How To Insure Against Large Auto Claim

[Mike45]

I read recently about a guy that was involved in an accident in Thailand and the driver of the other vehicle died.n He had 1st Class Insurane. The family is insisting on 14.5 million baht compensation.

How do we protect ourselves from a claim for millions of baht? Surely our insurance will settle it for us....but his is doing nothing for him. They first offered 200k baht settlement and then lowered it to 100k. He has 1st class insurance with Liberty. He spent 2 days in jail and then had to bail himself out.

I was sued in the USA for an accident. Other than being hand served the suit notification and giving it to my insurance company I had nothing else to do with it. I didn't think about it, didn't worry about it..... nothing. I found out two years later that they had settled for 3 million baht.

Thats what I want in Thailand. Insurance and peace of mind that I have insured myself from a catastrophic loss. How can I obtain it?

[Crossy]

This is a worry to many of us who drive here.

Maybe TV Insurance can come up with the answer

[geriatrickid]

Purchase a personal umbrella liability policy. The limits sit in excess of the local auto and residential liability limits. If you look at any of the local expats working for large companies or public entities (foreign) they will have the best available local limits and then have that personal umbrella policy. Companies like AIG, Zurich, ING,Allianz, ACE, XL all offer it on their exec packages. It's not something a local Thai broker will be familiar with as its more of a foreign concept.

[torrenova]

I suppose it would be personal liability insurance which is quite common in the west.

What is perhaps more relevant to the case in question is the total liability limit under the 1st class auto insurance we have. If it is really so low as a few hundred thousand then I suspect most of us should perhaps consider this.

The law or lack of real law in Thailand seems to protect the insurance company and punish the driver of the vehicle when some idiot decides to commit quasi suicide and their money grabbing family are able to get the (often) westerner to personally pay up which is virtually unheard of in the west. The crux seems to be the admission of liability or those in authority making that judgement in spite of the obvious facts. No-one goes out to maim or kill someone but we expect to be covered financially if such an accident does occur.

I would also like the opinion of Thai Visa Insurance on this one.

[ThaivisaInsurance]

The first thing, as we all know, is that many things are different in Thailand from the West.

Insurance Companies usually provide Third Party Liability for loss of life of around 1-2 MTHB/person under 1^st class motor car insurance policies.

Also a bail bond of 200-300K would be put up by the Insurance Company in such an event.

A case as described would go before a court, which would decide how much compensation has to be awarded to the plaintiff. It is very unlikely that they would agree to the exorbitant amount sought; life is not (yet) that precious in Thailand.

However such claims may become more common with possibly higher amounts involved in future and Insurance Companies, we have been informed, will look into considering whether Third Party Liability within their motor insurance plans should be increased across the board.

[Bangyai]

There is something ' fishy ' about this 14 and a half miliion claim for compensation given that this is Thailand and that usually in cases of death in a traffic accident the compensation is often less than 100,000 baht ??

In any event, many of us don't have anywhere near 14 million baht so clearly would be unable to pay. In that event, if no agreement could be made with relatives of the deceased about how much could be paid , would a jail sentance follow , and if so how long would it be ? I'd like to know how many people are locked up for failing to pay adequate compensation , especially as in this case the victim was breaking the law by not wearing a crash helmet and driving in the wrong lane

[torrenova]

OJ Simpson was still out despite not paying $30,000,000 or so and he virtually admitted he killed them !

Would Thailand put you inside for a civil judgement (down the legal line) if you could not pay ?

[rana391]

Hi Guys

OP here. Just heard back from Liberty insurance, they are not going to refund my outlay for the bail and may not supply legal help. Liberty's agent in Nakhon Sawon thinks they will be out of business soon. Liberty insurance is the company that Toyota were using when they sold us the Fortuner. As you can imagine this is extremely distressing to my wife and myself.

I hope that TV insurance do not promote products from Liberty insurance.

I will post more info soon.

Thanks all for your support.

C

[ThaivisaInsurance]

Fear not – Thai Visa Insurance does not 'promote' Liberty Insurance motor (general insurance) products. We shall look into this and let you know of any findings.

Toyota/LMG : as we have explained on several occasions, the vehicle dealers do 'deals' with their preferred insurance suppliers in return for commissions when they sell the 'free' insurance to new owners. The coverage on these so called 'free' insurances are in many cases quite low in order to enhance the returns to the dealer. With the risk of banging the drum again, buy your insurance from a licensed broker !

[rana391]

And one that speaks English!

C

[ThaivisaInsurance]

And one that speaks English!

C

Yes - thank you for that

[offset]

Fear not – Thai Visa Insurance does not 'promote' Liberty Insurance motor (general insurance) products. We shall look into this and let you know of any findings.

Toyota/LMG : as we have explained on several occasions, the vehicle dealers do 'deals' with their preferred insurance suppliers in return for commissions when they sell the 'free' insurance to new owners. The coverage on these so called 'free' insurances are in many cases quite low in order to enhance the returns to the dealer. With the risk of banging the drum again, buy your insurance from a licensed broker !

Is this part of the Liberty Mutual Insurance Group

[ThaivisaInsurance]

Fear not – Thai Visa Insurance does not 'promote' Liberty Insurance motor (general insurance) products. We shall look into this and let you know of any findings.

Toyota/LMG : as we have explained on several occasions, the vehicle dealers do 'deals' with their preferred insurance suppliers in return for commissions when they sell the 'free' insurance to new owners. The coverage on these so called 'free' insurances are in many cases quite low in order to enhance the returns to the dealer. With the risk of banging the drum again, buy your insurance from a licensed broker !

Is this part of the Liberty Mutual Insurance Group

Do not worry - totally different company