good motoring
Insurance check

Keep the car roadworthy lest you lose the insurance claim, says H. Kishie Singh

In case of car theft, an insurance company will not entertain a claim without an FIR

There was a news item some time ago about a Mercedes being stolen. It left the police baffled. The statement the owner made to the police mentioned that the "keys were in the car." Oops!

There is a definite procedure to be followed to report a car theft. First, make sure that the car has indeed been stolen. That it is not where you left it. Sometimes people forget where they have left their car.

After the theft, you have to file an FIR (first information report) with the police. Without an FIR, the insurance company will not entertain a claim.

If the police finds out that the keys were in the car, they may not file an FIR. A car with keys in the ignition isn’t considered stolen, but driven away. The police suspects collusion in such cases. So, there would be no FIR. Consequently, you won’t to be entertained by the insurance company.

If the police files an FIR and fails to find the car, it would close the file and only then issue a ‘No Trace’ certificate. This will be accepted by the insurance company.

So now you can file a claim with the insurance company. Then comes the time when you hear people say, "My insurance company is not paying. They are harassing me".

I spoke to my insurance expert, whose services I’ve been taking for the past 20 years. He is knowledgeable and punctual. He says, "We have condition number four in our policy, which says ‘the insured must take all reasonable steps to safeguard the vehicle from loss and damage and maintain it in an efficient condition’."

There are two very important points that arise from this clause. The first says take "reasonable steps to safeguard the vehicle from loss". So, leaving your keys in the car means no "reasonable steps" were taken. Quite the contrary.

The second point says "maintain it in an efficient condition". Very simply put, this means that the car must be roadworthy, i.e. the tyres, brakes, gears, wipers, everything should be in working condition. If you had an accident on a rainy day and your wipers were not working, the insurance surveyor would not certify the car "roadworthy".

Worn-out tyres, faulty brakes would also not meet the "roadworthy" specifications. Your claim could get rejected by the insurance company.

So, fairly and squarely, the ball is in the driver’s court. Look after your car, take all necessary safeguards for its security. And keep it roadworthy. Here’s hoping you never have an accident. There is a plus side in making sure your car is roadworthy, it will be fuel-efficient.

Happy motoring and Happy New Year.