[Resolved]  Bajaj Allianz — Non responsive.Claim settlement is nightmare

Address:

Gurgaon, Haryana

Non responsive.Claim settlement is nightmare. 5 months still issue persist.

I had met with an accident on 21 Oct 2010 where my car sustained major levels of damage.

The Car insurance is with "Honda Assure -Bajaj Allianz Insurance" and the Policy Number: HBA/00000861

As per the Policy, the Car's IDV value is Priced at Rs. 9,06,300
Which leads to the Total Loss cut off cost (75% of cost) of : Rs. 6,79,725

The issues and sequence of events that I had faced that has led me to write this mail to you are listed below:

1) An Estimate of 7,10,885 Rupees was shared by Pearl Honda dealer with Honda Assure -Bajaj Allianz Insurance as the initial estimate for cost of repair.

2) Honda Assure -Bajaj Allianz Insurance had appointed a surveyor - Mr Kishor. The Surveyor and Allianz contact person had denied the claim for Total Loss case and the dealer estimated amount that was presented to them by Pearl Honda. Mr. Kishore (Surveyor) presented a revised estimate of around 3.50,000 as the cost of repair and this was presented for insurance approval. The request for total loss was denied by surveyor and Allianz insurance contact person via phone.

3) My share for repairs (against depreciation charges) was communicated as 1.25 lacs and upto 1.50 lacs.
4) After discussing the case with Bajaj Allianz Insurance and getting assurance from workshop point of contact and getting assurance from both of them that the numbers are correct and repairing the vehicle is best way to proceed, I had given a go ahead for the car repair in November 2010( please note that it has already been a month from the time the car was submitted to reach this point).

5) 5 months later and numerous phone calls and emails later, I still do not get any updates from either the dealers nor the insurance company on the progress of work. After a lot of stressful phone calls I am informed that the amount to be paid by me has now increased to nearly 2 lakhs and the repairs of the car are still not completed and issues still persist and Pearl honda had called in engineers from Honda india to help in resolving the issues.

6) With all the work done, the amount to be paid by insurance has also increased considerably by this time.
7) After numerous attempts at trying to resolve the outstanding issues, Pearl Honda and Honda india came to the conclusion that the Transmission unit (Item cost of about Rs. 3,91,000) needs to be replaced and this had been communicated to Bajaj Allianz.

8) Current status: Received a reply from Bajaj Allianz (please see the email chain below). They have questioned assembly of gear box and the decision and workmanship of Honda in this matter.

After adding suggested transmission unit, the cost of repair is going to come to -- 8,75,000 which is very close to the car's IDV value. At this point, Honda's stance is that the transmission unit needs to be replaced in order to fix the car and Bajaj allianz is taking the stance that it is unnecessary and this replacement came into being only because of the incompetence of the dealer engineers.

During this entire 5 months (and now close to 6), I have not been getting any proper information out of the people involved. No regular communication or advice. During my busy day at work, I am forced to make several phone calls in a day and send out numerous emails asking for updates. Despite all this effort, I am disappointed to say that the response has been close to negligible. Further more I have to make calls to both sides and coordinate between the dealer and the insurance agency. Clearly this is not something I believe is the responsibility of car owner here. These should be done between the dealer and the insurance agent as part of their work process.

I am even more infuriated by the lack of customer centric service being provided here. The agency is very proactive and helpful when it comes to renewing the policy and in situations where the money is to be paid by me towards them but, when put into a situation, what I am seeing is a very cold approach in servicing their customers.