Insurance Scam or Maruti Dealer Scam? Beware!!

[krish_go]

This is a very recent experience I had with a Maruti dealer "Garuda" from Bangalore at Sanjay Nagar. And in fact i never knew such thing exist.

We all receive calls from the respective car dealers to renew the Insurance and in time to avoid any inconvenience and for a hassle free process.
Did we ever notice is this updated and the Insurance we claim to have it on our vehicle is valid? I am sure not many would think about the same because of the trust and belief on the printout/insurance copy/receipt we have after the payment.

Coming back to my story, we have got a Ritz Vxi from Garuda motors Sanjay Nagar Bangalore about 2 yrs back. This is the 3rd year and as normal received a call from Garuda and so went ahead with the insurance, paid the cheque to them and got the receipt/ certificate as its been for past 2 yrs.
We paid this renewal money in Jan'13 as that was the time of car purchase. All went well till May 14th when a coconut fell from a tree in our parking lot and damaged the windshield.
We called up our regular Service center guy and asked them to cover it under insurance as few other scratches also need to be fixed at the same time.
Car was picked in the morning and I receive a call in the afternoon while in a office and that was the "Insurance bomb blast" on me.
Car was never covered/renewed under insurance after the 1st yr. I could not understand what he was talking in the first place and so left office early to him with all the documents (original) i had.
Answer again did not change from my SC guy. "No insurance updated on your car sir!!"
Called Garuda spoke to the manager and the suprise response was "please get the car here, we will fix it, your SC guy does not know what he is talking about"
I know my service center (SC) guy from past 5 yrs and i know their reputation.
Got the print out and my required docs from them and also took along the Insurance personal to Garuda and sat at their reception.
The moment they say i have the insurance personal along with me, their tone changed.
Sorry sir, the DD we gave to insurance did not pass through and so was the miss, we will update the systems and get it approved/done ASAP etc etc.
Even After a full mouth watering words from me, the only reponse from the manager/Gm of that Maruti was Sorry.
Finally, the repair was done and car is back from my SC guy itself under insurance and also records are now updated. Confirmed with the insurance company too.

Now the big question is - How trust worthy are these insurance payments we do at our Dealers.?
How can we track them.
Is this a new Scam in blossom stage and how do we avoid them.

 

[ERTIGA_ZMR]

Re: Insurance Scam or Maruti Dealer scam?- Beware!!

Put a FIR against them if the money was debited from your account on last two renewal and claim a hefty amount.They are entitled to pay you one year insurance renewal money as they did not renew it. It's a fraud and punishable act.

 

[appus]

Re: Insurance Scam or Maruti Dealer scam?- Beware!!

OMG ! This is shocking. What if someone gets a major accident with these kind of insurance gimmicks ? You should take this to higher officials and the Insurance company with your previous receipt given from them. Once they give you the receipt, you are entitled to get the insurance ! Send a mail to Maruti head office too. Lets not spare any one

 

[amit1km]

How did they managed to give the insurance paper to you after renewal. I mean to say do you have the renewal paper with you.
If your insurance is not valid, then how did they covered under insurance. which insurance company are you tied up with.

I think it is a big scam. Is it a deal with insurance company and dealer?

 

[krish_go]

The showroom is owned by a minister's BIL and so FIR tricks will not work.
I have analysed this and so got it settled in the records.
I have the document which looks as original as the normal one anyone gets with all stamps and signatures.
The insurance personal said, its original but your records are not updated with paid money for renewal. It looked to me as a scam and understanding between the dealer and insurance guys.
National Insurance is the company.

 

[anshuman8]

That is very strange. In National Insurance is the company, its a PSU body and you can always file an RTI against the fact how did your Cheque/DD get cleared from Bank and their system did not get updated?

Maruti is an agent of the insurance company. Hence they must fill in your details into the system as soon as Cheque/DD is cleared.

 

[P3T3R]

Did we ever notice is this updated and the Insurance we claim to have it on our vehicle is valid? I am sure not many would think about the same because of the trust and belief on the printout/insurance copy/receipt we have after the payment.

Now the big question is - How trust worthy are these insurance payments we do at our Dealers.?
How can we track them.
Is this a new Scam in blossom stage and how do we avoid them.

Didn't you get the policy by mail a few days after the payment was made.

How did they managed to give the insurance paper to you after renewal. I mean to say do you have the renewal paper with you.
If your insurance is not valid, then how did they covered under insurance. which insurance company are you tied up with.

I think it is a big scam. Is it a deal with insurance company and dealer?

This is quite common. The dealer "renews" 100 cars and gives them a fake paper. If one car actually meets with an accident, the dealer repairs it at their own cost. You never come to know unless there is a police case.

 

[envynicky]

I am really not surprised at this fact and possibility of nexus between the two to create such a situation. I am not saying all of them would be doing like this but possibility of something existing like this surely exists.

I am actively looking for car purchase at this point of time and found out the irrespective of the insurance company I choose the amount shall remain same. My simple question why this situation when we have different quotes from different providers when approached separately.

Please correct if I am missing something

 

[K K Datta]

You should always get the policy checked by the call centre of the insurance company and check for it that the policy is OK in respect of registration numbers / chassis numbers etc are all in the policy as many a time these are fraud.

 

[anshuman8]

I am really not surprised at this fact and possibility of nexus between the two to create such a situation. I am not saying all of them would be doing like this but possibility of something existing like this surely exists.

I am actively looking for car purchase at this point of time and found out the irrespective of the insurance company I choose the amount shall remain same. My simple question why this situation when we have different quotes from different providers when approached separately.

Please correct if I am missing something

Buy the policy online/directly from the insurance company office from the same insurer which has cashless tie up with dealer workshops. In that way you pay less price saving dealer/agent commission and also retain the cashless claim option.

You should always get the policy checked by the call centre of the insurance company and check for it that the policy is OK in respect of registration numbers / chassis numbers etc are all in the policy as many a time these are fraud.

Anyone can check their insurance validity via this link. All insurers have to login their policy to IRDA database.

Vehicle Insurer Search Status Screen

http://www.policyholder.gov.in/Vehicle_Insurance_Status_Search_216.aspx?NEWS

Hope this helps some one.

Cheers,
Anshuman

 

[krish_go]

@P3T3R- I have received the document and it looks as original as it should. Infact the personal from the insurance agency who came of inspection confirmed its a true document. But the system is not updated with the payment. Reason- DD from the dealer was not released to insurance company.
If i would have went to the same place of purchase of my car, i would have never know about such scam. may be as you rightly said, they would have covered it under their cost which is quite less than insurance claim.
As i went to other Service agent who i know well, this all came out. regarding police complaint, as i said, max it would have happen is they would have cover it all up as the dealership belongs to influence person. and would have wasted time for repair. As schools started, i needed the car to pickup/drop my kid. which was priority.
@anshuman8- Thank you for the links. There is a clause in this doc which will never find information if its not registered against your registration # of the car.
Please see the screen shot.

We need to find out more ways, possible online to crack this insurance scams and ensure all buyers are aware of what they are paying for.

 

[krish_go]

You should always get the policy checked by the call centre of the insurance company and check for it that the policy is OK in respect of registration numbers / chassis numbers etc are all in the policy as many a time these are fraud.

Good point. How many does it? Did you check as soon as your purchased the car?

 

[anshuman8]

Good point. How many does it? Did you check as soon as your purchased the car?

I never get my insurance from any dealer/agent. I always buy from PSU insurance companies.

 

[amit1km]

I never get my insurance from any dealer/agent. I always buy from PSU insurance companies.

+1 to this. I also never do the insurance through dealer.I personally go to the insurance office get the insurance paper in hand after paying the required amount.
From now on I will never think of doing it through dealer.

 

[Gurrala74]

Hmm,

This is a news to me and I never come across something like this. When only once I used insurance claim on my previous M800 where windshield got broken, then the Royal sundaram insurance guys came and inspected and out of total bill Rs.3000 they told me that I have to pay Rs.500, so I did.

Since last 2 years I am doing the renewal on my Ritz with dealers for Bajaj Allianz and even this year also I finished the same and got a soft copy of renewal certificate just and they said the original will come in post. No I need to check its validity things as mentioned by Anshuman here. Thank you buddy for alerting me.

Secondly buying the insurance with Bajaj online directly, if I say fresh insurance then the price was high than what the dealer was offering. The moment I say renewal and enter previous policy details, the it was shown as the policy issued thru' dealer cannot be renewed online, this must be the tie up between dealer and Bajaj to get their commission. Anyway I will check its validity details and update again