A driver collided with a cow. The questions and answers on the claim form were:
Q - What warning was given by you?
A - Horn.
Q - What warning was given by the other party?
A – Moo.
They may at first seem like an April Fools’ joke, but each year insurance companies around the world receive a number of bizarre, and sometimes disturbing, claims.
The following stories certainly add credence to the saying that truth is stranger than fiction.
Animals and motors
A surprising number of motor insurance claims involve animals. There’s the one about the car damaged at a garden centre. CCTV footage later revealed a passing camel had kicked the vehicle.
In another incident, an unfortunate motorist could only watch as a tired horse decided to rest on the car’s bonnet. One driver was the victim of a delinquent squirrel, which hurled a nut at the vehicle, cracking its windscreen.
Nut-wielding squirrels are one thing, but frozen squirrels can also cause plenty of damage. A frozen squirrel fell out of a tree and crashed through the windscreen on to the passenger seat, according to a Norwich Union claim.
Country life
The countryside is also rife with bizarre animal claims, according to rural insurer NFU Mutual. The owner of a house with a swimming pool decided to take a nap one afternoon, unaware that a neighbouring herd of cows was about to take a detour across his garden. He awoke to find his garden furniture in pieces and a cow in the pool.
A Lloyd’s underwriter recounts the tale of an unlucky UK farmer who cut off two fingers with a circular saw within weeks of a new policy starting. A second claim came in after the same farmer dropped a heavy weight onto his three remaining fingers, losing them as well.
People stories
Frozen squirrels, angry camels and destructive cows aren’t the only source of quirky claims. Human beings often provide the strangest tales.
A naked pedestrian was the cause of damage to one car after he climbed onto it and jumped up and down on the roof before running away, according to an incredulous motorist who filed a claim with elephant.co.uk.
There were a few blushes among the claims staff at Lloyds TSB Insurance after a claim was filed for the theft of an impressive collection of adult toys. “Nothing gets in the way of passion,” explained another customer when ringing up to report a broken bed and bedpost.
