[vedirah]

It's almost time to renew the own damage cover for my Polo. I currently have a policy from United India, but I had a very bad experience with them when I claimed insurance for a small bumper damage. They took around 3 months to settle the amount, and even though I have the most comprehensive package with all the add-ons, they could only settle ~70% of the repair cost. Not to mention the endless phone calls and follow-ups I had to make to get this settlement.

I am now looking at the likes of digit whose quotes seem very interesting. I'm getting a high IDV, zero dep, return to invoice and engine protect covers at just Rs. 13K. The other insurers are quoting close to Rs. 20k for the same cover. They also have cashless claims at any garage. Is it too good to be true? Anybody have experience claiming with digit?

[deepakshenoy]

Am looking at insurance options for a new car (Skoda Slavia 1.5 AT) - Acko is the cheapest at around 35K and United India is about the same. Rest are all 50K+.

But the dealer's guy is begging me not to take Acko saying it's horrible etc. etc. Won't say much about issues, but says there are claims problems. Says buy any other except Acko. I'm somehow not convinced with him, so thought I'd ask - does Acko+Skoda have issues?

[Aviator_guy]

Originally Posted by deepakshenoy

Am looking at insurance options for a new car (Skoda Slavia 1.5 AT) - Acko is the cheapest at around 35K and United India is about the same. Rest are all 50K+.

But the dealer's guy is begging me not to take Acko saying it's horrible etc. etc. Won't say much about issues, but says there are claims problems. Says buy any other except Acko. I'm somehow not convinced with him, so thought I'd ask - does Acko+Skoda have issues?

Acko has tie ups with multi brand garages and not necessarily with the OEMs. That's one of the reason they are able to offer better deals. Please do some research about their TnC and service network before you decide. Attaching the screenshot of their FAQ on the service network. If you are comfortable with this then only take this insurance for your new car.

You can also explore other established insurance companies who have cashless tie up with Skoda and can still offer better quotes than the dealer.

[cs_rajesh]

hello, I am enquiring in general, and in particular to Acko and Digit Insurance. When I wish to buy insurance for my existing from these providers, how do I get to know what would be the Third Party Liability Limit?

For example my car's current insurance from National Insurance Company shows the third party liability to be fixed at 7,50,000/- only.


I assume that the Insurance company will do a maximum payout of Rs 7,50,000/- only. Suppose there is an accident that involves serious injury or death, God forbid, and if there is a claim from the third party for compensation (could run into 50+ Lakhs or 1 Cr and above), then is the Insurance company willing to fight claims and make claim settlement on behalf of the car owner or driver and if yes, will it limit its exposure to only 750000/-?

Quite long back, my alto car met with an accident and a biker was injured. This biker family claimed compensation to the tune of 60 Lakhs against me, the car owner (even though I had not driven the car). The claimant advocate also later added the insurance company and the insurance company fought the case and settled the claim too (not aware how much was settled).

But now looking at my existing car insurance and the third party claim limit, I am doubtful if National insurance or for that matter, would any Insurer fight and settle claims above the limit?

So questions are:
1. What does this "third party liability limit" mean and upon which and how does it apply?
2. What happens with "third party claim" upon serious cases and will insurance companies fight or honor claims?
3. Is the third party liability limit fixed to 7,50,000/- for all cars? or is it based on any rider clause or the IDV value of the car?
4. How can one increase the third party liability limit, when one is willing to pay insurance premium for the increase in the limit?

Thanks in advance.

[deepakshenoy]

Originally Posted by Aviator_guy

Acko has tie ups with multi brand garages and not necessarily with the OEMs. That's one of the reason they are able to offer better deals. Please do some research about their TnC and service network before you decide. Attaching the screenshot of their FAQ on the service network. If you are comfortable with this then only take this insurance for your new car.

You can also explore other established insurance companies who have cashless tie up with Skoda and can still offer better quotes than the dealer.

Many thanks for this! I've taken the Acko, let's see what happens.

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by cs_rajesh

hello, I am enquiring in general, and in particular to Acko and Digit Insurance. When I wish to buy insurance for my existing from these providers, how do I get to know what would be the Third Party Liability Limit?

So questions are:
1. What does this "third party liability limit" mean and upon which and how does it apply?
2. What happens with "third party claim" upon serious cases and will insurance companies fight or honor claims?
3. Is the third party liability limit fixed to 7,50,000/- for all cars? or is it based on any rider clause or the IDV value of the car?
4. How can one increase the third party liability limit, when one is willing to pay insurance premium for the increase in the limit?

Thanks in advance.

Based on my reading -
1. Third party liability is for all - other vehicle, property, bodily injury and death of anyone.
2. Correct. Insurance company has to pay the claim and hence they will take over the case and fight. You have to prove that you have valid license and not drunken driving etc. In those excluded cases, they will not pay and you have to pay.
3. This limit is for third party property damage only. Unlimited claim is allowed for bodily injury and death of third party. But it is decided through motor accident cases tribunal (MACT) based on several factors. Insurance company will fight but have to pay based on order. This is same for all cars but premium (third party) has few slabs based on cubic capacity.
4. I am not aware that this can be increased as it is fixed by IRDAI.

[dheer4]

My Experience with Acko has been phenomenal!. Except for a few issues during the time of payment, everything else from towing to claim handling has been perfect!.

Let me get down to the story!, Basically, I had been part of a small accident near Karnataka-Telangana border, while returning back from Goa to Hyderabad. the accident happened roughly 200 kms from Hyderabad.

Called Acko, got connected instantly, claim submitted within 1 hour of accident, got a claim handler assigned and tow services were arranged promptly. I was not charged for towing for 200kms. Being a 10 year old car, depreciation was explained from the policy documents (50% metal, plastics, 0% labour, 15% paint etc).

After the tow was arranged to the workshop of my choice, surveyor's number was shared and survey was done within a day, work order approved and the work started.(ICICI Lombard Is horrible when I had dealt with them during 2021.)

Work completed after 25 days and claim amount of 45,XXX was approved and I had been left to pay 18,XXX.

This transparency and ease of dealing was better than the folks at ICICI Lombard who tried to penny pinch for every single thing.

Just a small thing, Try getting cashless claim whenever possible. Varun motors did not accept cashless claim and now it has been 4 days since the payment has yet to arrive. But still there is transparency in the process and you can request a callback/call and they will tell the status unlike ICICI.

YMMV.

[impala]

I recently explored Acko and GoDigit again after a gap of two years to renew OD insurance of my XUV700. I found both Acko and GoDigit costlier than conventional players like Edelweiss, SBI or Liberal. I finally got a Liberty insurance through Mahindra dealer with zero dep and engine cover for 21400 while Acko was quoting around 33000 with GST. Of course, I had to do some negotiations and sharing competing quotes to get this price. To my surprise, even the default renewal quote from Edelweiss was around 28500, cheaper than Acko. I think both Acko and GoDigit had lost it's edge on the prices and they need to wow customers through service only.

Same time, IRDAI claim settlement (Coverfox link) ratios are on the lower side for both GoDigit and Acko.

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

Based on my reading -

3. This limit is for third party property damage only. Unlimited claim is allowed for bodily injury and death of third party. But it is decided through motor accident cases tribunal (MACT) based on several factors. Insurance company will fight but have to pay based on order. This is same for all cars but premium (third party) has few slabs based on cubic capacity.
4. I am not aware that this can be increased as it is fixed by IRDAI.

Suppose I crash into a new Mercedes and the other party's repair bill ends up going to 20L. Will my insurance only cover up to 7.5L and will I be on the hook for the remaining amount?

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by Cresterk

Suppose I crash into a new Mercedes and the other party's repair bill ends up going to 20L. Will my insurance only cover up to 7.5L and will I be on the hook for the remaining amount?

Yes this is my understanding of the third party liability if the other person proceeds with FIR and third party insurance claim.

[shyampsunder]

Had a mind-blowing experience with Acko. Purchased a new car insurance policy from them post-PDI.

Due to a dealer screw-up, the car which was allotted to me got invoiced to someone else and hence they allotted a new car to me. I wanted to get the car registered the very next day to lock in the prices in 2022 but I have heard that it is very hard to update the vehicle details post-purchase of insurance without RC. To my surprise, the app detected that it was a freshly purchased policy and let me update the chassis number instantly. But my luck ran out at the engine number section. There I was asked for the RC copy. At this point, I reached out to the Acko support team who asked me to upload the invoice copy as provisional proof of the vehicle details. Within 3 mins, the policy was updated and I received a call back for the same.

I shudder to think what would've happened if I had gone with someone like HDFC Ergo or one of the PSU insurers. I have always had a good experience with Acko both in the purchase as well as claims over the last few years but I have become a fan after this incident.

[vedirah]

Just purchased an own damage insurance policy from digit for my Polo. I picked zero dep and invoice price cover as add ons. Quite economical. The total cost came to 12.7k for an IDV of 8.5L. I had to upload a video of the car and the odometer reading to get the discount price. There were some hiccups while making the payment, but otherwise it was a smooth process.

[Sowgandh.Bellam]

Hello all, I recently made a total loss insurance claim with Acko and here is my detailed review of Acko along with the chain of events.

The car in question is a 2012 VW Vento 1.6 TDI. It was my fathers car and i have been purchasing Acko insurance for the past 3 years with 50% NCB. It was last renewed in the month of May 2022 for a sum of Rs.11358 of which Third party premium itself is Rs.9310(7890+GST). There is an option to increase the IDV to Rs.532000 from the existing Rs.449000 for an additional sum(Don't remember the exact amount) and I opted for it. So I bought an own damage cover of Rs.532000 for a 10 year old VW Vento for Rs.2048 which is dirt cheap.

The unfortunate accident happened on 14th August 2022 on Hyderabad ORR and I am the sole occupant of the car. Luckily there was no other party involved in the accident. The car lost control and collided with the median crashing into a light pole and concrete barrier. I suffered serious internal injuries to my head(temporal contusion) and a clavicle fracture. I recovered fully from the injuries and doing fine now. I am wearing seatbelt and surprisingly the airbags did not open. I will post regarding the accident specifics, my health in a different thread.

I initiated a claim through Acko app on 20th August after I was discharged. The car was towed from the accident site by the ORR authorities and was placed near Exit-4. My father inspected the car on 21st and also completed the police formalities(Panchanama). The appointed insurance surveyor asked for the location of the car and after the survey he advised us to tow the car to our own premises and said that the claim will be processed as total loss. I was left confused as I believed that Acko is supposed to tow the car to a service centre and get an estimate. Upon reading a fair bit on the internet and speaking with a few friends in insurance industry, I understood that though they are trying to evade the towing costs, the cost of parking the car at the garage premises throughout the claim process will attract parking charges and the insurance company is not liable to pay it. So I got the car towed to our residence(rented, the landlord thankfully did not make a fuss about it) and parked there.

Next we approached the VW ASC at Madinaguda for an estimate and they refused to provide one without inspecting the car. The surveyor again helped us by speaking with the service centre personnel and convinced them to provide an estimate by looking at the pictures. They charged us a fee and provided an estimate for 6.5 Lacs. The same was sent to Acko. From then there was no update from Acko for 10 days and I initiated a call back request from the App. I got a call from their claims team and they asked us to contact the surveyor as there was an error in the estimate. After contacting him I got to know that airbags and airbag module were added in the estimate whereas airbags did not deploy in the crash. Meanwhile I read a lot on the claim procedures followed in those 10 days and got to know that for a claim to be processed as total loss, the liability of the insurance company after reducing the depreciation should exceed 75% of the IDV. So in my case it should exceed 4 Lacs. The depreciation on most of the parts for a car of this age(10 years) is 50%. So the estimate should be south of 8 Lacs(as some parts have 0 and 40% depreciation as well). I don't want to repair the car as it will never be the same dynamically and also there is a risk of other issues cropping up post repair.

We again approached the VW ASC and asked them to revise the estimate. They missed adding a lot of parts in the last estimate and I got them added. I also made them add gearbox, intercooler, catalytic convertor, radiator and a lot of miscellaneous parts, to bump up the estimate. Whether they actually need replacement is unknown as the underbody damage is significant as the car hit the median at a speed of about 80-90 Kmph if not more. However it bought the estimate to about 9.8 lacs and is a clearcut case of total loss. The same was sent to Acko and the wait began. This time too we received no information from Acko for 10 days straight. I contacted the surveyor and he asked us to contact Acko as his part is done. I raised multiple callback requests from their App to which I received no response for 3 to 4 days. I further researched online and I finally mailed to socialescalations@acko.com with all my grievances. They called back within an hour and I informed them all the details pertaining to my claim and my grievances regarding the lackadaisical attitude of their claims team. I am very much OK with the delays as their workload might be hectic due to Bengaluru floods(Acko HQ is Bengaluru), however I at least need an update regarding the timeline and the status of my claim. I conveyed the same to them politely and the social escalations team promised a call from claims team within 24hrs. The claims team called me and asked us to cancel the registration of the car as the claim will be processed as total loss and the car will be auctioned to scrap buyers. They emailed the relevant documents for cancellation of registration.

We approached RTO Patancheru for registration cancellation and approached the RTO officer via a uniformed person(maybe RTO Police, I'm not sure) cutting off middlemen(broker/agent). They asked us to cut out the engraved VIN from the body of the car and handover to them and submit a request. The uniformed person did an inspection of the car and the Order for cancelling the registration is issued after a week with and additional under the table fee. The same was sent to Acko and they responded fairly quick this time and the car was placed for auction. It was auctioned off for a paltry sum of Rs.40000. The scrap dealer came all the way from Bengaluru in a towing vehicle, inspected the car, paid me Rs.40000 and left with the car. The car is in an immaculate condition despite it's age. The engine still pulls as hard as it did on day one even after 1.7 Lac Km. It is running on Bilstein B6 as well. Felt extremely sad to let her go and to have injured her severely . The balance payment of Rs.490000 after deducting a compulsory deductible of Rs.2000 was made in a few days.

Overall it took 3 months from the date of accident to the date of final payment and I was very happy with Acko in the end. Though there is room for improvement and they are not perfect, they are much better than many insurance companies out there. I have read horror stories in total loss claims with reputed insurance players in our forum itself, but in my case it turned out well. Although I initially started feeling bad for buying Acko to save a few thousand rupees and said to myself to never go with these new age insurance companies, I went ahead and renewed my other car's insurance with Acko. The overall time taken for my claim was in line with that from other insurers and I am now very much satisfied.

I am attaching a few pictures of the car. Apologies if you find the picture quality to be bad, they are sent to me on WhatsApp and hence low res.

[maverickxx2006]

Sharing my recent experience while renewing my car insurance.

I have a one year old Nexon and I wanted to renew the insurance. I had taken Acko insurance so I naturally wanted to renew with the same.

While renewing I noticed that there is no add-on for "Return to Invoice". I called up the call center and the advisor confirmed that for Nexon from second year, there is no provision of the "Return to invoice" add-on. He did not give any satisfactory response and just said that for some models this add-on is discontinued.

So, out goes the Acko car insurance forever.

I then looked at few others like Tata AIG, HDFC, Kotak, Go Digit etc. Except Godigit, most of them were expensive. TataAIG was closeby.

So I went with the GoDigit and took all the possible add-on under the sky. Premium was like 20k. The online process was hassle free.

Two things I learnt so sharing (may be its already known, but for me it was a new learning) -

1. If you renew 45 days before, you can get a good amount of discount.

2. On GoDigit site, there is a kind of option where if you upload pics of your car and upload the video, you get Rs 1000 discount. It took just 5 mins for me, install the app, take the pics and upload. So instead of 21K, I paid 20K.

Cheers.

[sydras]

I had a good experience with Acko insurance both while availing of and while making a claim last year.

At the time, my car was 12 years old and I've always found online purchase/renewal of motor insurance by traditional insurers (e.g. Bharti Axa/ICICI Lombard/Royal Sundaram) to be a pain in the neck when it comes to renewing insurance for old cars.

Last year, when browsing the Royal Sundaram website and unable to renew my insurance online, I got totally fed up with Royal Sundaram and decided to try Acko. The purchase was surprisingly easy and within 5 minutes, I had my policy document generated and in my email but I was still skeptical.

However, a few days later, after a minor accident involving a tail light and rear bumper I raised a claim with Acko. I faced only one hiccup where the call centre person attempted to ask me to raise the claim myself to which I got upset as I was at the service centre and I wanted the claim registered immediately. I asked the person to raise the claim on my behalf and he did for which I was grateful.

After that, it was smooth sailing and my claim got processed and the damages covered.

Funny thing with Royal Sundaram is - a day after I had insured my car with Acko, someone from their Chennai office/call centre called me the next day and was very keen on insuring my car. But, because I had already gone ahead with Acko, I could not go ahead and Royal Sundaram lost my business. If they were not so clandestine when it came to renewing insurance for an old vehicle, I would've gone ahead with them.