Desperate owners are torching autos for insurance payout
That seems to be the approach a growing number of desperate car owners are taking in Las Vegas. Saddled with car payments they can no longer afford, many are driving their SUVs and sedans into the Nevada desert and setting them alight, hoping to cash in on the insurance claim. According to the Wall Street Journal, tow yards are filled with the blackened hulks of vehicles pulled from the desert. In one 36 hour period, police investigated eight car fires. “They look at this as their own personal stimulus package,” says one insurance industry spokesman.