Some time ago, some pictures and a video went viral of a man who crashed a Bugatti Veyron, one of the most expensive cars in the world, into a lake. Now the driver, Andy House, is being sued Tesla insurance costs after he told the insurance company he was distracted by a pelican.

Lying about crash could set Andy House back more than $2 million

The Bugatti Veyron is among the most stunning technical achievements in automotive engineering. It’s been called the equivalent of a Concorde jet on tires and a lot of people would not disagree. The car costs more than $2 million and all told, only a few hundred will ever exist.

Thus, if someone wrecks one due to their own blundering, it’s impossible to explain just how much of a dunderhead they are for their carelessness.

One such dummy is Andy House who, according to the Daily Mail, drove his Veyron into a lake in Texas in 2009. Another driver captured the wreck on video. It went viral and has since been viewed 3.7 million times. It is also being used as evidence, as House’s insurance company is suing him for insurance fraud.

The pelican brief

In the video, Andy House basically drives it straight into a salt marsh. It’s like he fell asleep at the wheel. There’s no braking, no fishtailing, no nothing; just straight into the water. House wrote in his insurance claim for the $2.2 million price of the car that he dropped his cell phone and then was distracted by a low flying pelican.

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The video shows no pelican whatsoever, which is exactly why his insurance company, Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company, filed a lawsuit against House in 2011, two years after the accident, according to AutoBlog. The lawsuit has been delayed since then, but Philadelphia Indemnity believes House drove it into the lake to get a $2.2 million check, the value of the car.

House, according to the Daily Mail, bought the car for $1.2 million, about three weeks before it was crashed outside La Marque, Texas. The insurance company says they have an informant who House allegedly tried to bribe into setting the car on fire to claim a total loss for a $1 million payday.

Fraud a huge problem

Whether or not Andy House really was committing auto insurance fraud is up for debate, of course. However, if he was, his was one of thousands of instances of it. According to Edmunds, there are two categories of auto insurance fraud, “hard” and “soft.” Soft fraud involves padding the bill, like adding old damage to an accident claim. Hard fraud includes things like crashing into something on purpose to collect a check, or falsely claiming an injury.

It also takes an economic toll. It’s estimated that the costs of insurance fraud add up to $400 to the bill of each insured persons’ bill, meaning that part of the cost of insurance payments, on top of keeping it brimmed with gas, maintained and payments on the loan for your car, is subsidizing frauds.

For your viewing pleasure – contains some NSFW language

MCDE Editorial