Accident - need help / suggestions...

Hello,

I have a Punto Active 1.2 purchased on 09FEB2010. So far, I have been maintaining it very well, and am a very safe driver - I learned all my driving skills during my long stay in the U.S. I follow all traffic rules here and try not to cut too close, etc. FYI, I am based in Ahmedabad.

Unfortunately, in 3 days, I have met with 3 accidents, for no fault of mine! Here are the details:

1. When I had stopped at a red light, a Swift rear ended me, knocking off the tail light assembly and inducing quite a few scratches.

2. At another stop light, where I had stopped an Accent brushed past my car, slightly damaging my rear bumper.

3. The worst was the third - I was beginning to pass a truck from the right. Without warning, he cut across (to avoid a two-wheeler) and his tail hit my front bumper. There is a deep gash and the headlamp assembly is broken. Replacement with an original one costs Rs. 2120.

In all the cases, before I could react, the riders just sped away. I also thought that it is no use chasing them and fighting - they will never realize that they have gone wrong. Anyway, my questions are: can I claim insurance for these repairs? I really want to get them repaired, because I love my car and these scratches / dents are a real eyesore.

I am really frustrated, as I always follow rules and get hit like this. I saw a new Polo being driven absolutely rashly yesterday and he was getting away with everything!

Regards,

Vinod

you can claim insurance but not for different accidents on different days. So you can maybe claim that when you got rear-ended, your car hit the rear of a vehicle in front etc. Here you will lose your no claim bonus which will help to reduce the re-newal amt by abot 10 -20 % (not sure exactly). So evaluate the cost of repair and decide. Also, you should post this under the specific section for insurance claims to get better feedback. maybe moderators can shift this?

@Vinod - sorry to hear what happened, but in India that is the way people drive.

With regards to Arun's point, you can of course do it all at once and claim insurance - however insurance companys are very welcoming while selling policies, but exactly the opposite when it comes to settling claims. Be sure that they will investigate each and every aspect of the damage before going ahead with the claim, and if they even as much as suspect that you are hiding something it will become a pretext for them to deny the claim.

S = k.I^2, where S is the amount of stupidity a species possesses, I is the intelligence the species has and k is the universal constant of stupidity.

hi Vinod,

i agree with arun, you need to claim for all the repairs at one go.

just tell the insurer that the truck suddenly swerved, broke your headlight, you breaked hard and hence the other car crashed into yours.

stick to your story with confidence & conviction as the agent who inspects would definitely try to ask weird questions to fond out the truth, they are trained to do so!!!!!

Hello,

Thank you all, for your suggestions! Will definitely keep them in mind when dealing with the insurance folks!

Vinod