As far as priorities go in life, getting proper car insurance generally isn't one of the highest. It should be. Car insurance protects both one of your most costly investments – your car – as well as providing wider insurance on any injuries you might sustain in an accident. Most importantly, it provides cover should you injure a third party in an accident. There are many different types of Car insurance on the market, and picking the right one for you is a logistical minefield. This article will endeavour to show you how any potential fraudulent practise can be identified and subsequently combated.

First, a look at the law surrounding the issue. The law is unmoveable on car insurance: all drivers are required to have it. Failure to obtain Car insurance can lead to fines, driving bans and even prison for repeat offenders. Surely this legal threat is enough to convince even the most ardent critic of the need for car insurance. Created in 1930, UK law states that every driver must have at least third-party insurance against claims made by injured parties or owners of damaged property. Last modified in 1991, the law is crystal clear: indeed, it is an offence to fail to provide insurance certificate if requested to do so by a police office. The vehicle excise (or tax) disc is usually an indicator of the driver having purchased adequate insurance, although some drivers are tempted to purchase insurance to be able to buy a tax disc, and then getting a refund on the insurance within the 14 day ‘cooling off' period. A dangerous game indeed – if you were to be stopped by police, a serious offence would result from your failure to be able to produce insurance. Bearing all this in mind, the importance of protecting oneself against fraud becomes all the more apparent.

So just how do fraudsters try to make off with honest drivers' money? Essentially, it involves the creation of accidents: a misnomer really. The fraudster will orchestrate an ‘accident' that results in damage to (usually) their car or (rarely) their person. Insurance claims will be filed against you, and the fraudster will get some form of payout. Don't be sceptical about the fraudster's level of sophistication: now organised by serious crime gangs, the scams can be very complex and multi-layered, and hard to detect even with new technology. Essentially though, there are three main types of scam.

The first involves the use of false assistance to the victim driver. The fraudster will wave the driver into the road in times of busy traffic, but then subsequently deliberately crash into the driver. When later questioned, the fraudster will deny any waving and say that the crash was caused by busy traffic and poor driving on the side of the victim. Result? A payout for the fraudster and a disgruntled victim. This scam may be extended by the fraudster offering the names and addresses of doctors, garages or lawyers to ‘help' the victim in question. These – of course – will be friends of the scam artist and will cause further financial damage to the victim. Every stranger in the realm of car insurance needs to be viewed with caution, and any errant waving should not be taken to be necessarily beneficial.

Additional damage scams are the next genre of fraud. Whether the accident was genuine or not, the fraudster will go away and cause additional damage to the vehicle and/or him/herself, resulting in a larger insurance claim being made. Potentially, this could be a difference of thousands of pounds: a mere scratch of paintwork can easily be turned into something requiring a full re-spray by an unscrupulous driver. The method of combat? A full and diligent inspection of damage caused to the car immediately after the accident has taken place, preferably accompanied with date-stamp photos of the damage in question. Don't be scared of asking the other person involved if they would mind counter-signing a copy of the notes you've taken: if they're genuine, they won't refuse. After all, it's in their interests as much as yours.

The third main method of fraud is simply to stage or create an accident where there was no reason for one to happen. Commonly, this might involve over zealous braking when in front of the victim. This will cause the victim's car to rear-end the fraudster, causing damage to the car and possible injury. Even if no visible injuries are sustained, the scam artist may claim that whiplash – a virtually improvable injury to the neck vertebrae – has been caused. Possibly the hardest form of fraud to combat, the best method for dealing with it is to stop fellow motorists and ask for their account of events. Most likely, they will testify that the fraudster was at fault, and if submitted through formal, legal channels of communication should result in you being able to take an insurance claim out against the fraudster.

All three main methods can be effectively fought and beaten. Follow the simple advice and get in the fast lane to a happy motoring life.