This year’s winning nomination in this category related to the reported theft of a 1995 Holden “VR” Commodore HSV enhanced “SS” V8 sedan. The version of events surrounding the
reported theft of the insured vehicle included the Insured attending a local service station on the evening of 24 April 2009 and returning home and then retiring to bed. It was alleged
that during the night the insured vehicle was stolen from the driveway in front of their residence. The vehicle was later located by Police just after midnight on 25 April 2009 approximately fifty kilometres south of the residence, completely destroyed by fire.

The Insured had a prior stolen motor vehicle claim ten months prior to the reported theft. Due to this the file was allocated to an investigator. Both the Insured and the Co-Insured (Insured’s wife), who were interviewed separately, were adamant that they had retired to bed by about 10:30 pm, after the Insured had returned home from the local service station.

A Forensic Locksmith was engaged to inspect the insured vehicle. The examination revealed that at the time of the fire the ignition system to the vehicle was still in place and the locksmith’s opinion was that the vehicle had been last driven with a correctly coded key. It was noted by the Forensic Locksmith that the insured vehicle a VR model Holden Commodore, came with an additional built in security system in that if a donor immobiliser system had been used that it had a forty-five (45) minute “time-out” feature whereby the vehicle could not be started.

The Insured had stated that he had attended the Caltex service station at about 10:00pm and was then in bed by about 10:30pm. The Investigator attended the Caltex and on searching the CCTV observed the insured vehicle and the Insured at the Caltex service station at 11:36pm. A copy of the Fire Report indicated that the Rural Fire Brigade had first been notified at 12:38am the next morning.

The investigator travelled to the incident scene.  He recorded the kilometres and the time to drive to the location, which was in a remote bushland area.  He was able to identify that the vehicle had crashed at the scene twice and then set on fire.

It was established that the offenders would have been with the insured vehicle for at least ten (10) minutes prior to being able to have started it, combined with the forty-five (45) minute “timeout” fitted to the vehicle.  The Insured’s husband was at the Caltex in the insured vehicle at 11.36 pm which means that there was not enough time for him to have travelled home, locked the vehicle, and then had the offenders wait the forty-five (45) minute “timeout” and then drive to the incident scene which was half an hour away. 

As a result of the evidence obtained during the investigation the insurer declined the Insured’s claim alleging fraud and the investigation file was handed to Police.

L-R: Jason Ostrofski and Suncorp Insurance, Acting Executive Manager Mr Chris Loane