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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>High repair bill and premium hike vex driver
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Motorist disputes $19k for repairs at authorised workshop and 400% insurance premium rise </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
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Mr Tan says because of the high claim for the repair bill, other insurers have turned him away. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->FILING an accident claim after his car skidded last August brought motorist Tan Boon Tong, 46, two shocks.
First, the repair bill hit $19,800 - for repairs done at a workshop authorised by his insurer NTUC Income, and when the car engine had been undamaged at that.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Huge increase
Open market value of 2-litre sport utility vehicle: About $19,500
Repair bill: $19,800
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The second and bigger shock - when Income told him the premium for his two-year-old Suzuki Grand Vitara would now be more than $5,000, up from $970.
Mr Tan, a regional business manager, said: 'I do understand that premiums will rise after a claim. I can even accept it if the increase is 100 per cent - but not by more than 400 per cent.'
Up until the accident - on a slip road out of the Tampines Expressway on a wet day - he had had a spotless record in the past 10 years.
For that, he had been enjoying a no-claims discount of 40 per cent. But now, he is in a bind, he said, because other insurers have refused to insure him upon hearing of the $19,800 claim.
It was an amount Mr Tan has disputed from the start. He said several parts which the Income-appointed workshop listed as replaced were not changed. These included the horn, reverse sensors and front tyres.
The open market value of the two-litre sport-utility vehicle is $19,500.
When Mr Tan raised his doubts over the repair bill with Income, he was told to confront the workshop himself.
Asked for a comment, Income - Singapore's largest motor insurer - said: 'Our surveyors assess the damage and confirm the required repair work with the workshop to ensure that costs are kept low.'
It defended the 400-per-cent premium hike, saying it was because Mr Tan's no-claims discount had been reduced from 40 per cent to 10 per cent; Income had also slapped a claims surcharge 'of the highest loading' on his policy.
Income's general manager Pui Phusangmook said: 'In keeping with industry practice, the premium payable by customers who have claims against their policy will be much higher than those who have an accident-free driving record.
'This is necessary to keep premiums low for safe drivers.'
But Income plans to raise motor premiums by 15 per cent to 20 per cent this year. And at least one policyholder has written to the press saying this insurer had jacked up his premium by more than 30 per cent, despite his clean record.
The Consumers Association of Singapore said it was 'concerned with the manner and the extent of the increase', especially when the car was repaired at an insurer-authorised workshop.
'Such action on the part of the insurer may send the wrong signal that there is no difference between repairing the car at an authorised workshop or doing so at an unauthorised one,' Case executive director Seah Seng Choon said.
Asked if a 400-per-cent premium hike was normal, General Insurance Association president Derek Teo, also AIG's executive vice-president, said it was inappropriate for him 'to comment on our competitor's quotation, but I am sure there are reasons for the hike'.
But an industry veteran said the rise was 'clearly excessive' and 'even high-end cars do not attract such a premium'.
He added that a $19,000 claim was 'not very high', as injury-related claims can shoot past $100,000.
QBE Insurance chief executive Michael Goodwin also declined comment on the increase, but said Mr Tan was free 'to shop around' for another insurer.
Mr Tan said he has gone to four other insurers but all turned him away. With his policy expiring next month, he said he may have no choice but to pay up.
He said: 'What can I do? I'm at the mercy of these people.' [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>Motorist disputes $19k for repairs at authorised workshop and 400% insurance premium rise </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Mr Tan says because of the high claim for the repair bill, other insurers have turned him away. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->FILING an accident claim after his car skidded last August brought motorist Tan Boon Tong, 46, two shocks.
First, the repair bill hit $19,800 - for repairs done at a workshop authorised by his insurer NTUC Income, and when the car engine had been undamaged at that.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Huge increase
Open market value of 2-litre sport utility vehicle: About $19,500
Repair bill: $19,800
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The second and bigger shock - when Income told him the premium for his two-year-old Suzuki Grand Vitara would now be more than $5,000, up from $970.
Mr Tan, a regional business manager, said: 'I do understand that premiums will rise after a claim. I can even accept it if the increase is 100 per cent - but not by more than 400 per cent.'
Up until the accident - on a slip road out of the Tampines Expressway on a wet day - he had had a spotless record in the past 10 years.
For that, he had been enjoying a no-claims discount of 40 per cent. But now, he is in a bind, he said, because other insurers have refused to insure him upon hearing of the $19,800 claim.
It was an amount Mr Tan has disputed from the start. He said several parts which the Income-appointed workshop listed as replaced were not changed. These included the horn, reverse sensors and front tyres.
The open market value of the two-litre sport-utility vehicle is $19,500.
When Mr Tan raised his doubts over the repair bill with Income, he was told to confront the workshop himself.
Asked for a comment, Income - Singapore's largest motor insurer - said: 'Our surveyors assess the damage and confirm the required repair work with the workshop to ensure that costs are kept low.'
It defended the 400-per-cent premium hike, saying it was because Mr Tan's no-claims discount had been reduced from 40 per cent to 10 per cent; Income had also slapped a claims surcharge 'of the highest loading' on his policy.
Income's general manager Pui Phusangmook said: 'In keeping with industry practice, the premium payable by customers who have claims against their policy will be much higher than those who have an accident-free driving record.
'This is necessary to keep premiums low for safe drivers.'
But Income plans to raise motor premiums by 15 per cent to 20 per cent this year. And at least one policyholder has written to the press saying this insurer had jacked up his premium by more than 30 per cent, despite his clean record.
The Consumers Association of Singapore said it was 'concerned with the manner and the extent of the increase', especially when the car was repaired at an insurer-authorised workshop.
'Such action on the part of the insurer may send the wrong signal that there is no difference between repairing the car at an authorised workshop or doing so at an unauthorised one,' Case executive director Seah Seng Choon said.
Asked if a 400-per-cent premium hike was normal, General Insurance Association president Derek Teo, also AIG's executive vice-president, said it was inappropriate for him 'to comment on our competitor's quotation, but I am sure there are reasons for the hike'.
But an industry veteran said the rise was 'clearly excessive' and 'even high-end cars do not attract such a premium'.
He added that a $19,000 claim was 'not very high', as injury-related claims can shoot past $100,000.
QBE Insurance chief executive Michael Goodwin also declined comment on the increase, but said Mr Tan was free 'to shop around' for another insurer.
Mr Tan said he has gone to four other insurers but all turned him away. With his policy expiring next month, he said he may have no choice but to pay up.
He said: 'What can I do? I'm at the mercy of these people.' [email protected]
