[freedom]

Today I got my car back after spending a week at the workstation for claim assessment and repair work.

18th May 2016. I was driving home on my usual commute route. I stopped to take a right turn and while I was waiting, I heard a thud and a minor bolt. I checked the mirror and there I had it. My 7 month old car got its first kiss from an idiot.

I got down, asked the guy to park on the side of the road so as to not obstruct the traffic. Got down again and assessed the damage.

My rear bumper has taken a hit and the reflector on the bumper had broken. Due to the bumper taking a hit and getting slightly misaligned, it had pullout the tail lamp cover and the plastic cover had cracked and created a "hole". The tail lights were still working as there was no damage to the bulbs.

The guy who had bumped into me was a cab driver and he had the audacity to ask me if he could drop his passenger to the railway station and then come back !! I gave him a blank look, the passenger hailed and auto and went his way.

I have been rear-ended in my old car where I only had to deal with replacing the bumper. Now, this time it was a bumper + tail lamp and being a VW, I knew this was going to run into 10 K territory

The cops were co-operative. They noted down my complaint.
I was more keen on teaching the guy a lesson than and making him lose some of his income and time to understand the pain. So I requested the cops keep his license for the night till I worked out a mutual agreeable solution with the cab owner. Apparently, they also kept the car in the police station that night (which I had not asked for).


Next day, called BU Bhandari and Vidyut Motors for an estimate on the repair work.

Vidyut was not my first choice, but its way more convenient for me. Vidyut SA took down the request and said he was "busy" and promised to call back with the estimate. He also hinted that he will check if they have a bumper and left side tail light in stock.
Having heard about Vidyut's below par customer service, I didn't have much expectations. They stood true to this. They never called back. Sigh.


BU Bhandari gave me a rough estimate of 12K and asked me to get the car to their Wakad Center the next day.

Do note that I have never claimed insurance before, so I was keen on keeping my record clean. But 12 K was too much of a cost to not claim insurance. I mean we pay insurance to help us in such situations !

A flashback, When buying my car, I the SA had matched my quote of TATA AIG with his their preferred provider Bajaj Allianz. He had also told me that this 0 Dep policy was cashless if the car is taken for any repairs to their service center.


2 days after dropping the car, the claim was approved. The actual work took another 2-3 days.

I got the car back exactly 1 week and 1 day after dropping it. I had to pay just 1K out of the 12K claim!

The zero dep cashless policy worked !! I am going to stick to 0 dep policy for atleast the next 2-3 years.

I will advice all new car buyers to seriously consider zero dep and "bumber to bumper" protection for new cars. Minor accidents can make the car aesthetically ugly!

There are enough idiots on the road. Get yourself protected against them !!

[nilpat]

This was exactly my story with Bajaj allianz 0 dep policy. I claimed around 15 K for front bumper and fog lamps replacement. It cost me 1800 Rs in total including 1 K for claiming insurance. I agree with your last sentence

[rdst_1]

Originally Posted by freedom

Today I got my car back after spending a week at the workstation for claim assessment and repair work.

Since it wasn't your fault, shouldn't the cab driver's insurance provider be paying for this issue.

[Gunner1591]

My friend's Duster was rammed into by a i20 guy who was learning his trade. The rear left door is gone completely and the entire left side needs an overhaul. He has a 0 dep policy from Reliance. The dealer quoted an estimate of around 70k. But the dealer mentioned that even with a 0 dep policy, there would be salvage tax, paint tax and consumables which would be above the claim amount. For all that I know, one just needs to pay the compulsory deductible amount with a 0 dep insurance. Could someone please throw some light on this? Do these taxes need to be paid by the car owner? Also, will the NCB take a hit if the car is just 6 months old?

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by Gunner1591

My friend's Duster was rammed into by a i20 guy who was learning his trade. The rear left door is gone completely and the entire left side needs an overhaul. He has a 0 dep policy from Reliance. The dealer quoted an estimate of around 70k. But the dealer mentioned that even with a 0 dep policy, there would be salvage tax, paint tax and consumables which would be above the claim amount. For all that I know, one just needs to pay the compulsory deductible amount with a 0 dep insurance. Could someone please throw some light on this? Do these taxes need to be paid by the car owner? Also, will the NCB take a hit if the car is just 6 months old?

Never heard of salvage tax or paint tax. Yes there would be charges borne by the customer related to painting and consumables since these are not covered under zero depreciation. NCB will be zero if insurance is claimed and Insurance needs to be claimed for that repair amount. No point in thinking about NCB loss in such cases.

Reliance is very famous for such kind of impromptu charges, hence I stay a km away from them.

[iTNerd]

2 months ago, my Yeti met with an accident and the front took a massive hit. From the front bumper, grille, bonnet, to side body profiles and various internal parts such as radiator, sensors, AC compressor etc. The final amount came to around 3.20 lacs. Fortunately for me, my Zero dep policy from ICICI Lombard took care of everything. But I had to pay 18K from my pocket including the one-time processing fee, salvage fee, consumables such as coolant, oils and nuts, brackets etc.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

2 months ago, my Yeti met with an accident and the front took a massive hit. From the front bumper, grille, bonnet, to side body profiles and various internal parts such as radiator, sensors, AC compressor etc. The final amount came to around 3.20 lacs. Fortunately for me, my Zero dep policy from ICICI Lombard took care of everything. But I had to pay 18K from my pocket including the one-time processing fee, salvage fee, consumables such as coolant, oils and nuts, brackets etc.

Ouch! How did that happen? Rear ended someone?

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by iTNerd

But I had to pay 18K from my pocket including the one-time processing fee, salvage fee, consumables such as coolant, oils and nuts, brackets etc.

Hi,
Can you highlight more about the salvage fees, how was it calculated and does the Insurance co elaborated on what constitute as salvage

[JohnyRider]

My Swift dzire front fender got a decent dent yesterday, 2 cows were fighting on the road and one of them hit on my car. I went to Bimal (Maruti Service Center) and they quoted 4000 Rs for the repair. Current insurance (Maruti-National insurance) will expire on 15th June and I already renewed it around 4 days ago (new insurance will be effect from 16th June - 15th June 2017). I've got a no claim bonus of 1500 Rs for my insurance renewal.


Coming to actual query - My liability would be 1000 Rs if I claim the insurance, Otherwise need to spend 4000 Rs. I would seek your your suggestions whether I should claim the insurance or pay full amount.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by JohnyRider

Coming to actual query - My liability would be 1000 Rs if I claim the insurance, Otherwise need to spend 4000 Rs. I would seek your your suggestions whether I should claim the insurance or pay full amount.

Since the NCB amount is less than the repair cost, I would suggest to claim Insurance. However remember if you claim, you stand to lose the NCB amount as the Insurance co would want you to pay them back since the claim was during the current policy period. If you are comfortable paying the repair cost upfront, then you can keep the NCB amount.

Have you checked the repair cost at FNG rather than at MS workshop? Second question - can you live with the dent till you can club with some other repair work (God forbid).

[Thad E Ginathom]

Remember, loosing NCB does not cost you for just one year: it costs you for every year until you build it up again. I would guess that, in this instance, that might be more than 4K.

One vital consideration in the pay or claim calculation is having the cash available. If not, then that, of course, over-rides any other consideration.

[JohnyRider]

Thank you for your valuable suggestions Ghodlur & Thad. Total repair cost was 3887, hence i didn't claim my insurance. I got it repaired yesterday evening and my car is back in perfect shape.

[v_2rahjo]

Hello Gurus I need your advise
My car is a Laura 2012 TDI currently on 0 dep and 50% NCB.
Current insurance premium - Rs 35k from Bajaj Alliance
I met with an accident and damaged -
1) Bonnet
2) front grill
3) Chrome strip housing the Skoda logo

The Skoda workshop quoted 30k for the repairs.

My questions is - should I claim insurance? If yes then would the next premium increase substantially?
The workshop said that if I claim, my premium will only increase by 7-8 thousand. Is this true? If not, how much increase in premium should I see year after year?

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by v_2rahjo

My questions is - should I claim insurance? If yes then would the next premium increase substantially?
The workshop said that if I claim, my premium will only increase by 7-8 thousand. Is this true? If not, how much increase in premium should I see year after year?

Yes, you should claim insurance since the amount to be saved on NCB during next year's renewal would be lesser than the present repair charges.

Yes, the premium would be increased approximately by the same amount you presently claim as NCB since your NCB will become zero from 50% instantly when you claim. You may also see additional increase in premium due to the fact that Insurance co will see you now as a high risk customer and would want to charge extra premium for providing Motor insurance to you.

I would not bother about the premium as of now, first thing to get the car repaired and put back on the road.

[v_2rahjo]

Originally Posted by v_2rahjo

Hello Gurus I need your advise
My car is a Laura 2012 TDI currently on 0 dep and 50% NCB.
Current insurance premium - Rs 35k from Bajaj Alliance
I met with an accident and damaged -
1) Bonnet
2) front grill
3) Chrome strip housing the Skoda logo

The Skoda workshop quoted 30k for the repairs.

My questions is - should I claim insurance? If yes then would the next premium increase substantially?
The workshop said that if I claim, my premium will only increase by 7-8 thousand. Is this true? If not, how much increase in premium should I see year after year?

More updates - Skoda says that I will need to pay 4.5k even after 0 Dep. they say - 1500 for file charges and the rest for salvation. They are not willing to waive anything. Are they correct?
A local workshop gave me an estimate for Rs 1500 for the repairs. But he won't be changing the grill and chrome strip above the grill. Not sure how the repairs will come out.