Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd — Delay and harassment of settlement of motor claim

Address:

Bangalore, Karnataka

I have taken a passenger carrying vehicle package insurance policy from M/s Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd, Bangalore. The validity of the policy is from 7 Nov. 2014 to 6 Nov. 2015. The insured vehicle met with a road accident on 2 December 2014 and has been notified to the insurance company, the documentation in filing the claim with the insurance company has been completed within 3 days from the date of accident. The insurance company has taken cognizance of the claim and has issued the above mentioned claim number. The insured is aggrieved in getting relief from the insurance on the following counts and hence approached this honorable District Consumer Forum for justice and prevail upon the insurance company for unfair trade practices. 1. The insured has written letter dated 19 Dec. 2014 (copy filed with this complaint) to the insurance company giving various options in settling the legitimate claim. The insured has also met the company executive, Mr Vinay, in their office for resolving the issue. But till date there is neither any response to my letter and any solution found. 2. The insured has again written letter dated 15 January 2015 (copy filed with this complaint) urging the company to act on the claim as the accident vehicle was lying unattended for over 45 days. To this letter also the insurance company maintained silence. During these intervening periods, the insured contacted and Mr Satish Acharya, the Claims Manager (Mob. [protected]) and met in their offices on several occasions and sent several SMSs pursuing for an early resolution to the claim settlement either by authorizing repairs or in settling the claim, but there are no responses whatsoever from his side. SMSs sent to the claims manager can be made available to the Forum as evidence whenever required. Since there is no response from the insurance company, I have mentioned in the above letter that in I am going to authorize repairs in a local garage, as the vehicle dealier, M/s Ravindu Toyota has given an exorbitant repair estimate (copy of estimated filed with this complaint) and I am unable to pay depreciation on new parts. I have submitted the repair estimate from M/s HBR Service Point to the insurance company for assessment of loss. The surveyor appointed by the company, Mr M N Manjunath (Mob. [protected]) has taken his own time in attending the claim and submitting his survey report to the company after two months. This has happened in spite of consistent repeated follow-ups from the insured. 3. The insured has complied with all documents that are required to be submitted such as KYC documents, to the insurance company through the appointed surveyor. However, the surveyor on 8 June 2015, after a gap of two months of submitting the documents, writes a letter to the insured asking him to submit the cancelled cheque/bank passbook of the insured, and original bill of the repairer within 7 days failing which he will treat the claim as closed. I have asked the insurance company to provide me under what terms & conditions of the policy the insured need to provide the cancelled cheque/passbook in settling the claim for which the insured has not responded so far. I have also asked under what authority the appointed surveyor writes to the insured threatening that he will close the file (a copy of my letter dated June 12, 2015 addressed to the insurance company dated is attached with this complaint). 4. The local garage has submitted a bill amounting to Rs. 2, 60, 546 considering replacing only damaged parts and reasonable labour. As per the policy conditions, the insured has to pay 40% depreciation on new parts for vehicle of 6 years old and there are no depreciation on all parts made of glass. The repair invoice submitted by the local garage, M/s HBR Service point for labour of 72, 700 and for parts after applying 50% depreciation instead of 40% as per policy schedule amounting to Rs. 1, 87, 846 is fair and reasonable. The insured was willing for a further negotiation with the insurance company and met the company executive, Mr Vinay and Mr Satish Acharya, but I could understand their intention not to arrive at an amicable settlement and drag on this claim. They even try to enter into bizarre arguments. They tried to convince that that will not be paying 100% replacement cost on glass which is against the contract conditions on policy wordings (policy copy highlighting the depreciation clause is attached with this complaint). NOW THE CLAIM Since the insurance company is unwilling for an amicable settlement of the claim, my humble request to this hon’ble forum in giving relief to the aggrieved are as follows : Repair invoice paid by the insured Rs. 2, 60, 546 Compensation for delay* Rs. 7, 16, 000 Cost of filing this suit Rs. 10, 000 TOTAL Rs. 9, 77, 546 *This Hon’ble Forum may also note that the repairs to this kind of damages will take about one month and accordingly, the insurance company should have authorized repairs and ensured that the vehicle is delivered to the insured before 3rd January 2015 i.e. one month from the date of accident. Based on this, the delay is calculated at 179 days. The Toyota Innova will earn Rs. 4, 000 per day as revenue. Accordingly, the compensation is calculated at 179 days @ Rs. 4, 000 per day is 7, 16, 000. This Hon’ble Forum is apprised of the fact that whether the commercial vehicle runs on the road or not, the owner of the vehicle has to incur the costs such as Driver’s salary, Quarterly taxes to the Government, insurance cost, maintenance cost, interest on car loan availed from the bank apart from the EMI itself. It is therefore imaginable that due to the unfair trade practices and harassment of such insurance companies, the insured has to undergo tremendous financial burden and mental agony. It is the humble request of the aggrieved that this Hon’ble Forum may please take note of these findings and give a fair justice to the aggrieved person and send a strong message to the companies such as Reliance General Insurance Companies who violate their own policy terms and conditions. I am sure that this Hon’ble Forum will prevail against such dubious companies and pass a favourable justice to the innocent customers. Thanking you, Yours sincerely, VIJAYAKUMAR V