Tips on motor insurance and claims

[alex1111]

Hi fellow members,Being an Insurer professionally and a member of this club, I thought i should provide and share my knowledge on motor insurance and claims procedures for the benefit of fellow memebers.Insurance is a topic and subject everyone of us would try to avoid. However, when the need arises, insurance is like our guardian Angel. As such we need to have a basic understanding of insurance. Afterall, we are paying premium for it.A comprehensive Motor insurance basically provides coverage for i) Own damage - limit of liability is the sum insuredii) Third Party bodily injury - unlimited liability Third party Property damage - RM 3 millionSome exclusions under the motor insurance which most car owners are not aware of area) damage due to natural disasters such as storm, flood etc..(however extension can be obtained by extra premium)B) theft due to deception or CBT....meaning car taken by someone and not returned or theft due to negligence of owner such as leaving engine running while leaving the car unattended.c) under influence of alcohol or drugs d) failure to disclose material facts as required when filling in the proposal form such as loss history, usage etc.. It is important for car owners to insure their car based on the existing market value and not on the amount bought or amount loan.If you insure your car based on the amount you bought, you are most likely to be over insured as the price/value of cars normally depreciates. Over insuring your car will basically be a waste of money as you are paying for a sum which you will not be paid bcos the liability of an Insurer is based on the market value at the time of loss or sum insured whichever is lower.If you under insure your car, at the time of a claim, the owner will suffer because he will have to contribute to the claim amount as the 'average clause' will apply.for example...if the market value(MV) of your E46 is RM 150K and you insure for RM 100K and there is an accident and the claim amt is RM10K, the average clause applies which means the owner will have to contribute to the loss as well. The uninsured RM 50K difference mentioned above is deemed to be 'borne/self insured' by the owner. Insurers will pay based on the percentage of their share. Insurance companies allow 10% difference from market value but not more when insuring your car. When a claim arises, it is important that your car is sent to a panel workshop of your insurer!!! Most insurers nowadays do not allow non panel to repair for the benefit of their policy holders because they are able to control and monitor the workmanship of their panel workshop. failure to meet the standard will result in termination of panelship.One of our member (Nike) who recently was involved in an accident mentioned that his insurer is not in the panel of his workshop..in fact it should be the other way round. That workshop is not in the panel of his insurer!! (as the insurer is the party that pays out the claim)accident must be reported (police) within 24hrs. Last but not least, always remember, the workshop must always be a panel of your insurer! you will be safe !!Hope these basic tips helps...

 

[vincent]

very good info here, thanks alot alex 1111....

 

[`g0tHic`]

hi Alex...Thanks a lot for the info...very helpful tho..

 

[XXX]

What abt accident involving commercial vehicles and motorbikes?
what I heard is even if you are not in the wrong, you have to claim your own insurance and the insurance of the other party only pays you on the loss of your NCB and not the amount needed for repairs, is this true?
I was recently hit by a tipper truck and made a police report but as usual this guys never made the report, for all you know the reg. number is false. So as long as they never made the report im already at the losing end as Im already having 55% on my NCB, is this fair?

 

[Jipster]

This is good basic info.... appreciated!

Mods, I propose that this posting be made sticky for member reference.

 

[alxy]

Just found this old thread. Thought it would be good to bring it up again as I'm sure such info is useful. Anyone care to add to this? Have the insurance rules changed since last year?

 

[jarance]

How to make claim against a third party if the person does not make report as required or does not have insurance coverage?

1. Why some insurance company make payment so slow?
2. Why some insurance comapny offer so low for your damage to your car?
3. How to make claim for loss of vehicle usage when car in workshop?
4. How and where to get the list of authorised workshop from the insurer?
When you met with an accident, every tow truck company or guys at the police station says that they are so and so company and they are authrosied. They can actually verified that you are insured with xyz insurance company with a phone call.
5. How come many of this authorised workshop can claim that they can repair your car for "free" even though you have access clause?
6. I heard that insurance company who are foreign based make faster payment. Is this true..

Anyway, as for me, I am with Kurnia. Meet withan accident and got cheque payment within 2 days for my own repair after making claim. Sad to lose my 55% NCB though..

 

[kellz123]

Anyone here know where I can find rv insurance? I am considering gmac for coverage but looking around for best prices. Any suggestions?

 

[alxy]

How to make claim against a third party if the person does not make report as required or does not have insurance coverage?

1. Why some insurance company make payment so slow?
2. Why some insurance comapny offer so low for your damage to your car?
3. How to make claim for loss of vehicle usage when car in workshop?
4. How and where to get the list of authorised workshop from the insurer?
When you met with an accident, every tow truck company or guys at the police station says that they are so and so company and they are authrosied. They can actually verified that you are insured with xyz insurance company with a phone call.
5. How come many of this authorised workshop can claim that they can repair your car for "free" even though you have access clause?
6. I heard that insurance company who are foreign based make faster payment. Is this true..

Anyway, as for me, I am with Kurnia. Meet withan accident and got cheque payment within 2 days for my own repair after making claim. Sad to lose my 55% NCB though..

Hi Jarance,

Was your claim big? I thought it would have to be through an approved workshop? And also have to go through usual process (adjuster, etc..). How come you could repair it yourself and then claim back from insurance?

By the way, the term is excess (not access).

I just realized when talking to some other friends of mine that car insurance is something we all just take lightly. It seems to be something that we do only to renew our roadtax. Only when you get into an accident, do you realize that you are not aware of so many things about your insurance (like the excess clause and betterment!).

Perhaps BMW Club should start an awareness campaign to make members alert to the particulars of car insurance (e.g. what to look out for and what is within our rights to demand for). And maybe have a good/bad insurance company thread like the ones we have for workshops. Not sure about the legality of that last one though.

 

[anaksarawak]

If you are hit by others and to claim 3rd Party.. whats are the procedures

1. Make Police Report
2. Obtain Case conclusion report
3. Inform your own car insurance company. Form are available on most insurance website.
4. ????

Must we go to the other car's insurance's company panel workshop?

Are Excess applied for 3rd Party Insurance?

 

[jarance]

Hi Jarance,

Was your claim big? I thought it would have to be through an approved workshop? And also have to go through usual process (adjuster, etc..). How come you could repair it yourself and then claim back from insurance?

By the way, the term is excess (not access).

I just realized when talking to some other friends of mine that car insurance is something we all just take lightly. It seems to be something that we do only to renew our roadtax. Only when you get into an accident, do you realize that you are not aware of so many things about your insurance (like the excess clause and betterment!).

Perhaps BMW Club should start an awareness campaign to make members alert to the particulars of car insurance (e.g. what to look out for and what is within our rights to demand for). And maybe have a good/bad insurance company thread like the ones we have for workshops. Not sure about the legality of that last one though.

My claim is not so big lah.. I am insured with Kurnia. Had a unfortunate accident with a divider during a raining day. Here is my experience.

1. Had a accident but no third party involved.
2. Make police report. (Make sure that you make at the nearest traffic police station where the accident occurred). Incidentally, if you knock or damaged any public property, the IO (Investigation Officer - sarjan rank above) can summon you. As for me, I convience the sarjan that the damage on the divider is only a scratch. After making report, you will be interviewed by the IO. He or she will interview you about the accident. After "interview", the IO will take external picture of the damage and file a report in the computer.
3. You have to buy the police report (in order to file an insurance claim) after the IO have file the report in the computer. Report - RM2 and every colour picture - RM3.
4. After you collect the report, you can proceed to file your insurance claim.

Note: be careful of workshop vendor hanging around police station. LOL

As for me, my damage is not so big, I decide to make a Kurnia Express claim.
To make an insurance claim, the following document must be made available.
1. photostat copy of your driving licence and IC.
2. photostat copy of the owner driving licence and IC if you are not the owner.
3. Original copy of the Insurance policy.
4. Original copy of the police report.

Go to any Kurnia Shop with your car. (If your car is stil drivable).
Go to the claim counter and inform that you want to make a claim. They will give you a form to be filled. After filling the necessary detail, their adjuster will take picture of the damage (external and internal) to your car. it would really help if you could "point" out all the possible damages to your car to make your claim.

After taking many many pictures, the adjuster would interview you about the accident. You may have to take the adjuster to the scene of accident (if nearby the Kurnia office) to take more pictures. Basically all this procedure is to stop fraud cases.

After the accident, I went to my regular workshop for an estimate of the damage and to access throughly the extend of the damage. Actually, 2 estimates were obtained (1 for own repair and the other for insurance claim)

I got an offer from Kurnia by the next day. The offer from Kurnia was slight lower than both "estimate" from the workshop. I decide to take the offer as it was not very far off from the estimate from the workshop.

Note: maybe I could get a higher offer if I go back and nego but decide not to do it as I was going back to JB.

BTW, You have 7 days to return the cheque even though you have accept the offer from Kurnia. This is to allow you to check the estimate or quotation from workshop. So, you can return the cheque if the repair cost is much higher than the amount offer and you decided to do the normal claim which is higher than RM3000. Kurnia Express is applicable for claim not amounting to RM3,000. Any claim that is more than that amount would be treated as "normal claim". Repair of the car have to be done by Kurnia approved list of workshop in the normal claim. The process will take longer as the nego will be done between the workshop and the insurance company.

Hope the info helps. BTW, I am quite satisfied with Kurnia service.

 

[alxy]

Thanks Jarance. That was very useful information!

 

[blackrobe]

Normal complaint for insurance is, when a car is lost for watever reasons (theft etc) why is it that the insurance company never pays out 100% of the amount insured but rather less based on the current market value (at the time of the loss) .... the insurance company collects the premium for the amount insured but pays out less.... its blatantly cheating the customer....:thefinger:

 

[jarance]

BR, it depends on the time when the car is stolen. If the car is stolen, say 9 months after you just renew the insurance, expect some depreciation after 9 months of usage. Similarly, when you buy a brand new car, you are expected to lose some "money" if you decide to sell the car after 1 month later. That why they say "market value"..

 

[blackrobe]

therefore, we are being cheated... hypothetically we pay premium of RM1,500 for value of RM55,000, but we get paid RM48,000 when car is stolen.... thats very clearly against the contracted amount. The insurance companies have been taking customers for a ride, preying on the plight of customers having lost their cars and need the money pronto...despicable. Some I know had to pay under table money to get higher amounts, but not the insured amount even. we are definitely being taken for a ride...

 

[alxy]

Yup agreed. Even for those who know the real situation, we are still being bullied. I always argue on this market value thing with my agents. They come back with answer that insurance company won't insure for lower value (which is actually real market value). In the end, you have to concede because you just cannot afford the time to talk to those @#$#$ stupid people.

 

[mnas]

IMHO...the normal motor insurance co. are all scams..i'm trying out the takaful insurance next year...heard that our premium paid will be re-invested and the profit will be shared bt the insurer & insuree as per shariah law...
anybody care to comment on this ?

 

[mini_jeff67]

Was also told that if hit by public transport (eg. buses, taxis), we cannot claim against their insurance, but rather against our own insurance? Is this true? Then loose NCB lo! Bummer!

What happens in hit & run case? Other party is not likely to make a police report... can we still claim against our own insurance? What if we manage to get the other driver's car plate?

Thanks in advance to the insurance professionals in the forum! Cheers!

 

[Egon-E39]

guys...

Why insurance do not pay you according to the insured amount? Insurance always wants you to insure at the market value so that they can get the max premium from you. But when they have to pay it will be below "market value" which is quite subjective.

EG. Car is insured at 50k today.....submit claim for theft the next day and is paid 40k. Insurance co will say 40k is the market value and due to public policy or something like that.....to prevent fraud.

How does fraud come into the pic?....say you want to sell your car at 50k but dealers will only pay say 43k and you cannot get it sold at 50k so what do you do? You drive the car into a lake/river and claim for compensation at 50k and get 50k instead of 43k. Insurance co recognizes this and came up with a mechanism to prevent fraud. Perhaps someone in the motor vehicle insurance could give better explanation?

 

[mini_jeff67]

Checked with some insurance frens - public transport all have 3rd party insurance so we CAN calim against them if kena knocked by them. Rule of thumb is ALL registered vehicles on the road must have min 3rd Party cover.