In this month’s article, we focus on a question which our client often asks us: why is my claim taking so long? We will provide insights into the claims process and some of the key factors that affect the its duration. With “Nowism” being an integral part of our lives - where people want things now more than ever - many clients often get frustrated with the claims process which can be a lengthy one, due to the multiple stakeholders and steps involved. Although its intention is to ensure that the claim is settled in the most fair and reasonable manner for both clients and insurers alike, the clients are often not aware of the continuous effort happening in the background while the clock ticks away. To explain why the claims process takes long, let’s use motor repair claim as an example. Firstly, it is important to acknowledge that there are many stakeholders involved in a motor claim, namely client, broker, third party, police, claims handler, assessor, repairer, parts supplier, and quality assurer. At times, an investigator may also be involved if the insurer wants additional verification to be done. Due to this, a few days here, a few days there, the claims process becomes an inherently long process. Secondly, there are various due diligence in place. For example, a damage assessment is done by an independent assessor to check for all damages on the vehicle, after which an assessment report is sent to an insurer in three to five days. The insurer would then proceed to authorise the claim after they are satisfied with all the information at hand from various parties, including the clients themselves. If needed, the insurer may request the assessor to review certain aspects to ensure that all damages and repair values are accurate. Once authorisation is granted, the repairer would then proceed to order parts and start the repair process. The repairer strips the car and conducts a more thorough review, and more often than not, the repairer would find other damages which mean they need further authorisation from the insurer before any additional repair can be conducted. Thirdly, the duration of the repair depends on parts availability as well. For more popular brands such as Toyota and Volkswagen, parts are more readily available, but for other cars or models that require imported parts, it may take up to three weeks just to get the parts. The repair usually takes about one to two weeks for minor repairs, and two to eight weeks for major repairs. This process is technical in nature and involves various steps and divisions, such as panel beating, fitment, spray painting and quality assurance – all of which are done to ensure that the car is restored to its previous glory. In this regard, the insurer carefully screens and selects their approved repairers to provide peace of mind to the client. In certain cases, the insurers also send their own quality assurers to ensure that the repairs are indeed done to the approved specifications. The above outlines the reason behind a lengthy motor repair process. For a write-off and other losses, the process and stakeholders are very different, but the underlying principle remains the same. Although many people believe that insurers use different tactics to delay a claim, insurers actually want to settle claims as quickly as possible, because there are additional costs involved (many of them are outside of the insurers’ control) when claims take longer than expected. Hence we always advise our clients to include 60-day car hire as part of their cover, so that they are in no way inconvenienced by the claims process. We at Daberistic believe that by providing the right advice and solution to clients, we can create win-win relationships which will ultimately benefit everyone. If you are looking for advice on your short-term insurance needs, you can contact us on the following channels: -WeChat: daberistic -Email: ShortTerm@Daberistic.com -Phone: 011 658 1333
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorKevin Yeh Archives
January 2025
Categories
All
|