[jkrkrish]

Insurance Claim Misguidance by Kia Epitome Service Centre, Whitefield, Bangalore

My Kia Sonet HTX imt, was purchased in Feb 2021. On 18th Oct 2021, there was an incident where the right rear view mirror touched a pole, resulting in partial damage to the backside plastic support of the RVM, though the mechanism and light were working perfectly fine.

I took the car to Kia Epitome Service Centre, Whitefield, Bangalore, where upon informing the incident I was guided to a advisor. He assessed the damage, suggested replacement of the damaged RVM, which he estimated will cost around Rs 6000/- . When I told him that I will claim insurance, he advised me not to go for the insurance claim, as the no claim bonus that I will benefit will be more than Rs 6000/-. Since they handle these matters regularly, I assumed he knew what he was advising, and replaced the RVM paying Rs.6042/-. Receipt attached below. Even gave a 5 star rating at the customer care call.

Two days ago, when I was taking the quote for the next year insurance from the same Kia Epitome, Whitefield, they gave me quote (from ICCI Lombard, which has now acquired my earlier insurer Bharti AXA) where the discount I got for the 20% no claim bonus was mere Rs 1575/-. Quote attached. I was infuriated, and when I informed the person who gave quote, regarding the earlier advice of loosing no claim bonus of more than Rs 6000/-, she simply said I was misguided the service centre and said sorry.

I want ask my fellow BHPians, whether I should go to the Kia Epitome Service centre, vent my anger and forget it, or escalate the incompetence of the Kia Epitome Service to a higher level.

[praveen789]

What was your basic premium in your current policy? The NCB is always on basic and looking at the quote, I am assuming the current year numbers would have been similar. I think in this case, they pulled a fast one on you, but you could have done some homework on how NCB works. I do not think going to them now will help.

[MotoBlip]

Before jumping into the blame game, would suggest you to remove all your personal details(mobile number, email, address etc) from a public forum.

I want ask my fellow PHPians, whether I should go to the Kia Epitome Service centre, vent my anger and forget it, or escalate the incompetence of the Kia Epitome Service to a higher level.

Venting your anger might get you a discount on your next service, but it certainly won't get you your money back. The NCB percentage increases steadily(5%/year upto 50%), so in the long run, you stand to make that money back if you don't make any further claims.

The advisor was probably trying to avoid the effort that goes into dealing with insurance claims and hence gave you the wrong advice, but you could have done a bit of research of your own. I would suggest that you let this go.

[jkrkrish]

Originally Posted by praveen789

What was your basic premium in your current policy? The NCB is always on basic and looking at the quote, I am assuming the current year numbers would have been similar. I think in this case, they pulled a fast one on you, but you could have done some homework on how NCB works. I do not think going to them now will help.

The existing policy says;
Own damage premium: Rs 22258/
Net Liability (Third &PA cover): Rs 5611/-
SGST: Rs 2509/- & CGST:2509,
Total:Rs 32,887/-

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by jkrkrish

When I told him that I will claim insurance, he advised me not to go for the insurance claim, as the no claim bonus that I will benefit will be more than Rs 6000/-.
Two days ago, when I was taking the quote for the next year insurance from the same Kia Epitome, Whitefield, they gave me quote (from ICCI Lombard, which has now acquired my earlier insurer Bharti AXA) where the discount I got for the 20% no claim bonus was mere Rs 1575/-.

The benefit you got from NCB is 1575 on the OD premium. In case you had claimed insurance for the mirror replacement, out of the 6k bill I believe there would have been a compulsory deductible that you would have had to pay and the amount can vary. In addition to this the loss of NCB would roll over subsequent years hence the SA would have suggested against claiming insurance. Of course I dont back his argument that your savings is more than 6k in this case, but in general, this sort of a damage would have been better settled off as cash instead of claiming insurance. Thats just my preference though.

NOTE: Barring the issue with the claim, from what I see of your policy proposal offered this year, I see that the IDV is pretty less compared to last year. Percentage depreciation on the IDV as I calculated is 11.5%. While I havent myself renewed insurance policies anytime(since my uncle who works in a Ins. company manages these things) I was of the belief that IDV depreciation would be between 5-10% every year out of which I would tell him to keep the IDV on the higher side of the bracket. This is another reason the premium as well as NCB discount seems to be low. I guess its better to opt for the highest possible IDV on your car and depreciate it lesser over the next few years in order to prevent any accident from being easily qualified as a total loss. Hence you might want to re assess that before going ahead with the policy.

[sierrabravo98]

Originally Posted by jkrkrish

Insurance Claim Misguidance by Kia Epitome Service Centre, Whitefield, Bangalore

My Kia Sonet HTX imt, was purchased in Feb 2021. On 18th Oct 2021, there was an incident where the right rear view mirror touched a pole, resulting in partial damage to the backside plastic support of the RVM, though the mechanism and light were working perfectly fine.


Note to Moderator: I could not find the right forum-topic to post this. Pl help.

You work in a sensitive field. The documents you attached contain a lot of details which ought not be out in the public domain. You ought to take the help of the moderators and take the appropriate recourse.

[PaddleShifter]

An insurancw claim of less than 8-10k should generally be settled without claiming insurance. You did not lose much as your NCB will keep on adding and will reach 50% sooner compared to the time taken had you sought insurance claim this year.

As other members also pointed out, it is better not to lose peace of mind and argue with someone who is trained to milk the customers during car servicing anyway.

[jkrkrish]

Originally Posted by sierrabravo98

You work in a sensitive field. The documents you attached contain a lot of details which ought not be out in the public domain. You ought to take the help of the moderators and take the appropriate recourse.

Thanks.
The personal information has been masked now by the moderator.

[jkrkrish]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Percentage depreciation on the IDV as I calculated is 11.5%. While I havent myself renewed insurance policies anytime(since my uncle who works in a Ins. company manages these things) I was of the belief that IDV depreciation would be between 5-10% every year out of which I would tell him to keep the IDV on the higher side of the bracket. This is another reason the premium as well as NCB discount seems to be low. I guess its better to opt for the highest possible IDV on your car and depreciate it lesser over the next few years in order to prevent any accident from being easily qualified as a total loss. Hence you might want to re assess that before going ahead with the policy.

Thanks.
The insurance person, told that this is the standard depreciation, though she was ready to offer a slightly higer IDV. I will go for it
The add-on includes, Zero depreciation, consumables and engine protect. I have a question though. Are these add-ons sufficient? Should I also add return to invoice.

[GrandTourer]

Originally Posted by jkrkrish

Insurance Claim Misguidance by Kia Epitome Service Centre, Whitefield, Bangalore
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I want ask my fellow BHPians, whether I should go to the Kia Epitome Service centre, vent my anger and forget it, or escalate the incompetence of the Kia Epitome Service to a higher level.

Might I suggest, please check on the many available online insurance websites for the exact proposal KIA dealer gave you, and see what NCB you get in the quotes online. This will give you an idea whether they pulled a fast one on you or not (they most likely did).

Once you have that information in hand, take your repair invoice, their proposal, the SA that attended during repair to the dealership GM and try to squeeze out the difference in amount in some form (next service, freebies, insurance renewal, etc.)

[Coyote]

Hi Jrkrish,

I second GranTourer's suggestion to check out online insurance portals. I crossed a year with my Sonet recently and during the insurance renewal discovered that GoDigit has tied up with Kia to offer their insurance services. If you approach the Kia showroom for a renewal, odds are they will recommend GoDigit - however they have limitations on the IDV they can choose on their portal.

Further, most Kia service centres in Bangalore are GoDigit authorised workshops, last I checked (November 2021).

If you avail the insurance from GoDigit directly, you have the option to set the IDV to any amount you desire - this is what I have done.

[sou_3749]

Hi Team,

Since you guys have a lot of experience with KIA, I would like to know some of the better KIA workshops for bodywork. This would help me get better outcome for a damage.