My Toyota Innova Car (Maxi Cab) met with an accident on 2 Dec 2014. The process of filing the claim with with the Reliance Gen Insurance company with relevant documents have been completed within 3 days from the date of accident. The insurance company has taken almost 5 months to authorize repairs in spite of my repeated visits to the Insurance Company office and meeting the Claims Manager (Mr Satish Acharya, Mobile No. 934394XXX) to expedite the process. I had several letters written with acknowledgements obtained from them and umpteen number of SMSs and telephone calls for which I have not received a single reply/response. You can imagine this has happened to me, as I myself is an insurance professional worked in the middle east for almost 15 years in a general insurance company particularly dealing with motor claims. One can guess what kind of treatment a layman customer will get into a situation like this with a company of Reliance General Insurance. Now after the repair work has been completed by a local garage, the insurance company in connivance with the Surveyor (Mr M N Nagaraj, Mob. 9902333XXXX) is now asking me to agree for a settlement of the claim for Rs. 1,34,321 for the repair invoice of Rs. 2,60,000 from the local garage, the dealer, M/s Ravindu Toyota has estimated the loss of Rs. 4,25,000. These unscrupulous Surveyor has a dubious distinction of getting kickbacks from the local garages by manipulating the claims. I have won cases against insurance companies from the Consumer Forums in Bangalore in which this Surveyor is involved. When I visited the insurance company couple of days back to find out the status, they are getting into bizarre arguments saying that the assessed loss for glass parts will be paid at 25% of the actual cost whereas the policy terms & conditions clearly says that there are no depreciation on all parts of glass. The company executive even try to argue that the assessed loss for glass. I do not understand where is the question of assessed loss for a glass. I simply asked the question what do you mean by assessed loss for a glass. Does the surveyor mean the glass parts can be repaired/reinstated to its original shape unlike other mechanical/metal parts which can be repaired, if not replaced. The insurance company again is blundering on their arguments that lamps, either head lamps, tail lamps or fog lamps are made of plastic which do not form part of glass. Can any one believe their arguments. As per the dealer’s repair estimate, the damaged glass parts itself cost around 72,000, which is 100% payable, reasonable labor for this kind of damage shall be around 72,000, other metal parts considered costing Rs. 1,15,000, totaling the repair invoice to be Rs. 2,60,000 taking into consideration appropriate depreciation as per the policy which states 40% for the insured vehicle is of 5 years old. In fact, the depreciated we have calculated on the damaged parts is 50% as against 40% prescribed in

NOW THE CLAIM Since the insurance company is unwilling for an amicable settlement of the claim, my humble request to this forum in giving relief to the aggrieved are as follows : Repair invoice paid by the insured Rs. 2,60,546 Compensation for delay* Rs. 7,16,000 Cost of filing this suit Rs. 10,000 TOTAL Rs. 9,77,546 *This Forum may also note that the repairs to this kind of damages will take about one month and accordingly, the insurance company should have authorized repairs and ensured that the vehicle is delivered to the insured before 3rd January 2015 i.e. one month from the date of accident. Based on this, the delay is calculated at 179 days. The Toyota Innova will earn Rs. 4,000 per day as revenue. Accordingly, the compensation is calculated at 179 days @ Rs. 4,000 per day is 7,16,000. This Forum is apprised of the fact that whether the commercial vehicle runs on the road or not, the owner of the vehicle has to incur the costs such as Driver’s salary, Quarterly taxes to the Government, insurance cost, maintenance cost, interest on car loan availed from the bank apart from the EMI itself. It is therefore imaginable that due to the unfair trade practices and harassment of such insurance companies, the insured has to undergo tremendous financial burden and mental agony.

Email Id: vijaykumarstst@gmail.