"Jim...In todays world you'll get to an attorney much quicker...facing a fraud charge. What don't you folks understand? The other guys story must be different. If the stories don't match they will investigate to determine who is at fault."

That's exactly why I've waited until police arrived at the scene of an accident to give an eyewitness report of several accidents that didn't involve me. The problem is, some insurance companies won't settle without the matter being moved into the courtroom, on the chance that the victim(s) will just give up on pursuing what is due them. It took more than a year to settle on a motorcycle accident in which I was hurt. The insurance company made an offer after being filed with a real life lawsuit. My attorney told me to turn it down and wait for their next offer. I did. What they paid was triple what I would have been happy with, had they been willing to pay me within a month or two of the accident, and there was no way for them to believe the accident was my fault. I've already explained an accident (in another recent thread) where I was hit by a car, and went to the insured party's insurance company to ask them to fix the damage, and it took 10 minutes to get the check.

I'm not an actuary, but there must be a reason these companies do this. When faced with triple the payments due after settling, I'd think that they might be better off just paying the original claims.