Viriyah Insurance For My Toyota Vigo

[xm911e3]

Hi guys, I've been driving my Toyata Vigo (insured by viriyah) for about 2 years without any claims from insurance company whatsoever (ODO below 10,000KM). Long story short, over the period of 2 years, I've accumulated about 2 small dents and a couple of minor scratches on my car.

I decided to bring my car over to Toyota. They came up with a repair bill of 25,000B for those minor scratches and dents. My 1st class car insurance paid for all the repairs.

My concern is will this claim affects my insurance premium for the next year?

I mean back in my country, it's compulsory to buy 1st class insurance for cars but if you do any claims, the insurance premium will be higher the next coming year.

Thanks in advance.

[canopus1969]

Naturally your premiums will be higher.

If you had 25k of damge I think you had a little more then a " small dents and a couple of minor scratches" - people can get the whole vehicle resprayed for that !

[xm911e3]

Below are the description of the dents and scratches on my car.

Dent 1: About the size of 5 baht coin on my car's tailgate (highly visible) (the main reason why I pushed my car in for repair)

Dent 2: About the size of 1 baht coin on my passenger's right door (hardly even visible unless very close inspection) (probably someone's door hit mine)

Scratch 1: About 5 cm scratch along the right side of the front bumper (highly visible)

Scratch 2: About 5cm scratch along the left side of the front bumper (hardly even visible unless very close inspection)

Scratch 3: About 5cm scratch on my right side step (highly visible) (they replaced a new one)

By the way, the Toyota I went to is in Chiang Mai opposite an electronics super store (I think it's called SP or something).

[ThaidDown]

As you made a claim I would expect the premium to rise at renewal for the same coverage

That's the way an insurance company works, no claim in the year premiums probably go down, claim and premiums rise (or if you're very lucky, stay the same).

25k does seem high for the worked described, although have not had any work like that done for a long time, maybe depends on how much spraying was done.

[TwoDogz]

Yes your premium will be higher, but in my experience it should not be by too much.

yes you got ripped off at Toyota for the repairs. Way to much for that amount of work.

[xm911e3]

Yea I believed Toyota indeed overcharged me. I recalled asking them how much does it cost to change a steering wheel from the old model which I'm currently using to the new model Toyota Vigo sterring wheel, they quoted me with a price of 15,000B. <deleted>...

Anyway what done cannot be undone. Lesson learnt. In future if I were to do any sorta repairs like these, where can I go besides Toyota?

Can I go to any car workshop outside that's more reasonable in terms of repair cost and still able to claim from my insurance company?

Thanks in advance.

PS: The minor repairs took about 10 days.

[TwoDogz]

You can go anywhere for body type repairs.

Only go to Toyota if you want genuine parts and if it is repairs under insurance which also requires genuine parts.

We had minor repairs done to our last year and insurance paid, but it was also in addition to an accident repair which was supposedly my fault and we got the additional small stuff done at same time at an outside shop.

My premium went up following year by 2k baht.

[xm911e3]

You can go anywhere for body type repairs.

Only go to Toyota if you want genuine parts and if it is repairs under insurance which also requires genuine parts.

We had minor repairs done to our last year and insurance paid, but it was also in addition to an accident repair which was supposedly my fault and we got the additional small stuff done at same time at an outside shop.

My premium went up following year by 2k baht.

Yo bro, thanks alot for the info. Really appreciate it.

In future, if necessary (fingers crossed), I will bring it outside for repair jobs.

Edited October 12, 2012 by xm911e3

[kamalabob2]

I've had a Fortuner insured with the same insurance company for 7 years. You can save on your annual premium by YOU telling them you want a 5000 baht deductable.

If you name 2 adult drivers (listed drivers) and agree to not let anyone else drive the Toyota you will obtain a discount.

The ages of the 2 named drivers will help determine that discount.

If you do go all year with no claims, the next year has a decent listed discount, and each year up to 5 years earns a larger "no claims" discount.

This company will raise the theft/total loss limit if you ask them and pay the minor increase in premium.

I've never made a claim, had the other party who hit my parked Toyota pay the 6500 baht for paint work on two doors, side panel and one bumper at an independent body shop. The Toyota Dealer paint shop was not operating when my car was hit by another party so I could not compare prices of dealer vs. independent body shop.

[xm911e3]

Hi kamalabob2, thanks for your reply. My car is about 2 years old. The 1st year Viriyah insurance was included in the price when I bought the car.

Approaching 2nd year, I named my wife and I (2 person) the only 2 person who will be driving this car in order to get a discount. The 1st class insurance from Viriyah insurance to be exact cost 17,296B instead of like 22,000 plus baht.

Is there any good auto insurance company better than Viriyah insurance? Just in case they raise the insurance premium to an unacceptable amount next year, I've an option to jump ship.

Edited October 13, 2012 by xm911e3

[stevenl]

Is there any good auto insurance company better than Viriyah insurance?

I had an accident last year, Viriyah took care of it all: lie after lie, repair took all in all almost 3 months, and very, very low quality repair. I think any company must be better then they are.

[Tywais]

My experience with Viriyah has been flawless and highly professional. A couple of years ago a MC jumped the red light right in front of me and I t-boned him. Within minutes after the police arrived a representative was on the spot handling all communication with the police and explaining to me the procedures. The many visits to the police station to 'negotiate' he was there explaining the process, handling the police, etc. The other party refused to admit guilt though I had a reliable witness that came to the station shortly after the accident stating that the MC jumped the light.

The police were on my side for all the meetings and got tired of the other party arguing the toss. They finally just got fed up and wrote it up as the MC was at fault. Later, I received a summons stating that I was driving recklessly causing bodily harm. It was a criminal suit and not a civil one. Again, Viriyah brought in their own lawyer who handled everything regarding the court case. I never even saw the judge. Their lawyer tried various arguments such as I had no valid license - the police had copies of my 5 year valid license. Then a witness for them just magically showed up months after the accident, happened to be a 'friend' who was driving next to them. The suit was tossed out.

As for repair, as it was extensive, they had the car taken to the best Honda repair center in Chiang Mai, no cheapo Somchai repair place. The car looked show room condition when done. Yes, my premiums went up but not unexpected after talking to some Thai friends that it is normal. No way would I switch to another, unknown, company after the way they handled it. I didn't have to pay a cent to anyone, they lost that option when they went the route they did. I was willing to help with the MC repair as part of the standard negotiating process, the Thai term is nahm jai.

[stevenl]

Ok,y expereicne: repairs took almost 3 months, for a big part because Viriyah insisted on importing parts via their own channels. They claimed parts were not on stock in Thailand after floods, phonecall to Nissan proved otherwise, very poorly repaired according so second opinion (bonnet e.g. could not be opened, paint all over the place), promise by Viriyah of taking it to Nissan to have repair quality checked was not met, etc. etc.

Never ever again.

[arkom]

Has anyone dealt with Deves? They quoted me a more reasonable price for 1st class for my Civic, are they a hassle to work with?

Currently have Viriyah, although I am very happy and have no complaints with them, they raised my premium for 1st class insurance, even though I did not make any claims for the past 2 years by almost 15,000 THB.

Their justification for the big increase was that cause of flooding they had too many claims.

Edited November 20, 2012 by arkom