Hyderabad: With more than five insurance cases disposed of by the Hyderabad consumer forum in December, lawyers said that consumers are often taken for a ride by insurance companies who cite loopholes in the policy that one would least suspect while signing on the dotted lines.
Advocate Sangeetha Sivan, said, “It is quite common as we have seen in the past few cases when a customer submits a claim and the opposite party states that something wrong in the claim by saying that their policy does not cater to this kind of vehicle or that certain parts of the damaged object were not mentioned in the insured policy.” On Wednesday, the Hyderabad consumer forum ordered Bharati Axa General Insurance Company in Panjagutta to pay Rs 70,000 to Fatima Quaiser, a 32-year-old resident of Misrigunj.
The complainant had purchased a two-wheeler in 2014 and had a temporary registration number while insuring it with Bharti Axa General Insurance from November 2014 to 2015. On May 4, 2015, the vehicle caught on fire, causing irreparable damages and the fire was doused by the Moghalpura fire station. However, the insurance company cancelled her claim, stating that the vehicle was not registered with the RTA. Despite the complainant showing the proof, the opposite party refused to budge.
The opposite party did not attend the hearing, and the forum observed that, “The lackadaisical attitude of the opposite party in neither appearing before the forum nor processing the claim of the complainant is to be deprecated. The non-processing of the claim is improper and unjust.” The forum ruled in favour of the consumer and ordered a payment of Rs 48,167 to the complainant as the insured value of the vehicle along with Rs 23,000 as compensation.
