1975, highest level
