Garage gang admits pocketing £320k in 'sophisticated' crash for cash scheme by pretending to carry out repairs that never took place

Garage gang admits pocketing £320k in 'sophisticated' crash for cash scheme by pretending to carry out repairs that never took place 

A gang of fraudsters face jail after admitting their roles in an elaborate cash for crash scheme that brought them £320,000 for bogus claims, and went undiscovered for nearly a year.  

Ringleaders R. P., 36, and K. V., 45, submitted claims for vehicle damage resulting from collisions that were either been deliberate or had never taken place.

Using stolen identities and the names of their gang members they took out policies on dozens of vehicles with a repair finance service that offers instant credit to drivers to repair crash damage.

And they set up a bogus body repair workshop to provide the finance company with photos showing the repairs being carried out.

But none of the repairs were ever checked and the scheme only unraveled when insurers became suspicious about the number of crashes happening within days of a policy being bought.

The remaining eight members of the criminal group either caused the collisions or knowingly provided their details to legitimise the claims.

The 'crash for cash' scheme - ran between December 2015 and October 2016 - was uncovered following an investigation by the City of London Police's Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED).

'The sophisticated level of planning involved in this scheme shows the greed of calculated insurance criminals and the measures they will take to gain financially,' said Detective Sergeant A. M..

The plot took form in December 2015 when the ringleaders registered with the repair finance service which provides credit to non-fault drivers whose vehicles were damaged in accidents.

This enables non-fault drivers to receive funds to repair their vehicles within 24 hours rather than having to wait for an insurer to pay out.

The company would then claim back the cost of the repair from the at-fault driver's insurer.

But staff from the repair finance service did not physically inspect the vehicles to confirm that the damage was genuine and made payments into a bank account opened by V. .

However, multiple insurers began to raise concerns about the validity of the claims, as many of the insurance policies were taken out shortly before the collisions were said to have occurred, or the insured vehicle was not registered to the policyholder.

The case was referred by the Insurance Fraud Bureau to the IFED, whose officers investigated eight repair finance claims submitted by the body repair shop and found they had not undertaken repairs for any of them.

The investigation revealed that P. and V. had submitted repair finance claims totalling £275,548 for 39 collisions between December 2015 and October 2016.

A total of £321,055 was paid into V. bank account during the same period and was withdrawn as cash or transferred into other accounts linked to P. .

Detective Sergeant M. hailed the success of their investigation after all ten men pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court, and warned that insurance fraud hits all honest drivers in the pocket.

'Crash for cash' fraud puts motorists at risk and contributes to the rise in premiums for everyone who buys insurance,' he said.

'This was a complex and lengthy investigation and the fact that the group have now admitted their guilt demonstrates the strength of the evidence against them.

'Crash for cash' fraud doesn't go unnoticed by the insurance industry or law enforcement and we will work collaboratively to root out organised crime, as this case has shown.'

K. V., of Sheffield in South Yorkshire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and money laundering.

A. D. - also known as A. S. - of W. in Warwickshire, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

The remaining eight members of the group pleaded not guilty and a four-week trial began at Birmingham Crown Court on January 20, but all changed their pleas to guilty during the first week of trial.

R. P., 40, of Walsall, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and money laundering.

A. H., 42, of Oldham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

D. G., 38, of Wolverhampton; M. J., 32, of Dudley; S. K., 32, of Walstead; A. N., 40, of Dudley; J. P., 37, of Sandwell and A. R., 50, of Walsall, all pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.

The group will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on 28 and 29 April 2025.

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