[redeff]

We have to realise at some point of time that fraud is fraud and theft is theft. Lodging a wrong claim (usually after filing a police complaint which is quite usual) is a crime. We need to look at Insurance as what it is 'An insurance'. It is not an AMC. It does not entitle you to repair work. Given the state of our legal system I guess Insurance companies just prefer to hike up premiums.

Classic case of society losing because of a few unscrupulous dealers and car owners. Ive actually had my premium increase while renewal. Crazy if you ask me.

[JojyKerala]

I would say this is quite common. In most scenarios, the owners who damage their cars do so after consultation with shady Insurance agents. The agents get a cut as well for progressing with the claim.

I've heard of a person who hired a "specialist" (a taxi driver) to damage his 5-year old Scorpio. The specialist damaged his beloved and new XUV instead (similar registration numbers). The guy then dropped the entire plan. The XUV, of course, was fixed for minimal charges under insurance because it was new.

[Theyota]

Originally Posted by hareshjethwani

Wrong to blame the customer here. Most probably the garage/workshop would suggest the customer to do the additional damage for their benifit of higher billing and ease of matching the paint on panels.
I had an insurance claim way back in 2004 where they replaced the entire door instead of the tinkering work which was a bit tedious in the way it was damaged. The advisor spoke to me as if they had replaced the door free of cost and had done a favour to me.It is easier for them and less time consuming too.

Originally Posted by Stribog

Yes, exactly this. And it's not just some fly by night operators but proper company owned service centres. Without going into details I have an older (9 year old), I had an issue where a neighbour, a middle aged lady with some mental issues scratching cars with stones, she made like Picasso and scratched many lines on the passenger side door panel and rear.

It looked very ugly and I wanted to get the whole thing repainted, I took it to the company service centre and asked for a quote, I innocently only wanted the front left panel and rear painted.

The SA though said "saar why spend 15k on this, you have old car, repaint the whole car". Now I know this would have topped 55-60k, so I told him as much, he said don't worry saar, your insurance is with a company known to us, we will simply bash the driver side panel, wreck the bonnet and put a coconut on the roof, claim accident and you will need to only pay some 20k"

I was taken aback by it, but he assured me that did it all the time and how we pay so much in premium (I had a NCB at that point running for like 5 years) and never use, so it's both safe to do and easy.

I did take him up on the offer, 15k for 2 panels vs 22k for the whole......

How is this not theft? I am surprised multiple people on this board who are the fortunate ones among the people of our country have done such things.

[WanderinNomad]

I think service centre are also to blame. In my previous claim , just 3 months back . My SA after handing over the car to me , looked at a long scratch on the entire driver side of car and said that during next service we can claim this , and get the left side painted . Took me some time to understand what he was suggesting

[Doge]

Scraping a Fortuner with a dozer or smashing a Q3's windshield won't total the car.
To me this looks more like a stunt to get some attention on tik tok or whatever sites these cringey people frequent these days.

[hareshjethwani]

Originally Posted by Theyota

How is this not theft? I am surprised multiple people on this board who are the fortunate ones among the people of our country have done such things.

Strong words there ! How do you expect me to decide if the door needs repair or replacement? It is upto the workshop to decide that. And I was not given an option to decide on what is to be done, I have given my views that they do it according to their convinence !

[Sahilrai166]

Was just scrolling across the search section of Instagram where I found a video of the Fortuner where the driver intentionally crashed his car into a tree and mind you there weren't any dents present in the front portion before hitting the car. This is not the 1st time I'm watching this kind of nonsense stuff but have seen many such idiot's damaging their own car to gain some publicity or want to prove something by doing that

Attaching a screenshot and the link of the Fortuner video I've mentioned above.



https://www.instagram.com/p/CA1ixoOJ...d=l1l7hlqge537

Source:vipofindia Instagram page.

[nishad.hameed]

Probably Usage based insurance/ Pay as you drive could help to find such frauds.

IRDA has recently approved the concept and regulations were released in the end of 2019. May insurance companies have started working on this.

Below webinar clearly shows how this is helping in other countries.

https://youtu.be/GtYIEEXtncA

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by Theyota

How is this not theft? I am surprised multiple people on this board who are the fortunate ones among the people of our country have done such things.

What exactly did I steal now? Let's not use words freely without caution.

[CarJunki]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Stupid enough to do this intentionally, stupider to broadcast it on social media. It's a miracle these idiots remember to breathe.

Makes life difficult for all insurance customers, who end up paying higher premiums and get harassed even with genuine claims.

If only breathing required remembering. Nature has unintentionally helped stupids more than sensible people it seems.

[Sutripta]

The reason why insurance companies rack up losses on MV claims is because of third party claims, not vehicle damage claims under comprehensive cover. Third party premium cannot be raised because of ground realities.

Not talking of the particular issues raised on this thread, and in fact not talking particularly of vehicle insurance, I'd say insurance (other than life) is a cheat or be cheated game. (Very strong words, I know). Remember the term 'fine print' was invented by the insurance companies. And that surveyors, though nominally independent, are paid by the insurance companies. If insurance companies deem a surveyor to be 'company unfriendly', he will not get work. Obviously the surveyors are 'company friendly'.

Sutripta

[Aish_4761]

Ironic, how these Instagram handles are called xxxx car lovers..!
In my belief, these foolish cum stupid people, literally endorsing their showoff accidents are as weird as their videos. May be kids of 10-12 years of age might be impressed with them but for me, a man's grace lies in how well can he maintain his machine without going to the workshop for anything apart from scheduled maintenance, of course, exceptions would always be there..!!