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Best funny car claims

Suncorp Claims Team has identified for Carsguide some of the more "unusual" claims

Suncorp Claims Team has identified for Carsguide some of the more "unusual" claims stories to show a lighter side to the industry.

But that didn't stop UK comedian Jasper Carrott from performing a hilarious stand-up routine in the 1980s in which he simply read out real accident insurance claims.

Examples were: "Leaving for work, I drove out of my drive straight into a bus. The bus was five minutes early"; "I bumped into a lamp post which was obscured by human beings"; and "Coming home, I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I haven't got."

He also performed an Australian version with insurance claims such as: "The pedestrian had no idea which direction to run, so I ran over him'; "The bloke was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him"; and "I had been driving for 40 years when I fell asleep at the wheel."

After a disaster-filled year in insurance claims, the Suncorp Group Claims Team has identified for Carsguide some of the more "unusual" claims stories to show a lighter side to the industry, although spokesman Jason McCracken adds that they take their job "very seriously".

Here are their top 10 unusual car insurance claims:

1 - An elderly man called to lodge a claim after neighbours witnessed his wife drive through their garage door, through the living room, into their camper trailer, pushing it into the home's septic tank, resulting in the entire carport collapsing. He said he only noticed the damage after his wife was pulled from the wreckage by neighbours as he was busy watching TV at the back of the house.

2 - A lady made a claim for cow damage. She had parked her car under a berry tree and when she returned cows were licking the car to suck off the berries that had fallen on it. The cows' rough tongues had caused scratches to the paintwork.

3 - The trouble started when the car a man bought for her daughter developed an oil leak. She was told to take it back to the dealership for repairs. While the car was at the dealership, the young woman started receiving speeding fines for her car. When they contacted the dealership, they were told the car couldn't be fixed and had been dumped, but on further investigation it was discovered the dealership had shut its doors and was no longer operational. Some months later, the daughter received yet another speeding fine - this time from interstate.

4 - A man lodged a claim for his automatic car which he had parked on a hill, possibly without applying the handbrake or engaging park. The car eventually started rolling forwards down the hill, performed a neat U-turn and reversed into a dam on his property. All this occurred while the owner helplessly watched from afar.

5 - Horses ate my car! That's the story after a young man returned to his car after trail bike riding at a friend's property. He found three horses chewing through the door seals, front spoiler, side mirrors and anything sticking out. The horses' tongues also scratched the paintwork, which prompted the man to check whether he should leave the tongue marks on the car for the assessor to view.

6 - A woman parked her car at a large shopping centre and went to work. When she returned in the evening, her car was gone, so she went to report the incident to the centre management. However centre management told her that her car had not been stolen, but that an elderly gentleman had tried to open her car thinking it was his. When his key wouldn't work, he called his insurance company (not part of the Suncorp Group), who came out and broke into the car so it could be towed to a repairer. It wasn't until the car was at the repairers that it was discovered it didn't actually belong to the man. The woman not only had her car repaired by the man's insurer, but also received a written apology.

7 - A young male driver from east Melbourne was left uninjured but stunned when a six-foot kangaroo crashed through his car's windscreen and ended up sitting in his passenger seat. The man was driving along an open road just before 6pm when the kangaroo appeared in front of his car too late for him to stop. An intensive care paramedic who attended the scene said when he arrived he found the startled kangaroo still sitting in the front seat of the car, next to a very shocked driver.

8 - A motorist lodged a claim for damage to his vehicle caused when driving into a shopping centre carpark. The man was entering a parking space when he ran into a pole. Rather than backing up, he continued forward and hit a parked vehicle. He then decided he was too close to that vehicle so he backed into another space behind. Yet again he misjudged his surroundings and hit another vehicle.

9 - One motorist has kept the Suncorp Group on the hop with claims for damage caused by altercations with kangaroos in two different vehicles. After the first claim, the motorist rang again claiming damage caused by impact with another roo. This time he was driving a hire car the insurer had provided while his first car was being repaired. The hire car's number plate was fittingly ***ROO.

10 - A male motorist called to lodge a claim for damage to both sides of his vehicle. He claimed two cars had scratched both sides of his car while parked. However on further investigation the insurer found the man had driven down a one-way street and misjudged the distance between two parked trucks, one on either side of the road. He had managed to wedge his vehicle between them.