The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The Ontario Trial lawyer. .-\ss(x'iation dis- misses the number outright. saying {he discrvp» uncy is so "enomwms as to be meaningless”. For years. the industry's wellâ€"fumied awkwâ€" tion has blamed the high prices. in huge part. on the exgessive amount of fraud committed by customers. BY IEIEMY GRIMALDI Ignmalduflvnng mm Ontario's auto insurance industry is widcly regarded as the most expensive in the country - with some customers paying 31mm! twice the premiums as drivers in other regions. The Insurance Bumau of Canada ohm cites $1.6 billion as the dolla: figure for phoney claims in Ontario. based on an estimate by auditor KPMG In mality. thaugh. many the picture is not so simmka ‘ But weeks after the pnwince railed fut a lS-per-cem rate cut in its annual budget. the chorus of voices questkming this assertion is "I’m not saying it's not a problem. but us not as big of a problem as lhev saw it is.” association president Ande Murray said, For 2010. KPMU imaged (mix! at $768 minim to $1.56 billion. ' Meanwhile. the (kmsumcrs' Aswciatkm of Canada questions why. if the bureau is so deter- mined to curb insurance fraud. it has just 10 staff invemigamm and almost as many Iotibyists at Park. according u) the mgistry. You’re paying too much for insurance: critics If they cared so much about fraud. lhvy Tuesday. June 18’“ Wednesday. June 19"” North York 0 The Audiology Centre Etobicoko 0 West End Hearing 340-1333 Sheppard Ave E 711-1243 lsfington Ave 416-498-4151 416-233-8581 A hearing aid mat talks to my lPhone! The New ReSound Unite!" j l “4;... Phone Clip+ is compatibte EU Whom with Verso hearing aids. ReSound Control ‘1 a free _ downbad in the App Store. extends these capabuittes. - The ixxsuraqce industry is benefitting from sav- ings that must be passed on to consumers. NDP MPP lagmect Singh says. wouid hire more investigators." consumer asso- ciation president Bruce (Iran said. "This fraud business is always exaggerated. It is one of their favourite smoke-and-mirmr techniques." The figures also prompted Mr. Murray to qm'stiun when: the hun’au's priurixiea lie. ‘ Huwwcr, human mmntunicatmns viceâ€"purs- ndent lames (kumbroek rejected the insinua- tion the organization is not entirely committed to towering costs for consumers. noting indi- n'dual insurance companies also employ their own fraud investigators. SUN-YRIBUNE FltE PHOTO the bureau's govemment relations outreach goal is to bring about change to keep auto insur~ anoe affordable and to remove some of the other goats in the system and red tape. he said. High auto insurance rates make consunwrs angry and that's not good for any mmpany. he said. “No industry wants the public to be wntful of the pmduct they are delivering." Ontario has a “(hdillac system. so wr ham- Cadillac prices". he added. “I think that that our industry is keenly interested in keeping dawn Costs." “ I However. this is only one [hm-ad of a detailed argument about high insurance cosm Questioned. too. is the amount of money being'made -â€"- and lost â€" in the industry. Since scplcmbor 2010. when lhcn-financv minister Dwight Duncan Imru! minor injury benefits for victims from $100,000 to $3.500. the industry has made about $2 billion a year. Mr. Murray T his contributed to an overall industrypmfn of S] .5 billion in 20] 1, his asux‘iation contends. Yet despite these imiustry-widt- cos! savings. rates continued to rise in 2010. ‘ They fell 2011 and mm by .26‘and .03 per cent. respectiveiy. His was one of the first organizations to say with all th‘c claim costs going down. then- shuuldn'l be a rvdumion in pn-miums, Mr Mur» ray said. manmstofthesrory.mlbyormgmcom York Regional Police fraud investiga- tors noticed a disturbing trend in auto insurance claims around the region in 2010. Probes into nine suspected hauduâ€" ‘ lent insurance and medical claims turned up $5 million worth of fraud. In response, the force's major lraud unit launched Project Sideswipe, a nine-month probe that concentrated on staged collisions and the reha‘ bilitation, assessment centres and paralegal services used by drivers and others involved. People were recruited by an orches- trater to be a driver or passenger in staged collisions using cars that were old and irreparable, police said. They would report the crashes to police, saying they were the only occupant in them to avoid investi- gationYet they would tell insurance companies there were five passen~ gers or, in one case, seven, in their vehicle, Det.(onst. Kim lanczos said. in August, 51 suspects were charged with 201 offences, includ- ing hand over 55.000 and obstruct ing police. DISTUHBING TREND 1?