Insurance
in Western World is advanced, especially in Europe, specifically UK – there so
much of technology in use – settlements are made faster and policy holders are
kept happy .... perhaps not in all cases !!
There
are so many vehicles on road in every city - automobiles are insured under
Motor Insurance Policy. In India, known
as Package Policy (now), the Policy provides indemnity to the Insured against
loss or damage to the vehicle caused by a set of perils, so described in the
Policy. The coverage is subject to exceptions and terms and conditions, which
will have a bearing on liability and the extent of indemnification.
Motor
Insurance in India cannot be transacted outside the purview of the India Motor
Tariff unless specifically authorized by the Tariff Advisory Committee. The insured value i.e., sum(s) insured in
other types of insurances is modified to be known as -
Insured’s Declared Value (IDV.
The IDV is fixed at the
commencement of each policy period. The
IDV of the vehicle is to be fixed on the basis of manufacturer’s listed selling price of the
brand and model as the vehicle proposed for insurance at the commencement of
insurance /renewal and adjusted for depreciation. Thus the IDV should ideally represent the
market value of the vehicle and in case of a Total loss [or Constructive total
loss – whence the aggregate cost of retrieval
and / or repair of the vehicle
subject to terms and conditions of the policy exceeds 75% of the IDV.]
Sec
I of the Package Policy covers Own damage i.e., loss of or damage to the
vehicle insured. The Insurer will
indemnify against loss or damage to the vehicle arising out of perils named in
the policy which include : fire, burglary, riot & strike, flood, hailstorm,
frost, accidental external means;......... Modern day Insurers offer so many ‘add-ons’
which include ‘alternate vehicle for use’ and so on !
An
insured vehicle parked in a public place, rammed by another car – very badly
damaged ending up to be a Total loss – accident occurring with the policy
period – should be a ‘hassle-free’ settlement – so one thought !!
Here is the harrowed experience of a claimant as detailed in
MoneyMail. A mum and her teenage son
have faced a year-long battle with insurers after their cars were written off
while parked on their own driveway. Sixth-form student Josh Coultas and his
mother Jaki Cowling were sitting in their front room when they heard a loud
bang outside. Looking out the window,
they saw his red Ford Fiesta, which had been parked on their driveway, was in a
neighbour’s garden. And his mother’s blue Renault Clio, which had been on the
kerb, was also further down the street.
A BMW they didn’t recognise was smashed into a neighbour’s front
window. The driver and passenger fled. ‘The
scene was carnage,’ says Jaki, 45. ‘It just didn’t make sense to look at. I was
in complete shock. There was an elderly woman shaking who was stood by the car
when it happened, and Josh went straight over to comfort her. ‘I went mad. I was shouting. The driver and
his passenger didn’t even say sorry - they just ran off.’ The police were
called. The driver of the BMW later turned himself in, and was convicted of
dangerous driving.
Jaki and Josh made a claim under a multi-car policy with
Admiral, which cost them £335.39 a month. They assumed that, as neither of them
were in the vehicles at the time of the collision, it should be
straightforward. Josh’s car was declared a write-off at the scene. Jaki’s was
taken away for assessment at a garage. However, Admiral would not pay for a
courtesy car until the garage had assessed the damage. She had to pay for one
herself at a cost of £50 a day. Two days later, her car was written off, too.
After becoming sick of
waiting for Admiral to process their claim and needing cars for their daily
commutes, Jaki and Josh went out to buy new vehicles. Josh, 19, replaced his 2001 Ford Fiesta with
a 2005 Renault Clio, costing £2,135. Jaki, a waitress, bought a 2012 Renault
Clio for £8,825 to replace her 2010 model. But when Admiral came to pay them
cash for their cars, Josh was awarded just £100 after his excess of £600 was
deducted. Jaki, meanwhile, was given £4,515 towards the cost of a new car,
after her excess of £310. Both say they are out of pocket.
But insurers will only pay out enough money for the policyholder
to replace their car like-for-like - with the same make and model, and similar
mileage. After being convicted of dangerous driving, the BMW driver was ordered
to pay Jaki and Josh the cost of their excesses on their insurance policies. To date, Jaki says she has received a payment
of £8, while Josh has received £16.
Meanwhile, Jaki and Josh have been passed from pillar to post by
Admiral and Aviva, which insured the BMW. The registered owner of the BMW was
not the driver involved in the crash. Admiral and Aviva argued over who should
foot the full bill for the claim. Aviva also disputed the identity of the
driver - despite his prosecution. After being contacted by Money Mail this
week, Aviva accepted its customer was liable and agreed to pay the excesses for
Jaki and Josh. An Aviva spokesman said: ‘The circumstances of this claim are
unusual in that our customer was not the person driving the vehicle at the time
of the accident. Now that we know who the driver was, we are able to settle our
part of the claim immediately.’
After
being contacted by Money Mail, Admiral offered to pay Jaki £5,080 for her new
car and raised Josh’s payout to £820. It also admitted that it made an error in
assessing Josh’s excess, which should have been £350 and not £600. Admiral is
looking into the costs incurred by Jaki in paying for a hire car. It says she
was entitled to a courtesy car for the time when her vehicle was in the garage.
An
Admiral spokesman said: ‘We are sorry that Mrs Cowling is upset with our
handling of her claim. It certainly wasn’t our intention and we are always
disappointed when a customer has reason to complain about the service they have
received. ‘This matter has certainly taken a long time to settle, but we are
still waiting for Aviva to forward their documentation to us and for the police
report. ‘Once we have completed our investigations we will look at compensating
Mrs Cowling and Mr Coultas for any distress caused as a result of how we have dealt
with the claim.’
It happens ~ not the accidents !! – rest of the things too !!!
With
regards – S. Sampathkumar
24th
Apr 2015.
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