Maryland Business

By: Danielle Ulman

Not that you would do this, dear readers, but the Maryland Insurance Administration wants you to know that setting your car on fire for the insurance money isn’t the answer to getting out of auto debt.

We are apparently in the tail end of “National Arson Week,” and MIA Commissioner Ralph S. Tyler says burning up your car for the insurance reimbursement is “both dangerous and illegal.”

I guess that’s why some people hire someone else to do the job. According to the Wall Street Journal, the going rate for having someone else drop a lit match on your car is $500.

Instead of going to all that trouble, Tyler recommends getting in touch with your lender to try to work out lower monthly payment; trading the car in for one with lower payments; or selling your vehicle and giving the money to your lender to bring down your debt.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau says that suspicious car fires jumped from 596 in the first quarter of 2008 to 757 during the corresponding period in 2009, a 27 percent increase. ABC News reported last month that the economy is driving up car arson. The problem is particularly bad in Las Vegas, where drops in tourism and construction have left many out of work.

Police there said they found 70 torched cars on one stretch of road in the last year, not to mention all those cars hidden in desert canyons.

The MIA cautions that not only can insurance fraud land you jail time, penalties and fines, but turning your car into ashes doesn’t erase your debt and you’re left without a ride. Sounds like a losing situation all around.