The award category for the Insurance Industry Auto Theft Investigation of the Year Award was one of the most highly contested categories this year, with only one point out of a possible
total of ninety points separating the winner and runner-up.

The well-deserving winner was Ms Jenny Caldwell of Western Australia. Jenny was instructed by her client to investigate the circumstances of a motor vehicle theft claim, where the Insured vehicle had been discovered stolen one morning after the Insured had been drinking heavily the night before.

The Insured spun an intricate tale of her attendance at a party leading to a romantic encounter with a stranger, before carrying on the party at her friend’s house and passing out on the lounge. In the morning, she woke up, and went to leave around 9am - to her horror she discovered that the car and the car keys were missing. She reported it stolen straightaway. In the meantime, the car had been recovered by the Fire Brigade, damaged and burned out, around 7.40am.

The breaking point for the Insured was when Jenny asked her to explain how her phone records showed her mobile phone being used in the vicinity of the recovery site about 20 minutes before the Fire Brigade were notified of the fire…when she was meant to have been asleep at her friend’s house over 20km away!

At this point, the Insured made the wise decision of admitting to Jenny that the theft had been staged by her friends, who had borrowed the car and crashed it whilst drunk and unlicensed, and that she had agreed to go along with the story.

Through great interviewing skills; methodical follow up on all leads and available documents; and application of innovative techniques, Jenny received an outstanding result – not only giving her client sufficient evidence to reject a fraudulent motor vehicle theft claim, but also to obtain restitution for their investigation costs!

Many thanks to the judges who helped determine the winner of the year’s Investigation of the Year – Paul Angus (Partner, Turks Legal); Mark Rix (General Motor Manager, Claims Services Australia) and Laurie Ratz (Special Risks Manager Insurance Council of Australia & Insurance Fraud Bureau of Australia).

Jenny Caldwell receiving her 2012 Insurance Investigation of the Year award from Australasian Branch President Mark Bennedick