[Resolved]  United India Insurance Co. Ltd. — Height of Corruptions

I had purchased a Tata Safari in the month of May 2009 which got stolen in June 2009 just after a month of buying it.

After a lot of visits to police station (Malviya Nagar PO, South District, New Delhi), an FIR was lodged and I was told to wait for one month and then will get an Untrace Certificate. The police personnel were categorical in telling me that no recovery happens and within few hours of theft the car either gets dismantled in Moradabad or Meerut or crosses Delhi and UP and reaches either Bihar and Nepal.

I was surprised at the honest (sp-called) and bluntness of the Police.

I waited for 5 weeks and then again after making more than 60 rounds of police station at odd hours (to catch up with Investigation Officer on duty), I got the "Untrace Certificate".

In the meantime, I kept honoring my bank instalments without fail as I was told that whatever happens I have to honor the instalments to the bank else they would again file a suit against me for non-payments and blacklist me for any further financial transactions with all the banking institutions.

After getting the "Untrace Cert.", as told, I approached the United India Insurance (5th Floor, Kailash Building, KG Marg, New Delhi) and there I came to know about a very peculiar thing.

I was told that my car was over-valued while getting insured and I will not get the value from the insurance company in accordance with the insured value but approximately 25, 000 less than that.

When I probed more then some of the officials accepted that it was the fault at company's end whose concerned department and the employee had overvalued my car while insuring it. Perhaps the most obvious reason was to get more money in premium and subsequently higher incentive for the sales person.

(Here, please note that not only the cover note of the insurance had that amount but also the main policy papers that reaches at our home subsequently had the same amount mentioned on it)

Like this there can be thousands of cases which are not stolen and reported but the owners keep paying the extra premium throughout the life of the vehicle. I am sure this would be a multi-billion scam..

I was also told by some of the office staff members at United India Insurance that, its better to avoid lodging any formal complaint which in turn would take not take less than 4 months to do internal scrutiny and would cost me much more in terms of interest loss at the Bank loan's end...

I am clueless on what to do as at one side I am still paying everyday interest to Bank, honoring all my instalment cheques without even having / using the product / service that I had bought. It has already been more than 2 months of constant visit to RTO Office, HDFC Bank different branches, Police Station, Insurance Company, Tata Motors Dealership for information pieces etc..

Its really sad to know that I am paying the price of dreaming big, upgrading my car, aiming for a better lifestyle and the cost of living in a lawless society..


The entire episode questions / touches a lot of issues, viz..
- The tall claims of car manufacturers on foolproof security system (Central Lock, Engine Immobilizers etc)
- There is no system at the manufacturer's end which puts the car registration, engine and chasis number on red alert and take prompt action once any of its dealership / service centres services the same car
- The Consumer Rights on paying for the service when he is no more using it
- The relevance of the "Foreclosure Charges" of as high as 6.5% charged by the bank at the time of closing such cases. The Bank needs to understand and consider that its not a normal Foreclosure case but its "Forced Foreclosure" as the consumer dont have any option and the matter has been reported to the Bank, RTO and The local Police Authorities



Thanks