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-   -   IRDA issues guidelines for car dealers selling insurance (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-loans-insurance/189932-irda-issues-guidelines-car-dealers-selling-insurance.html)

IRDA has come out with the guidelines specific to the automobile dealers who sell (or for that matter stuff down the throat) Insurance to the car buyers. Such Automobile dealers who will sell Insurance on the behalf of the Insurance co or any intermediate will be known as Motor Insurance Service Provider (MISP).

Further the guidelines specifically talk about the appointment of such MISP by the Insurance co and the responsibilities of the Insurance co for any acts of omission and commission of the MISP. Some real time specific do's and dont's for the MISP are as below:
There are many more important points related to cashless claims, obligations of the MISP etc which are detailed in the attached document, request all Car owners to read them so that the MISP doesn't take the customers for a ride.

Excellent move to regulate these 'middlemen' who merely pose as authorized dealership employees. In most cases once the insurance is stuffed down the throat of the customer, they walk away from all obligations and direct you to the insurer.

This will force much more transparency and rigor in the insurance selling process. Trust me, IRDA strikes a lot of fear among the intermediaries in the insurance industry due to the very real scope of being formally blacklisted and proscribed.

About time they did something about this. Insurance is one area where car dealers fleece customers. During my recent car purchases I found that the amount quoted for insurance in the pricelist is nearly 2X of what price you can get it done for without any commission loaded to these dealerships. In fact they use this cushion to negotiate 'discount' on the OTR.

For certain fast moving cars with waiting etc.. dealerships don't even give you the option of buying your own insurance. There are other times when you show them your quote, they'll insist that they'll 'match' your quote. Many times you'll find that they'll match it alright, but with watered down coverages.

In today's online world buying insurance is easier than buying vegetables. Its a 10 min job from the comfort of your home and more importantly full transparency.

One of the most irritating aspects of buying an insurance policy (even if it is free as part of discounts) from the dealership, is that in the subsequent year, I could not renew the policy on the insurance company's website directly. The Insurance company too expressed its helplessness about online renewal option for such policies.

You have to either go to the dealership to renew the policy or buy a new policy from a different insurance company online.

I wish IRDA does something about this as well.

This is the case when the online payment window closes upon policy expiry or 2-3 days before policy expiry. Best thing to do in such cases is set up an alarm for self to renew the policy atleast 15 days before the due date. I am sure the Insurance co sends the intimation well in advance.

This is one way to do away with the dealership dependency.

In my case I had tried online renewal 20 days (or even more, but less than a month) before the policy expiry date.

Even the Insurance Co helpline confirmed that policies bought through a dealership/agent cannot be renewed online by me directly, only the dealership can do that. I faced this with the policies bought from Hyundai as as well as Ford dealerships.

This was the error I got when I had tried renewing the policy of my Figo earlier this year(15-20 days before policy expiry date).

Never faced this particular error, even though I have faced other Stupid errors like "Due to High demand, policy cannot be renewed online".

Try to renew the insurance from some other Insurance company. It should go through.

No Sir, I agree with what BHPian skanchan95 said.

I tried renewing the second year policy online from Policybazaar and looked into CoverFox too but when the existing policy number is fed, it denies renewal when the same insurance company is used.

The K10 AMT at home is on Bajaj Allianz policy but when I tried to renew it online, it declined. Tried Bajaj Allianz own website, same problem. It says it is locked for online renewal. Contacted Maruti helpline and then realised that when insurance is bought at the dealership they have a dealer code that is embedded into the policy declining any online renewal whatsoever.

The only choice I have is to get it renewed at Maruti only. Had this silly problem not been there, would have got insurance at a cheaper rate.

This is purely Maruti's fault. None of the Insurance cos include the agent's code in their policy no. The ARN no is mentioned desperately on the policy document and no where related to Insurer policy numbering schedule. Had Maruti issued the policy or the Insurance co?

When I had bought my Punto, even I had recd the Insurance from dealer but the policy was issued by the Insurance co. It had the ARN separately included. I could use the Insurance co policy no and renew it online.

One needs to be a bit more vigilant when it comes to Insurance from dealer or agent.

Forget not being able to renew online if Insurance is bought through the dealer; dealers these days have a convenient excuse to not offer cashless if you haven't taken the policy through them.

Ford and my Ford dealer have gone to the extent of giving this in writing: they *may* not honor cashless if the policy is taken outside. *Even if the issuer is one of Ford's recommended*.

I had lodged a complaint with Ford with IRDA in cc; Ford gave me off the record advice about how it helps the dealer if policy is issued through them.

Needless to say, IRDA never bothered to acknowledge or reply to that email.

+1

Ford /Ford dealer do this too.

And so does Honda Scooters; I couldn't renew my Activa's Insurance online (New India Assurance). Had to shell out almost double the online quote when I got it renewed through my dealer.

This not only applies to motor insurance, but all insurance in general. With the advent of online policy issue/renewal, the commission business of offline agents started diminishing. To keep those agents happy, all insurance companies offer a different policy offline and online. The offline policy might be slightly more expensive as it involves agent commission and may offer better features to entice customers to purchase offline. Downside is that such policies cannot be then renewed online independently by customers and they need to visit the agent or the issuing branch to get it renewed. Basically insurance companies and agents are hand in glove and IRDA will not intervene as they have allowed such a model.

E.g. when buying a health insurance or life insurance from an agent, it is not uncommon for the agent to claim that if you go ahead and buy online, you might face issues at the time of claim and hence it is better to by through him. Off course all that is hogwash as the insurance company is bound to settle the claim for a policy which they issued after due diligence.

This is a welcome move from IRDA. I wish it will also translate into a better deal for the end consumers. It clearly stipulates the max profit margin that the dealer/reseller is entitled to (~ 20%).
Recently I was in the market for a new car and the dealer kept giving me quotes which were 50%-75% higher than what fellow members have availed. Thus one never quite knows if the premium being charged for a policy being issued by the dealer is fair or he has literally robbed you.

Is it possible to decline the insurance provided by the dealer (and thereby reduce the on-road price)? How does one go about doing this?

Yes, it should be possible. This could either straight forward refusal to buy Insurance from dealer or show them the market quotes for the Insurance and ask them to match it. It is a known fact that dealers have a huge margin when it comes to selling Insurance for the new cars and most of the gullible customers don't even know that they are being taken for a ride during Insurance buying. One thing for sure, dealers cannot arm twist now into buying Insurance which they offer. Classic example in case Honda Assure which is still being done by Honda dealers

I just renewed mine with Ford's dealership with Royal Sundaram. THey claimed the same excuse. No cashless for other insurance providers. I had quote from TATA AIG which was better than what Ford was offering.
While, TATA AIG person on call insisted that they offer cashless at this particular ford dealership, i could not find the same in their website and hence finally decided to go with Royal Sundaram and Ford.
Royal sundaram did not meet the IDV though.
Finally, after talking to dealership in person, they offered discount enough to match the offer from TATA AIG. I am surprised at the competition in the field and the tactics manufacturer is playing with the insurance provider.
Delaership said, they have cashless is available for only NewIndia, Royal Sundaram and one other provider.
While, TATA AIG person (infact multiple people - First the sales person and then his lead) on call insisted that they would provide cashless at Ford dealership. Whom was i to believe. :deadhorse.