Issues with Bajaj Allianz - Total Loss Vs Forced partial repair. Mods - I am creating a new thread to discuss the specifics of the claim for my car and the issues surrounding it. If you find that the thread has to be moved around to some other place / merged with another one please do that. I believe that due to specific information and issues faced, a new thread is very much needed.
Hi Everyone,
I am creating this thread to:
1. Make everyone aware of the way of working of Bajaj Allianz. This might be the way of working of the assigned surveyor, lets wait for the outcome so that I can understand the whole way of working.
2. Get suggestions from you all to understand my right and my options and way forward in the current scenario where my expectations and the resolution by the insurer are poles apart.
To start with the history - I met with an accident on 26th of Feb around 7:30 - 8:00 AM in the morning where the car (My 3 years old Accent GLE IDV 4,18,000) went down the road at reasonable speed and overturned damaging the body shell. There was no damage to the engine, transmission, passengers, third party property or people. There were very minor injury to occupants like scratches and bruises.
Post the accident, the villagers helped to straighten the car and get all of us out of the car. After settling down and relaxing for 10 -15 mins, I called up the Bajaj Allianz call center and informed about the accident. As I was not sure of the place to get the car required, it was a temporary claim. I asked specifically whether I can move my car and if they need any inspection or police verification, the call center guy confirmed that there is no need to do so and I can move the car to any authorized service center of my choice. I organized and got the car shifted to Hyderabad to my regular service center.
I registered a permanent claim by providing the location to get the car repaired and a surveyor was appointed. The surveyor inspected and ascertained that the loss is very high and will need another (External?) Surveyor to inspect it. The second surveyor inspected the car and asked for an estimate to repair the vehicle. This complete process took 3 weeks.
The estimate included body shell replacement costing something around 2.5 Lakhs and the total repair cost was 3.55 L. As the repair cost was more than 75% of the IDV, I and the surveyor talked about total loss.
The surveyor here said -
1. The repairs costs are too high and he will check for a cheaper option.
2. He suggested to only replace the side shells not the complete shell.
3. When I asked him about the possibility of the car being structurally correct after only side shell repair, he said that it is not his part of confirm the quality of car.
4. On this I mentioned that when the insurer is deviating from the suggested repair approach by the expert (authorized showroom), they should have a scientific base to confirm the repair quality being at par with the one suggested by the ***.
5. He confirmed that the quality will not be at par with replacement, but it will be cheaper for the insurer and he will go with the cheapest option.
I did not agree to this logic and he suggested that he will work on the file and forward it to his boss. I agreed to this.
when i did not hear on the progress for more than a week, i got the contact of another person (probably his boss). This person was a very supportive guy and listened to everything and said that he will check will update me on the progress and options. He called me the next day and informed that they are trying to get a quote on the salvage and will get back to me on the best way out in a day or two. I waited for a week and called back again. They said that they are working on the best deal they can find. Post that there was a family issue with this guy and he said he will get back to me ASAP. He stopped responding last week to all phone calls and emails.
Yesterday, I received a call from the ***, mentioning that they have received a go ahead to repair the side shells. I mentioned that I am still in talks with Bajaj Allianz and asked them wait till I hear from them.
Called up the surveyour2 again yesterday evening, he said that the scrap value was 80K and the repairs were costly so they will approve only side shell repairs which is not acceptable to me. Now - I had talks with some scrap dealers who were willing to buy the car for 2-2.4L easily. This claim of 80k did not sound true and sounded more of of a delay tactic.
I have raised a complaint with Bajaj Allianz on their website. Its almost 2 months and I am not sure how long this will take to settle. Will keep you all posted on the progress.
Please pass you advice and suggestions.
Thanks in Advance.
PS : All is not lost. With the new complaint raised on the website, I am hoping that the issue will be resolved amicably. I also believe that these are tactics employed by the people who might have their bonus/ commission linked to $$$ they save and they are willing to take all the short cuts and risk lives to save some money, but for a large organization few 100Ks don't make much difference and they will be more worried about their responsibility and would take the right decision without endangering people. I am hoping that this reaches to someone higher up who can visualize the bigger picture and assess what all is at stake.
Will keep all the progress updated here.
Last edited by MrinalSinha : 14th April 2012 at 14:22.
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