Bad Experience of Car Insurance Claim

Did you have any bad experience with vehicle insurance claim? Since almost every working adult in this country owns and drives a car, here is a story experienced by SC that may concern you as a vehicle owner. Read the full story here shared by SC in his own words.

In mid February, I was driving somewhere near Jelutong Express Way, when someone knocked the back of my car. I went down to take a look. The car boot is dented and lifted up, and hence cannot be closed. The bumper is still intact but is slightly lowered. Some scratches are seen on the body.

The other guy did not want to give me any information. The only thing I got is the number plate. Fine, so I went straight to the police station (he didn’t follow), lodged a report. The police told me if the other guy does not lodge a report, then my case will be forever hanging and there is no way I can claim his insurance (you don’t really believe the police to go after the culprit, do you? There are hundreds of accident cases…).

So I prayed that he find his conscience and make a report. The next day, anxious to know whether the other guy (hereafter known as 3rd party) has made a report, I called the police station, and very lucky of me, he did.

Knowing that I am now able to claim for 3rd party insurance, I brought my car to the ‘original brand’ service centre (please make this anonymous). The service centre person took over my car and said it should be fast. For the rest of the week (actually around 9 days), I had to borrow my parents’ car.

In the next few days, I went to the police station to bug the police officer assigned to my case to give me the investigation result (you need this for the claim). Finally got it (he is a kind policeman, in fact, since I got it quite smoothly). I gave this to the service centre person. The next document I need (besides my report, 3rd party report which you can buy at the police station and the investigation result) is the 3rd party insurance info. The service guy said it can be easily obtained from JPJ, but I need a letter of authorization from MSIG first.

So I called up MSIG to ask for that. Personally I walked over under the hot sun from my office to Menara MWE (MSIG office) to get that letter, which states that MSIG authorizes so and so to collect 3rd party insurance info from JPJ Seberang Jaya.

I took a half day leave and went over to JPJ Seberang Jaya. After the queues and waiting, to my disappointment, the JPJ person said since Dec 2008, they no longer issue such info to people in the branch office. All applications must be sent to Putrajaya. I called JPJ Putrajaya and the person said I need to send a letter with RM20 wang pos.

Not believing this (how come I never heard this before, and the service person never told me), I went back to the service centre and the service person also didn’t know about this. Even MSIG also don’t know. I emailed JPJ to ask and the answer I got is “only Insurance Company can apply for this, and they must write to Putrajaya directly (not to branch office in Penang). So now I got 2 conflicting info (one from this email, one from the earlier call to Putrajaya).

I called again JPJ Putrajaya and this time got routed to officer in charge, and the lady told me that the email is correct, that they only entertain insurance company. I asked, what if I buy 3rd party insurance where I cannot claim for OD-KFK (own damage, knock-for-knock, only for 1st party insurance where you claim through your own company) and no insurance company to help me apply for this JPJ info? The answer I got is both hilarious and outrageous – “Who asked you to buy 3rd party insurance?”

I have to call back MSIG and MSIG asserted that they never do this. Only workshops do all the JPJ paperwork. WTF! I bought their 1st party insurance and when come to claim, they don’t want to help me? What’s so secretive about 3rd party insurance info? It is just a company name + policy number. Why can’t it be made public? Our Datuk Ong Tee Keat has to work hard to restructure JPJ…. The next time if I am so unfortunate again, I will just go straight to those 3rd party workshops and forget the hassle (but have to live with the doubt that my car might have been ‘modified’)….

Summary of the Bad Experience

Shared by SC himself:

Can you believe my scenario???:

1) claim for OD-KFK requires 3rd party insurance info, i.e. the insurance of the car that knocked me.
2) Went to JPJ to inquire of 3rd party insurance info.
3) JPJ said cannot give; they only give to insurance company. They ask me to go back to the insurance company.
4) Went to MSIG, MSIG said they never do this.
5) Instead of solving my problem, they ask me to go hire someone from 3rd party workshop to do this for me, through ‘side doors’.
6) My situation is a dead lock (JPJ don’t want to deal with me, and MSIG don’t want to deal on my behalf). What is this country? So we cannot solve problems through front door and must go through the back door?

What I can say is – MALAYSIA BOLEH!!

Update 22 April 2009

After this posting, the Penang manager Mr Chia actually called up SC. SC told me that Mr.Chia already clarified that for OD-KFK claim (means you buy 1st party insurance, and the other guy who knocked you is at fault proven by the police investigation decision report), we actually do not need to get 3rd party insurance info.

SC said:

Strange dunno why my workshop never informed me about this. Anyway, my problem is no longer a problem. In conclusion, the next time you are a 1st party insurance policy holder, just get the police reports and the investigation decision report. All are easily obtainable from the police counter (with a catch, provided the investigating officer can complete the investigation on time).
I appreciate the promptness of the response from MSIG and Mr Chia, and I’m satisfied with the customer service from MSIG.

I guess this is the magic of blogs and internet. Without this, my problem probably will be swept under the carpet.

Do you have any bad experience you want to share? Contact me or feedback in the comment section below.

Photo by Ken Neoh