Shocked by SBI's unbelievably good insurance service on our Ignis

The bonnet, bumper, front & rear doors and rear bumper, done in one shot claiming all had happened at once.

BHPian thirdmainroad recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I've been avoiding national insurance like SBI for my vehicles, thinking they'd take a long time for claim settlements and would generally be a hassle to deal with.

My wife has an Ignis, and it came with SBI motor insurance as she had taken an SBI bank loan. When it was time to renew, I was trying to get her to go with Bajaj Allianz, for I had had good experiences with them in the past (or so I thought) but she stuck to her heels and renewed with SBI, as it was much cheaper. I scoffed and waited for the day I could point out what a dingbat she is for going the SBI way.

So she went and hit a tree once and her bonnet popped and wouldn't shut properly. She also picked up a scratch on the bumper. I told her to drop the car off at the service station and claim insurance. She said she would, but never got around to doing it. I fumed that it would be difficult to claim insurance after a few days, and that legally you have to get the work started/inform the insurer within 24 hours. She shrugged me off. I scoffed and waited for the day I could point out what a dingbat she is.

She then later scratched her door on the same side. I told her to get it done and claim insurance, she said she would and never got around to it.

A few months later, a motorcyclist grazed her, giving her more scratches and dents. Told her again to go get it done, and that it would be increasingly difficult to claim insurance - saying that SBI would deny the claims for not intimating them on time. She said she would, and finally, after a few weeks, she actually went and dropped the vehicle off for insurance.

She came back all proud of herself saying she had filled in the claim form to get all of the work - the bonnet, the bumper, the front, rear doors and rear bumper done in one shot claiming all had happened at once. I scoffed and said that would be impossible, and she, in all probability would get nothing paid for by the insurance and I let her know that she was a dingbat.

Sure enough, after a few days, no approval had come through and the service station asked her to speak to the surveyor. She asked me to speak to him, and me wanting to show her how much of a dingbat she was, agreed to do so happily. The surveyor, when I called, said "You know as well as I do that all of this did not happen in one accident, and some of the scratches are quite old, so I can't approve the claim and have forwarded to the head office." I hung up, told my wife what a dingbat she was and that she wouldn't get approval and told her to either pay for the car and get it done, or get it back. She said she'd wait a day or two and see what the head office would say. I told her that she was wasting her time and that she was a dingbat.

The next day, she got a call from SBI and the lady told her that there was no way that all of this damage would come from one accident and that the bonnet seemed to be very old. She was on speaker, and I went all smug, ready to tell my wife what a dingbat she was.

AND THEN, the lady from SBI continued to tell my wife that since the previous year's policy was also with SBI, what they would do is treat her claim as three different claims, and they would approve them all, but my wife would have to pay Rs 1000 (the mandatory self-payment for No depreciation insurance) X 3, and therefore Rs 3000, and politely asked if that was ok. I was SHOCKED! Now who is bigger than the dingbat, asked my wife. Not to be outdone, I quickly thought of something and asked my wife to ask the SBI lady what would happen for future cashless and 0-dep claims as there would be only 2 cashless and 0-dep claims per year like all private insurance companies. And the SBI lady says - "Oh no, nothing like that, cashless 0 dep claims are unlimited!"

Is that good service or what??

I suppose I have been a very, very big dingbat for not going the SBI way, considering all this and how much cheaper they are compared to the likes of Royal Sundaram, Reliance, Bajaj Allianz and the like!!

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

SBI rocks. My best friend recently closed on a luxury car and picked SBI over the private banks for the car loan. SBI offered him the best rate, the most favourable terms and excellent customer service.

Here's what BHPian Raghu M had to say on the matter:

Guys, it's not just insurance, take regular banking too. I had to invest a high amount from the proceeds of a sale of property and wanted to make an FD. I chose Union Bank as the interest rates were pretty good. I knew their conventional banking process would be cumbersome and time taking but you cannot forgo higher interest right? So, went ahead and reached the bank. To my pleasant surprise, they were very prompt, issued forms quickly and even filled up some for me. I visited the branch the next day to enquire about cheque deposits and the manager himself took care of all the updates. He got our certificates issued, form 15H filled and personally attested where required. He even told me to look at their other products like housing loans, credit cards etc. I think with the intense competition, they have woken up and are smelling the coffee!

Here's what BHPian VishJ had to say on the matter:

That was a nice gesture by the insurer. They could have very well denied a part of the claim at least. But they gave a very good service. Hope the service quality remains consistent across the country.

Slightly OT - While SBI is a nationalised bank, SBI General Insurance is a private-sector company and not a public-sector insurer. There are only 4 PSU General insurance companies in India.

1. The New India Assurance Co Ltd
2. United India Insurance Co Ltd
3. National Insurance Co Ltd
4. Oriental Insurance Co Ltd

Here's what BHPian HappyWheels had to say on the matter:

Wow! This is indeed very customer-centric! They get their pay and customer get their work done.

I had my previous car loan with SBI and I had a very good experience both times while getting the loan and also when closing the loan (where they went out of the way to reach out to their HO to get the system transaction done, instead of saying to wait for it, as I had come to Bangalore just for this purpose).

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