| When insurance agencies designed their claims forms | | | | the insurance company had found the cigars to be |
| they made one very fatal mistake. They left a large, | | | | insurable without defining what they considered to be |
| blank area for drivers, homeowners, travelers and | | | | "unacceptable" fire, and forced the insurer to pay the |
| anyone else filing a claim by hand to describe, in their | | | | man $15,000 in damages. The insurer paid the claim, |
| own words, exactly what happened to cause their | | | | then turned around and had the man arrested for 24 |
| accident. These blank spots have given births to | | | | counts of arson. Guess who had the last laugh? |
| some of the funniest insurance claims stories ever | | | | A driver on his way to work one morning |
| told! Here's a look at what today's insurance | | | | stated, in quite an irritated fashion, that he had been |
| professionals see cross their desks every day: | | | | on his way to work that morning when he ran into a |
| When explaining the causes for his accident a | | | | bus at the end of his drive. His explanation? The bus |
| driver stated, "I was on my way to the doctor's with | | | | had the audacity to be five minutes early. |
| rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way, | | | | A young wife, anxious to see her Navy husband |
| causing me to have an accident." | | | | back from an extended tour of duty on a submarine, |
| Who says that middle age doesn't have its | | | | happily traveled to the harbor and parked her car on |
| drawbacks? A driver stated on his insurance claim | | | | the end of the slip where the sub was due in. With |
| form that they had "been driving [my] car for forty | | | | an inexperienced ensign at the helm the submarine hit |
| years when [I] fell asleep at the wheel." | | | | the end of the slip, causing the car to take an |
| "I didn't think the speed limit applied after | | | | unexpected and alarming plunge into the water. |
| midnight." Huh? | | | | Needless to say, the cost of a new car was on Uncle |
| "When I saw I could not avoid a collision, I | | | | Sam! |
| stepped on the gas and crashed into the other car." | | | | A driver stated that, while driving through farm |
| Why didn't we think of that? | | | | country, a bull "must have been tickled by a fly" |
| A Charlotte lawyer, appreciating the value of a | | | | because it violently gored the man's car. The question |
| good cigar, insured his 24 pack of rare and expensive | | | | is, what was the car doing in the meantime? |
| cigars through his homeowners insurance. A month | | | | And finally... |
| later, having quite happily smoked them all, the man | | | | Only in Louisiana. An insurance claims form |
| then filed a claim with his insurance company to | | | | stated, clearly and succinctly, that the man needed |
| reimburse him for the cigars. His claim? That they had | | | | to cash in on his insurance claim because "Windshield |
| been lost "in a series of small fires", which was more | | | | broke. Cause unknown. Probably voodoo." |
| than covered under his homeowners insurance policy. | | | | What were they thinking? |
| A judge actually ruled in the man's favor, stating that | | | | |