During a virtual press conference organised by Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming today, six motorists shared their experience about being pressured into using panel workshops, being denied the full value of their assessed damages and being subjected to slow services at different stages of the process.
Francesca Norbert, speaking on behalf of her sister Veronica, said that after an accident in October last year in Cyberjaya, which damaged multiple parts of the right side of the car, the insurer employed unlawful claim settlement practices.
After she submitted a police report, the insurer rejected her request to have her car repaired at a Persatuan Insurans Am Malaysia (PIAM) workshop, instructing her to use one of their panel workshops, quoting Endorsement 106, despite it being revoked by BNM in 2016.
“The fact that they used it to pressure me was done on purpose to blindside me as a consumer. I proceeded to complain to BNM, after which the insurer apologised and allowed me to proceed with repairs.”
The insurer also claimed that due to the conditional movement control order, they would not be performing a physical inspection of her car’s damages, in breach of BNM’s guidelines stating inspection must be carried out within seven days.
“They only complied after I made another complaint to BNM. After my persistent complaints, they performed the inspection but it was one month later.
“Regarding the claim amount, at first they presented me with a lowball offer of just RM1,800, even though the workshop’s quote was RM10,000. I rejected the offer and firmly requested for another physical inspection to be done to properly assess the damage.”
The revised claim offer was raised to RM6,000, still well short of the cost for the necessary repairs.
“They failed to provide reasonable justification for the reduction in cost. Based on the breakdown by parts, there were items they did not cover like certain necessary labour costs, not using the market value of the parts required, and refusal to replace the bumper and fender.”
Michael Young, who got into an accident in November, talked about his insurer’s inefficiency.
He said after he had made a police report, he found his car was missing. It had been towed away by one of the insurance company’s contractors without his knowledge.
He was also pressured into sending it to a panel workshop. He chose to send it to a PIAM-approved garage that he trusted.
“I waited for them to send their adjuster, but they never sent one. After nine days, I appointed an independent licensed adjuster on my own.”
In desperate need for his car to send his youngest children to school and take one of his daughters to work, he instructed the mechanic to carry out repairs, paid for by withdrawals from his Employees Provident Fund.
“I went to BNM for advice and they immediately passed the ball to OFS in December. Until today, they have already changed staff four times.”
On May 3, they adjudicated and ruled in his insurer’s favour. They said he had breached conditions in his policy by going to a non-panel workshop, despite this no longer being required.
Ong said he would be raising these issues in a letter he plans to send to BNM deputy governor Chew Cheng Lian by tomorrow as these inefficiencies and practices were harmful to consumers.
“I will be asking her for a response on all these matters. These are serious issues BNM needs to listen to and resolve.”
Ong said pressuring policyholders to use panel workshops, gaps in the assessment of damages and BNM’s slow response to complaints should be addressed as people cannot be expected to bear undue costs when making claims.