[Bhargav7]

A friend of mine had a car, which he attached to Zoom. It went well for a while until the car met with an accident. Long story short, the car is now in the police station for a while and there is no clear communication from Zoom team on the next steps. The photos of the vehicle were shared and it appears to be a total loss. We want to proceed further and claim the insurance either as a total loss or try to get it repaired. The zoom team which contractually has to do the entire activity seems totally incompetent.

Has anyone else had a similar experience or know a way out of this? Any guidance on how to get the car from police custody and do the next steps on the insurance will be highly helpful.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by Bhargav7

A friend of mine had a car, which he attached to Zoom. It went well for a while until the car met with an accident.

Has anyone else had a similar experience or know a way out of this? Any guidance on how to get the car from police custody and do the next steps on the insurance will be highly helpful.

Did your friend get a self drive permit for the car? If yes, then it would be better to grease the police and get the car out and claim insurance. Also do check whether there were any injuries or death due to the accident to either the renter or third party. This will make it little difficult to get the car back.

If on the other hand, the car has a private registration with white board, better forget about insurance or any money. It is illegal to rent out private cars for hire purposes and no Insurance company will pay out. Zoomcar will just wash their hands off in this case.

[Bhargav7]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

If on the other hand, the car has a private registration with white board, better forget about insurance or any money. It is illegal to rent out private cars for hire purposes and no Insurance company will pay out. Zoomcar will just wash their hands off in this case.

It is a private registration. Zoomcar came with a work around - they make a separate lease agreement every time the car is let out. That said, I am not really sure if that is accepted by insurance company. At the time of attaching the car, Zoom cars have specifically mentioned that all repairs etc are their responsibility. Even now, they give assurances that they will get the car cleared and repaired. Just that they are only words not backed by actions.

On your other question, thankfully there are no deaths or major injuries reported.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by Bhargav7

It is a private registration. Zoomcar came with a work around - they make a separate lease agreement every time the car is let out. That said, I am not really sure if that is accepted by insurance company. At the time of attaching the car, Zoom cars have specifically mentioned that all repairs etc are their responsibility. Even now, they give assurances that they will get the car cleared and repaired. Just that they are only words not backed by actions.

On your other question, thankfully there are no deaths or major injuries reported.

The agreement with Zoomcar holds no water legally. So your friend can forget about claiming insurance. Not sure whether going through legal route against Zoomcar might help, best to check with a lawyer.

As for the car, if it is total loss case, it's money down the drain.

[fordday]

Either way your friend cannot claim insurance money as he violated the policy.

Only hope I see is if Zoomcar does the repairs on their own from their pocket, which seems a remote possibility.

Or Zoomcars may have a separate insurance policy far cases like this.

[Rehaan]

Was the car rented out via this 'Amigo' scheme offered by Zoomcar?

Team-BHP Thread (Amigo by ZoomCar India | Share your car with others & earn money)

^ There's also a discussion of insurance there.

The Zoomcar Amigo websites says this:



Note from Mod: Posts moved from the Zoomcar thread to their own standalone thread.

[Hayek]

Am surprised that Zoomcars is resorting to such a blatant illegality. The law is very clear that white plate cars are not meant to be hired out. I must admit that I have seen hired white plate cars - but this is usually from small unorganised players. Am surprised that a organised venture funded player is doing this. Don’t see how the lease work around could work - you need to register the name of the lessee with the RTO, which I am sure they must not be doing.

No scope of claiming insurance here - any attempt to claim that would amount to insurance fraud. Hopefully your contract with Zoomcars is crystal clear and they are forced to bear all costs including if it is a total loss. The fact is renting out white plate cars is illegal and dangerous / if someone had died, your friend would be in real trouble.

[Bhargav7]

Originally Posted by fordday

Only hope I see is if Zoomcar does the repairs on their own from their pocket, which seems a remote possibility.

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Was the car rented out via this 'Amigo' scheme offered by Zoomcar?

Yes, it is the same scheme that they renamed to Zoomcar host now. As per Zoomcar's terms and conditions, all the repairs would be done by them at their own cost. In case of a total loss, they are supposed to compensate the owner accordingly. But this is only on paper - Everyone is aware that Zoomcar India is cash-strapped and probably close to bankruptcy. It would be a really long shot to get any money now, leave alone a fair deal. In fact, this entire concept looks like a last-ditch effort by the company to stay afloat.

Also, as pointed out by fellow BHPians, the insurance is totally worthless as there are too many violations in this.

Originally Posted by Hayek

Am surprised that Zoomcars is resorting to such a blatant illegality. The law is very clear that white plate cars are not meant to be hired out.

This is the most surprising element of all. I am aware that they do some documentation of the lease, etc every time the car is let out. But that really is cosmetic as private cars cannot be rented out or used in any manner to earn an income. This was the same issue that resulted in Quickride converting their cash rewards into fuel points.

I write this off as a new-age startup coming up with a commercially non-feasible idea without looking into legalities. Not really the first time we are seeing it. What is more surprising is that they are still allowed to do this for so long!

[neerajku]

Really sorry to hear this , experience says all these online service agencies , rentals, house maintenance , beauty services, car rentals, medical services, tax filing and so on work well when there is routine and regular work but are completely lost when an exception occurs. Then dont expect them to respond and resolve.

[Raghu M]

Wait, isn't it written clearly as a clause in the insurance that the vehicle cannot be leased, rented or used for commercial carrying/ferrying purposes? I thought that was the basic clause of any insurance proposal. I thought it was standard for all private vehicles.

[Naetik30]

Your friend took a chance to make some money on the side illegally. (I am sorry to be blunt). Now, that has come back to bite him on his back. Well all he can do is bid the car good bye. Thank his stars that no one was hopefully hurt and ruined his life further.

About how he can deal with Zoomcar, I dont think there is any legal way to get compensation. May be some pressure tactics via some influential folks might help.

[akg7091]

Tough luck considering the financial situation at zoomcars and the completely illegal nature of this transaction. Claiming insurance is NOT advisable as it's insurance fraud and can land your friend in major legal issues if the insurance company finds out. Maybe a legal case against zoom cars might work if it gets sufficient publicity

[NH08]

Originally Posted by Bhargav7

It is a private registration. Zoomcar came with a work around - they make a separate lease agreement every time the car is let out. At the time of attaching the car, Zoom cars have specifically mentioned that all repairs etc are their responsibility. Even now, they give assurances that they will get the car cleared and repaired. Just that they are only words not backed by actions.

The agreement with Zoomcar is not enforceable in court as it was made in contravention of legal provisions regarding not using private car for commercial purpose. So, just push the Zoomcar to get some compensation, but in case it does not do so, it seems that your friend does not have any legal remedy.

[bbhartia]

Sadly getting anything out of zoom will not be possible one of friends faced this in kolkatta. Insurance was denied. He had to pay a huge fine to rto for commercial usage and zoom simply kept him running around

[GTO]

Forget trusting your asset worth lakhs of rupees with Zoomcar, I wouldn't even rent a car for 2000 bucks from them. A 100% fraud company that is already in the ICU on the ventilator. These thieves delayed the refund of deposits to BHPians (Zoom Car Fraud: Not returning deposits & not facilitating refunds) & harassed them for months.