Car insurance rip off

[hangingjudge]

my car was recently in a flood surge and badly damaged. Although my first class insurance has full cover the insurance is trying to get me to share the cost and delaying repair. All the major foreign insurers have covered affected cars my local insurer just delays. What action can I take besides lengthy expensive legal action?

[KittenKong]

You could try enlisting the help of the consumer protection office. Depending on where you are you may need a Thai person to help interpret.

http://www.consumersinternational.org/our-members/member-directory/Office of the Consumer Protection Board of Thailand

[stevenl]

my car was recently in a flood surge and badly damaged. Although my first class insurance has full cover the insurance is trying to get me to share the cost and delaying repair. All the major foreign insurers have covered affected cars my local insurer just delays. What action can I take besides lengthy expensive legal action?

What does it say in your policy about this?

[hangingjudge]

It is clearly covered! That's why I have so called "first class" cover. My cover is over 4 million baht and they won't sign off on aprox 500,000 of repairs. They don't dispute the cover but say that I should be understanding and

pay half! They seem to think that by delaying I will eventually agree! 

[hangingjudge]

I should add that some aprox 30 cars were hauled into my dealer and all repaired except 4 covered by the same insurer...a Thai one. Those insured by the international insurers all had no problems. 

I have legal advice that I'm fully covered but the insurer is betting that I won't go to the time and expense. Really awful behaviour! 

[stevenl]

It is clearly covered! That's why I have so called "first class" cover. My cover is over 4 million baht and they won't sign off on aprox 500,000 of repairs. They don't dispute the cover but say that I should be understanding and
pay half! They seem to think that by delaying I will eventually agree! 

I meant 'what does it say in the policy about payment/cover disputes? You have to follow that in order to appeal later if necessary.

[hangingjudge]

On 10/9/2016 at 7:47 AM, stevenl said:

What does it say in your policy about this?

It says it's covered and disputes can be settled in court. Now my lawyer threatened legal

action , consumer protection, insurance regulator and media! Guess what? After delaying almost 2 months they suddenly agreed. Said they would make an "exception" for me. So....use the big international car insurers like AXA, etc.thats the lesson!

 

[stevenl]

3 hours ago, hangingjudge said:

It says it's covered and disputes can be settled in court. Now my lawyer threatened legal

action , consumer protection, insurance regulator and media! Guess what? After delaying almost 2 months they suddenly agreed. Said they would make an "exception" for me. So....use the big international car insurers like AXA, etc.thats the lesson!

 

Good for you.

 

Take into account that the international insurers in Thailand operate completely independently from the mother concern. So I can not subscribe to your conclusion, it is based on a false assumption.

[JaseTheBass]

On 12/10/2016 at 0:04 PM, hangingjudge said:

It says it's covered and disputes can be settled in court. Now my lawyer threatened legal

action , consumer protection, insurance regulator and media! Guess what? After delaying almost 2 months they suddenly agreed. Said they would make an "exception" for me. So....use the big international car insurers like AXA, etc.thats the lesson!

 

 

Heard many bad things about one of the big local companies refusing to pay out. Begins with a 'V'...

[hangingjudge]

On 10/12/2016 at 3:49 PM, stevenl said:

Good for you.

 

Take into account that the international insurers in Thailand operate completely independently from the mother concern. So I can not subscribe to your conclusion, it is based on a false assumption.

Nope....unfortunately it's a correct assumption! I have 3 cars now with the

other 2 covered by international insurers both of which I used now for many years and never had a claim dispute...never. So I signed up to the

local one

 a year ago to

save 10,000 baht!

Stupid me! 

Of course the intermational ones are independent of their parents but adhere to the same ethical standards. The locals it seems need to first be threatened with legal action or they try to weasil out. I bet at least some percentage of "victims" naively agree as they site irrelevant clauses in their policy which the average person can't understand anyway. So I repeat BE WARNED!

 

 

[stevenl]

7 minutes ago, hangingjudge said:

Nope....unfortunately it's a correct assumption! I have 3 cars now with the

other 2 covered by international insurers both of which I used now for many years and never had a claim dispute...never. So I signed up to the

local one

 a year ago to

save 10,000 baht!

Stupid me! 

Of course the intermational ones are independent of their parents but adhere to the same ethical standards. The locals it seems need to first be threatened with legal action or they try to weasil out. I bet at least some percentage of "victims" naively agree as they site irrelevant clauses in their policy which the average person can't understand anyway. So I repeat BE WARNED!

 

 

"Of course the intermational ones are independent of their parents but adhere to the same ethical standards. "

No, they don't. And that is from somebody who used to work for a big international insurance company with many contacts with branches abroad. In daily operations there is no connection, your one experience with a local insurance company does not warrant your claim and your assumption is incorrect.

[Asiantravel]

On ‎11‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 4:53 PM, hangingjudge said:

It is clearly covered! That's why I have so called "first class" cover. My cover is over 4 million baht and they won't sign off on aprox 500,000 of repairs. They don't dispute the cover but say that I should be understanding and

pay half! They seem to think that by delaying I will eventually agree! 

 

" I should be understanding  "

 

you should ask  them to understand that if they don't meet their obligation they are in breach of contract?