There have been a lot of claims technology articles posted online in recent weeks and also in the June issue of Tech Decisions, but I felt I needed to conduct a deeper investigation of the claims process—particularly on personal auto claims—so I spent my Memorial Day in a crowded movie theatre watching Fast & Furious 6.

The Fast & Furious franchise (How many sequels does it take for a movie to become a franchise?) is known specifically for its fast cars and the derring-do of the crew of drivers led by the great thespian Vin Diesel. American racing fans might appreciate the fact that while others in the cast prefer Japanese or European cars, Diesel is a fan of Detroit muscle cars, in particular the Dodge Challenger.

As you might expect when you have a movie about fast cars and the people that drive fast cars, you are going to have a lot of accidents as they race through the streets of London. The real mayhem comes when the gang takes on a similar crew of bad guys who decide to wreak havoc with a tank.

I've never seen an actual tank in motion, but I'm guessing a tank would have a hard time keeping pace in the quarter-mile with a Dodge Challenger—even one that was street legal. I was wrong, though I'm guessing the Fast & Furious folks might have taken a few liberties with physics, as they've been known to do in the past.

The good news is there apparently were no injury claims from any of the accidents—even the ones where the tank crushes an oncoming car or shoots an overpass so it comes crashing down on the highway.

There were several times where I felt it was appropriate for Mr. Diesel and his crew to sit down with an adjuster or at least an accident investigator to file an official report or at least a First Notice of Loss.

Fortunately for the gang, there were no paperwork issues as they had the support of a government agent played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson who has the power to not only beat up suspects while they are in custody, hold a gun to the head of an American general to allow the bad guy to get away so they can re-catch him and save Mr. Diesel's sister in the final action sequence, and blow off insurance adjusters.

Wait until it comes time for policy renewal for you, Rock. You may be able to break international laws, but you can't hide your driving record from a good insurance carrier.

Special Reports /

Where’s the First Notice of Loss?

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