Team-BHP - Ford Fusion

Met with a head on accident with a tata pick up 206 series at 9 pm last friday night at MIDC, new bombay and my dear old fusion is completely smashed from the front. i was lucky to escape with a minor cut on the forehead.

towed it and took it to shreeji ford near my place in thane the same night after futile police proceedings. the next morning, the ford guy gave me a rough estimate of 1.3 lakhs out of which approx ,30k to 40 k would be my share he said. i was okay with that. but 2 days later, he said that the estimate was now close to a whopping 4 L. the idv of the car is only 2.5 L.

i learnt from the insurance company (reliance) that where the estimate increases 75% of the idv, the company declares it as a total loss and gets a salvage buyer (scrap) to dispose off the car and pay the owner. its a long process.

now the fear i have is that the surveyor has still not confirmed this. i, on my part, am happy to buy a new car instead of spending anwhere upwards of 1L to get this one repaired.

anyone know how to tell the insurance company in no unclear terms that that is what i want.

My son's Baleno was a total loss in a similar accident.

Reliance took five months to pay up. The procedure is unnecessarily involved and you have to keep up at them constantly. Even then they deducted the salvage value and we had to sell it off ourselves.

Keeping that in view, please clarify what they will pay, and if possible insist on the full value and let them to sell the car themselves.

Vij, first of all, I'm glad to hear that you got away with only minor injuries. If the IDV of your car is 2.5 lakhs, a repair estimate of 1.75 lakhs (or over) means the car will be classified as a total loss. The insurance company themselves will tell you this after evaluation.

When are you going to get a formal repair estimate from the dealer?

Quote:

Originally Posted by vij4all (Post 2147600)

i learnt from the insurance company (reliance) that where the estimate increases 75% of the idv, the company declares it as a total loss and gets a salvage buyer (scrap) to dispose off the car and pay the owner. its a long process.

@vij,

Thank God that you are safe and allright. Really sad to know that you car has been declared a total loss but your statement confused me. Isn't the present Insurer liable to pay you the IDV instead of offering the scrappage value. Kindly confirm this with the Insurer. Once the Surveyor confirms that this is total loss based on repair estimates, the Insurer has to pay you the IDV value.

The only catch here is if you are in the middle of the Insurance year than the IDV value would be on pro-rata basis. Can any BHPians confirm this please?

Thanks for your concern guys. It is indeed a miracle that i escaped with a minor injury on the head. Attaching a pic of the fusion for you guys to have an estimate of what the damage is.

To continue, now Reliance says that their repair estimate is 1,45,000 odd (their liability) and i would have to pay another 60k odd to get the car repaired. Alternatively, they have contacted a salvage buyer who will take the car in as is condition for 40k. What i will get in addition the 40k is the repair estimate (1,45,000) less 25%...so roughly a little more than a lakh which means in all i will get about 1,40,000 which is okay with me. Phew ! Their rule says that the customer, if going for a total loss, will only get paid repair estimate minus 25% but im still happy if i get this amount.

Unforunately for me, its a petrol fusion which is phased out and has a TN registration too so im happy even if it had fetched me a lakh !

Now the next dilemma after this gets sorted - caught thinking between the swift VXI vs swift VDI vs the Figo Diesel

Vij,

That is one hell of an accident. I own a Fusion and i know how strong the car is. Looks like the TATA mobile was driving at a very high speed. Thank heavens that you escaped with some minor injuries

Finding a replacement for Fusion is a tough one. It is a very good alrounder and I sometimes wonder why Ford were not able to sell it well.

Vij4all,

Thats a bad accident.

My experiences might help you. My previous M800 was totalled 4 months back. My car was damaged pretty similar to yours and all the occupants were unhurt.

The IDV of my car was 1,20,000. The repair estimate was 1,75,000.
Engine was not damaged but the shell was not in shape.
The surveyor told me that it will be totalled.
The salvage buyer gave 47k and the car was transferred to him.
Then the National Insurance Company gave the remaining 73k

The market value of my car was a maximum of 1,50,000 So I didn't loose much.

The most important document is a FIR or a acknowledgement from the police.I didn't take that letter because the policemen asked for 5000 bribe for that letter.Hence the company told me that an affidavit from a notary will suffice and I got that.

In two months from the date of my accident, I got the settlement.

I don't know about Reliance, But National Insurance company settled my claim fast.

Vij,
It is good to read that you have escaped with minor injuries. You need to confirm with the Reliance Insurance guys what documents you need for claiming the amount in total loss first. It would be better if you do not make any delay. If they need an FIR mandatory, then I suggest you to get the FIR without hesitating. Without this it might complicate the things or you may be asked the reasons for the delay in FIR. These policies are again dependent on the insurance providers.

All the procedures you ask them in writing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ghodlur (Post 2149431)

The only catch here is if you are in the middle of the Insurance year than the IDV value would be on pro-rata basis. Can any BHPians confirm this please?

@vij - happy I am that you are unhurt compared to the damage to the car.

@ghodlur - There are few insurance companies now that now takes care of this. I renewed my Maruti800 (bought on 1st Jan 2004) insurance last week from Tata AIG. The silver package that I have opted for takes care of this aspect over and above other benifits that I got. In essence, irrespective of when I make a Total Loss claim during my policy period, my IDV would be considered as the one on which my car got insured.

Disclaimer - I am in no way connected to Tata AIG, thought of sharing this information here as it could help others who are going to renew their insurance. It is worth while to mention that I shelled out about 200 Rs. extra for this and other benifits that comes with this policy over what Maruti-National insurance have quoted from whom I have been taking insurance ever since I bought this car.

The salvage buyer took the car from the workshop and handed over 45 k cash to me.

Reliance has given me a format which they want on a 100 rupee stamp paper with address proof and a pan card copy. The format simply states i agree to go for total loss and reliance is liable to pay me 1,15,000. Thats it. No i did not lodge an FIR at the police station and so far these guys have not asked me for it. Fingers crossed!

Hope you didn't hand over the original RC book, since your vehicle has been scraped.

You can claim a refund of the road tax that you had paid, prorated that is, for the remaining years from the 15 years for which the tax was paid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vij4all (Post 2168365)

@vij,

This means that the total amount due to you is 1.6L which is far less than the 2.5L IDV of the car. Why isnt Reliance giving you the balance amount less the scrappage:Frustrati.

Also normally the Insurer recover the amount from the scrap dealer but pay the IDV up front. Why is this not happening with you? Is there any fine print in the Insurance policy or Reliance acting strange?

More imp have you accepted the deal?

I know its easy for me to say this.
You've been paying the insurance premium for the IDV of Rs.2.5L, so shouldn't you get 2.5L rather than 1.6L? If they're only going to pay you 1.6L for the car you should've paid the premium for only 1.6L.
Or am i wrong?

Hello Vij,
The format on the stamp paper which you have mentioned will be notarised I suppose and that will do just fine I feel...Even without any letter from the police. Thats exactly what I had finally submitted.

But regarding the amount...You should get the complete IDV.
IDV is Insured declared Value which is nothing but the amount you'll get in the case where you loose the vehicle (whichever way you may loose it)

The only thing that you may pay for is the Towing charge, and parking charge for the workshop and claim fees.
I had towed my vehicle for 150kms,parked the vehicle for 30 days..everything inclusive I had to pay some 13k.
You are getting 90k less than the IDV...check with the insurer before you finalise.