Gulliver, Allegedly Making Fraudulent Insurance Claims Following on the Heels of Big Motor, Tokio Marine & Nichido Points Out “Inconsistencies in the Fire Release”
Gulliver, which is now under investigation for insurance fraudulent claims, following in the footsteps of Big Motor. Automotive journalist Kumiko Kato takes a close look at the allegations.
The insurance fraud claim issue is spreading from Big Motor to other major competitors in the industry. Is Gulliver (managed by IDOM Co., Ltd.), a major used car-buying and selling company, really “clean”?
On October 31, the author reported on Gulliver’s alleged fraudulent insurance claims in “Gendai Business. The report stated that Gulliver may be under investigation by a number of its non-life insurance business partners for fraudulent insurance claims. However, on November 1, Gulliver largely denied the allegations. It said that it had received a request for investigation only from Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance, and issued a release stating that it had confirmed three cases of erroneous claims. With only three cases out of the vast number of insurance claims paid, it seemed that the allegations of fraud had been put to rest, as it was a simple mistake that could have occurred at any company.
However, one company objected to this announcement. Tokio Marine was the one who requested the investigation. Tokio Marine is said to have a strong distrust of Gulliver’s release.
Before going into the issue, let us first summarize the contents of the release issued by Gulliver on November 1.
On September 4, 2011, IDOM received a request from Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance to inspect 120 cases out of a total of 245 cases.
Both companies conducted inspections of 120 cases.
Of the 120 cases inspected and investigated, our audit team investigated 8 cases that Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance requested us to re-inspect.
As a result of the re-investigation, we confirmed that three of the eight cases had incorrect claims due to lack of confirmation between the two companies (discrepancies: 4,450 yen, 41,535 yen, and 740 yen).
To summarize the above, “Gulliver cooperated with Tokio Marine to investigate whether there were any fraudulent claims, and as a result, three small cases were confirmed. However, this does not dispel the allegations. When this magazine interviewed Tokio Marine’s public relations department, the person in charge said, “We have a different understanding of some of the issues.
In response to our interview, a Tokio Marine representative said, “Of the 120 cases we inspected, eight were requested by Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance to be reinspected.
The statement, “Of the 120 cases that were inspected and investigated, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance requested us to re-inspect 8 cases,” is different from our understanding of the “8 cases that were requested to be re-inspected. The number of cases we have been requested to investigate is only 120, and the 8 cases are not requests for reinvestigation, but are representative examples of cases that we would like IDOM to proceed with confirmation on a priority basis.
He also talks about the three cases of fraudulent billing as follows.
The statement, ‘As a result of the re-investigation, three out of eight cases were found to be incorrectly billed due to lack of confirmation between the two companies,’ is also based on IDOM’s recognition that three cases were incorrectly billed due to lack of confirmation between the two companies, and is not something we have agreed to. （We have received explanations that there were no problems in all but three cases (out of the eight cases for which we requested priority investigation), but we will continue to request answers to the results of the investigation of the 120 cases,” said the company’s president.)
In other words, Tokio Marine is of the opinion that it has not yet completed its investigation of the fraudulent claims in all of the 120 cases it requested. In response to this, this magazine contacted Gulliver’s public relations department for an interview,
After our inspection and investigation of the 120 cases, Tokio Marine again requested an investigation of the 8 cases by personnel other than those in the maintenance and sheet metal departments (described in the press release as a “re-investigation”).
Tokio Marine denies some of Tokio Marine’s claims and asserts that it has completed the investigation of the 120 cases. The press release only announced the results of the 8 cases that were requested to be reinvestigated, but not the results of all 120 investigations,
The release stated, “This matter is still under discussion between the Company and Tokio Marine, including the reconciliation of the two companies’ understanding of the situation. We will continue to cooperate with the two companies to clarify the actual situation and resolve the issue, and will take necessary actions.
The response was, “We will continue to cooperate with the two companies to clarify the actual situation and resolve the issue. It was as if Tokio Marine and Gulliver were cooperating with each other, and that Tokio Marine’s intention was not to disclose the information.
In the end, Gulliver’s allegations of fraudulent billing are still in the dark. However, Tokio Marine is determined to keep the matter clear.
The survey we have requested covers the period from April 2010 to July 2011, and we are waiting for a response on the period we have requested. We will take firm action against fraudulent claims,” said a Tokio Marine representative.
As a large company with many customers, we hope that the actual situation will be clarified as soon as possible.
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PHOTO： Shinji Hasuo Interview and text by： Kumiko Kato
