NAWAKIJ MOTOR INSURANCE - does this seem reasonable to you?

[awayego]

I've had A1/First Class insurance cover with Nawakij on my Hilux Vigo since new, ten years ago. Always paid premiums promptly.

On 20^th July, without going into detail, we had a low-speed (fortunately!) accident in heavy rain and the Vigo ended up in a ditch upside down – no-one suffered even a scratch or bump thank goodness, due almost certainly to all wearing seatbelts.

 

After a few hours waiting, the accident repair company, acting for Nawakij, finally appeared with their breakdown truck and extricated our Vigo from the ditch. They took it straight to their repair place in Chiang Mai.

 

In the meantime, while much to-ing and fro-ing was going on between the repairer and Nawakij, we renewed the insurance policy by paying the first of two instalments amounting to 7,737.90Bt on 22^nd July so that the comprehensive insurance policy continued, which it did on 27^th July.

 

However, Nawakij eventually decided to write off the Vigo and pay out the insured amount in cash, which I was OK with. We received the money in two instalments – on 16^th and 24^th August which, admittedly, wasn't that long to wait.

 

Now, from the 20^th July onwards the Vigo was never on the road, never driven, always kept in the repairer's yard and was, in effect, under the control of Nawakij at all times since the accident, certainly not under our control.

 

And yet, in spite of this, and in spite of Nawakij's decision to write it off, we had to battle to obtain a refund of the 7,737.90Bt instalment of the renewal premium, or at least most of it, we assumed.

After many phone calls and messages and empty promises of call backs, the refund cheque finally arrived today, for the princely sum of 3,788.88Bt!

 

This means that Nawakij withheld 3,577Bt to cover both the brief period of 'insurance' they deemed necessary, in spite of the car being THEIR responsibility since 20^th July, PLUS whatever administration charge they applied.

 

OK, I know it's not a lot of money and you may think, all things considered, it's not an unreasonable amount to deduct, but WE definitely don't think it's reasonable!

 

I will certainly NOT insure my new replacement car, when it arrives, with Nawakij Insurance!

[Kwasaki]

Personally l will look up this Nawakij Insurance sounds like they carried out business in a perfectly reasonable fashion to me.

Sorry to say it is you getting upset unnecessarily so and are the one that is unreasonable.

[stevenl]

You'd have to check the policy conditions, where refunds will be mentioned. Despite it being in a yard, the policy will still have been in effect from 20 July onwards.

[properperson]

 

Was the accident date the 20th July and the renewal date 22nd July ??

 

Unable to offer an opinion without these dates.

[Johnniey]

Calm down.your making a mountain our of a mole hill.

Sounds like they have been very good to you, so why kick them in the teeth?

[awayego]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Seems I'm the one being unreasonable!

Old age doesn't come alone!

Points taken and accepted.

[Johnniey]

You ain't alone mate. I had a car written off and got and the insurance waited 3 months to get me a new one and didn't give the money for a rented car  which was a lot for 3 months. This is policy but I didn't like it and went insane for a few months, even pulling out one of my trump cards , i.e the head of police who got involved but then became a senator  was busy for a month or two and then the worst thing there was a coup and Taksin was kicked out. 

Acceptance is the key for things we can't change. It took many years here to realize this. 

[mogandave]

To be clear, insurance companies are in the business of collecting premiums, not paying out claims...

[stevenl]

16 hours ago, mogandave said:

To be clear, insurance companies are in the business of collecting premiums, not paying out claims...

Strange comment since the OP is not complaining at all about the handling of his claim.

[mogandave]

9 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Strange comment since the OP is not complaining at all about the handling of his claim.

 

Correct. He is (or was) complaining about them wanting to collect (or in this case retain) their premiums. 

[Ace of Pop]

Isnt that a rather high premium for an old truck. They are only worth 200K Max second hand 12 Y.O..?.

[mogandave]

perhaps liability is the bulk of it...

[lj cm]

Over the years the insured value of the car continues down, but the premium will never go lower than 50% of the original.

The main reason to keep the 1 class insurance is the higher liability coverage. 

[Happy Grumpy]

21 hours ago, mogandave said:

To be clear, insurance companies are in the business of collecting premiums, not paying out claims...

 

Or refunds.......

[stevenl]

2 hours ago, lj cm said:

Over the years the insured value of the car continues down, but the premium will never go lower than 50% of the original.

The main reason to keep the 1 class insurance is the higher liability coverage. 

Not correct. The premium is calculated as a % of the insured value, and can easily go below 50%. In the OP's case the premium was 7,700 Baht. Presuming that was all for the 3rd party, a new pickup will easily be around 20k.

Edited September 18, 2016 by stevenl

[lj cm]

3 hours ago, stevenl said:

Not correct. The premium is calculated as a % of the insured value, and can easily go below 50%. In the OP's case the premium was 7,700 Baht. Presuming that was all for the 3rd party, a new pickup will easily be around 20k.

 

What I describe is the way it works with Viriyah Insurance, and it looks like it's the same with OP's insurance company (Nawakij)

The way I understand OP's post, is that he pay two installments a year, each 7,700 Baht!?.

[awayego]

18 hours ago, Ace of Pop said:

Isnt that a rather high premium for an old truck. They are only worth 200K Max second hand 12 Y.O..?.

 

The insured value was 340k baht. Remember, second hand cars/pickups hold their value much more here.

You certainly wouldn't get a Vigo 4-door PreRunner in similar condition and mileage for 200k here, even allowing for being ten years old.

OK, maybe at auction but with an unknown history and in dubious condition.

I know that my battered Vigo was very quickly snapped up for 'repair' and re-sale at auction in another part of the country, even although it had been 'written off'. No 'HPI' checks here!

So I would never even consider buying a car at auction here!

 

7 hours ago, lj cm said:

 

What I describe is the way it works with Viriyah Insurance, and it looks like it's the same with OP's insurance company (Nawakij)

The way I understand OP's post, is that he pay two installments a year, each 7,700 Baht!?.

 

Correct, two instalments of +/- 7,700bt, total premium 15,400bt approx.

[JAS21]

2 hours ago, awayego said:

 

The insured value was 340k baht. Remember, second hand cars/pickups hold their value much more here.

You certainly wouldn't get a Vigo 4-door PreRunner in similar condition and mileage for 200k here, even allowing for being ten years old.

OK, maybe at auction but with an unknown history and in dubious condition.

I know that my battered Vigo was very quickly snapped up for 'repair' and re-sale at auction in another part of the country, even although it had been 'written off'. No 'HPI' checks here!

So I would never even consider buying a car at auction here!

 

 

Correct, two instalments of +/- 7,700bt, total premium 15,400bt approx.

Wow ... that sounds expensive.  My V-Cross, the top of the range one, the 3rd renewal was a little over 13, 000thb. The insured value was 600,000+ ...later sold it for 700,000. It was with Bangkok Insurance BUT driving was limited to myself and my wife ...

[stevenl]

 

What I describe is the way it works with Viriyah Insurance, and it looks like it's the same with OP's insurance company (Nawakij)

The way I understand OP's post, is that he pay two installments a year, each 7,700 Baht!?.

Still not correct, not the way premiums are calculated. Premiums can easily get under 50 percent. OP's premium was really high though.

[stevenl]

Still not correct, not the way premiums are calculated. Premiums can easily get under 50 percent. OP's premium was really high though.

PS, I think you may be referring to the maximum no-claim, but that is not (directly) related to age or value of the car.