Car Theft and Insurance - An Interesting Case Study

Recently, an interesting case came up in the news highlighting a big lacuna in the car insurance claim process. It turns out that an insured car was stolen and as per the usual process, the claimant processed a claim. However, the insurance company kept delaying the disbursement of the claim in the faint hope of car getting recovered in sometime soon. Meanwhile, the frustrated claimant, a resident of Kolkata, brought a new car. After 15 months, police recovered the lost car in a dilapidated condition. Now, the insurance company used this as an excuse to reject the claim flaring a debate.

The pertinent question here stands - Is the insurance company justified in rejecting the claim?

In today’s life, car is a necessity and delaying the claim by 15 months is not warranted. A person would need a car almost immediately. On the other hand, it seems that the insurance company was knowingly delaying the process in the faint hope of recovering the car and getting excused from paying up. To top it up, the recovered car is in non–working condition and thus useless for the claimant.

The woes of the claimant are never-ending in this situation. Firstly, his car gets stolen. Secondly, he keeps running after the insurance company to process his claims. Thirdly, his claim is indefinitely delayed and he has to purchase a new car without any financial help. Fourthly, his claim gets rejected and his broken, non-working and useless car is given back. Here, the claimant is in complete loss.

This is a clear case of bluffing by the insurance company. The company we have been discussing in this case is ICICI Lombard. It is such practices by the insurance provider that tarnishes a buyer’s trust and makes insurance buying an unpopular choice.

Settle the claim within a stipulated time to keep the real purpose of buying a policy intact. Reduce buyer’s harassment by dealing with transparency and honesty. The idea should not be to delay the claim but to do the right thing and sympathize with the claimant too. It is for timely financial assistance that a buyer pays premium and stays with an insurance company.

Unless we regularize processes and minimize such delays and unnecessary harassment insurance sector will continue to remain under penetrated.