Car Insurance Claims Could Be Rejected During Lockdown- Here’s Why

If any person unauthorised to travel ventures out in the lockdown and his/her car meets with accidents, the car insurance claims may be directly rejected by the insurance companies. Why? While the entire country is in a phase of lockdown, the partial movement of people has been permitted in some certain zones in India. However, we should note that the countrywide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of pathogen has not been withdrawn completely yet. Therefore, the car insurance claims for accident damages will not be accepted since one of the main conditions of the Motor Insurance is your vehicle should not be involved in any unlawful activity.

In the containment areas or red zones, commutes are still firmly prohibited. Under these regulations, if any person who ventures out with his or her vehicle and meets with an accident by chance, they would find their motor insurance claim rejected directly by the insurance company.

Certainly, in case you have any proof of permission to take the vehicle out or an E-Pass for a certain route, then chances are the company could honour your claim, as long as the vehicle didn’t deviate from the route and the accident happened on that route itself.

“In this scenario, the insured has to mandatorily provide a proper justification for travel during the lockdown, as few exceptions have already been given by the Indian Government amid nationwide Lockdown, e.g. medical emergency,” said Ankit Agarwal, Managing Director of Alankit Ltd.

Despite these concerns, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) thinks that asking for E-Passes and added information of the drive from the insured is not a proper procedure.

During a conference call between IRDAI, the General Insurance Council and the Indian Institute of Insurance Surveyors and Loss Assessors (IISLA), actions have been assured to be taken against the insurance companies for causing additional stress to the insured.

Within the extension of the lockdown, the insured are looking for the refund or the extended insurance duration. Now that the insured have been unable to drive their vehicles for almost two months now, they still have been charged for the entire lockdown period. IRDAI has been appealed to order these insurance companies to extend the duration of the insurance as equal to the lockdown period.