[tilt]

as the title says.

My insurance is up for renewal and I called Tata AIG to get a quote. My current insurance is not with Tata-AIG, so this will be a "new" policy.

When I gave my registration number to the agent on the phone she said certain cars would be "declined" because they are expensive cars, high-end, and too many claims; and therefore their underwriting policy has put such cars (including my make and model) under moratorium and that they will not issue any policies for these cars.

Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Cheers

[sameerpatel90]

IMHO, this isn't new in the insurance sector. Many of the companies write off their risks as this facility of risk management underwriting is provided by IRDA. I would suggest you to check the vehicle details with Policy Bazaar to get an idea of what premium fetches you the max IDV and other "add on" benefits available to your car also, please do check for zero depreciation add on as the vehicle is more than 5years old, not many companies are interested in providing this facility. Last but not the least do get an quote from multiple companies cross check the prices and do negotiate with max discounts, many car owners are not aware about this.

If you wish to share your vehicle details/previous policy copy would be handy for getting the best quotes and let's see what add on's we can try to put into your vehicle to lessen our burden if in case of accidental damage. Waiting for an update to the same.

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by tilt

Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Yes, its pretty much a thing. For the car models which have many claims, some insurers decide to not issue any new policies. So its not just for expensive cars, as in my case:

Originally Posted by Tgo

IDV: 10,50,000/-

Spoiler: Turns out that the above mentioned quote was not to materialize. I learned a new word by the way, its called MORATORIUM

The person dealing with the insurance company called up late evening day before and said that the request for insuring the vehicle was rejected by TataAIG. Yesterday, on probing he was told by the company that the vehicle is under Moratorium - which in their words mean that Rajasthan govt. had put a ban on this model of vehicle.

I frantically called him up to confirm, checked on the internet, confirmed with the dealer in Jaipur and everything was opposite to what the insurance company told him/me. So I got back on the phone with him and relayed the information i gathered. He said, that companies are not willing and even if they are they are quoting close to 45K for the same coverage because they aren't offering any discounts on this model. Other than that the newest company on the block Liberty Videocon will match the coverage and TataAIG's rates. Explains why I was initially getting a quote for 51K from BhartiAXA which also provided last year's coverage for the vehicle. And also why only two companies returned a query for quotes on policy bazaar.

I decided to go with Renault Assure. Simply because there was no other reliable resource to bank upon. It cost me 37K for Zero Dep, Engine Protection and consumables cover.

NOTE: I am quite confused about whats happening behind the scenes. Another acquaintance through TDI Club who is based in Bangalore is also probing into this as he found out that there are totally crazy rate slabs and what not for insurance companies dealing with Renault vehicles in Rajasthan.

It is a similar case in other countries as well. As per my knowledge Subaru Impreza is most infamous for this in the UK probably other countries too.


Just go with some other insurer. The premium would be high though, unless you go with the newbie insurers like godigit and acko, which I personally haven't given a try.

Also, it is not a permanent issue. Maybe 2-3 months later or by the time you go for next year's renewal, they would have lifted the moratorium and would happily provide you Zero Dep coverage too.

[VKumar]

Originally Posted by tilt

Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Cheers

For my 2015 Polo Highline TDI also Tata AIG did an outright rejection when I approached them for a zero dep policy in November 2020, then I approached through a broker, and the broker was told that they are not quoting for any 5+ year old diesel car now or I guess it was for all non-BS6 cars, unsure of what exactly it was. Unsure if it's only for VAG or all diesel cars.

Took from ICICI Lombard and living peacefully!

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by tilt

Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Had heard of this for certain vehicles used as taxis (Taveras, up north during the BPO boom) but for a Jetta?! A 2015 at that! Very strange.

Why don't you check Iffco Tokio; they typically offer 0-dep up to the 7th year.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by tilt

they will not issue any policies for these cars.

Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Cheers

Yes, Tata AIG is known to do this, especially for older VW/VAG cars. I had my Vento on TATA AIG for most of the initial years with only 2 (nominal) claims in first 4 years. Last 3 years of my 8 years of ownership, Tata AIG refused to give me a quote inspite of everything.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Yes, Tata AIG is known to do this, especially for older VW/VAG cars.

In contrast, my EcoSport will be five years this June and Tata AIG is offering a 0-dep policy for it! Clearly, Ford's marketing plan on how affordable their cars are to maintain has worked.

[Holyghost]

Tata AIG is very picky when it comes to certain cars. When I bought my Nexon EV, I requested a quote from TataAIG and they first rejected stating they don't give coverage for EVs. After I complained on their twitter handle asking why they are not insuring a Tata vehicle, they gave me an insane quote of Rs80K for the 15L car.

[ajmat]

I was with Tata-AIG but my broker switched me to Royal Sundaram as Tata-AIG would not offer 0 depreciation that too for someone with 50% NCB.

[locusjag]

If there's a cyclone raging and you seek to purchase a home insurance policy, there would typically be a moratorium preventing you from buying it as long as the cyclone is on. They would let you buy it once the event has passed.

As a hard-boiled general insurance industry consultant, that's all that comes to my mind when you guys mention "moratorium". A moratorium in general means an interim hold period of some sort. So I am pretty sure that the moratoriums on Jettas and Polos (as described by fellow members above) are meant to be temporary. But I'm stumped - why apply a moratorium on Jettas? Have there been too many claims related to Jettas getting stolen all at once?!

[raghav.carfreak]

In my experience, Tata AIG does not insure commercial vehicles above a certain tonnage.
The cars in our company name are all covered by Tata AIG, but the commercial fleet usually have goverment agencies like National insurance etc
Since its the same agent proving all the policies, upon digging deeper, i was told the same reason, too many claims for commercial vehicles
Surprising they are not willing to cover a jetta though

[hserus]

Just stick to the central govt owned insurers - I have used New India for more than 15 years and they have been utterly reliable. Dealing directly with people at their office instead of through an agent means your claims get sorted out very quickly .. being a government firm, they have employees serving there for decades rather than in the private insurers, where people are a constant revolving door.

[rpunwani]

Originally Posted by tilt

Has anyone heard of such a thing?

Cheers

I suggest you try Digit, they are very proactive and ready to insure any vehicle. The only add on they do not have is "NCB Protection".

[tilt]

A big thank you to all who responded.

Tgo's response prompted me to read through that whole thread and made me realise that this was not sometihng new.

To all who spoke of zero-dep - the call never progressed to that stage at all. They simply refused to offer any cover at all. They saw that this was a highline AT Jetta and said, "No policy for you". Jerry Seinfeld Soup Nazi vibes? LOL

Also, this was not a renewal, this was a new policy; and the "too many claims" was not refeerring to my car - it was about the make and model. So, like someone asked, I am guessing their data showed that Jettas had too many claims?

Anyway, once again, thank you for responding and being helpful. I guess I shall just renew with my current underwriter - Royal Sundaram.

Cheers

[Sounak04]

Too many claims? How can a car of certain Make and Model has "too many claims"?

I mean Insurance is usually done for Accidents and i'm pretty sure that a car of a certain Make and Model would not be prone to higher number of accidents as compared to other cars.

Yes the Insurance do include Add ons like Gearbox and Engine Protection which might have be more prone to damage in a VW group of cars. But that being said, a 5 year old car would be most probably be in Extended Warranty which will take of Gearbox and Engine Failures.

So can someone please explain to me as to how can a Car of a Certain Make and Model has "too many claims" as compared to other models.