Can Engine Capacity Of Bike Be The Reason Behind Accident Claim Denial?

HDFC ERGO issued a statement after this letter found its way to Twitter. Stating the grounds of rejection HDFC ERGO said that as per the documents submitted the death of the insured took place on April 19, 2020, due to a severe head injury. The insured was driving a 346cc bike that exceeds the engine capacity and falls under the general exclusion clause 8 as per the terms and conditions of the plan. It was mentioned in the policy that any claim will be rejected if the insured gets injured or dies while riding a bike more than 150cc.

HDFC ERGO was not tagged in the tweet. However, the insurer responded to the query of Live mint and said that the case that is being highlighted in social media is an old case and the claim has already been paid to the insured. It is because that particular exclusion that existed in all of their plans was removed in October 2020.

Also, HDFC ERGO assured that the personal accident provides coverage to all the policyholders regardless of the engine capacity of the bike. HDFC ERGO takes pride in its industry and best claim settlement ratio and the highest number of settled claims in the industry.

As per the Co-founder of Renew Buy Indraneel Chattarjee put some light on what should be done if get stuck in such a scenario. While purchasing an insurance plan it is important for the consumer to understand and the benefits and clauses in insurance cover. Since consumers are interested in the benefits they often tend to avoid knowing the exclusions along with the terms and conditions of the policy which is also as crucial as the inclusions of the policy.

Since the incident indicates that one should not purchase a policy without knowing its terms and conditions as it would help at the time of renewal of the insurance plan. However, to avoid any kind of discrepancy, you can consider switching to Sala Suraksha Bima that issued by IRDAI last year.