Vadodara: Your insurer can’t reject your claim even if you file a police complaint months after your vehicle is stolen. A Vadodara consumer forum has ordered an insurance company to accept a vehicle owner’s claim and pay the sum assured. Alpesh Patel, a resident of Padra, got his motorcycle insured by ICICI Lombard for the period from Nov 18, 2020, to Nov 7, 2021.
Patel said his motorcycle was stolen on March 9, 2021, from near Kapurai Crossroads and he informed police about the theft that very day. He said the police filed an FIR on Jan 5, 2022. The insurance company rejected his claim, after which Patel filed a complaint with the Vadodara District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (additional) in Feb 2022.
The company told the consumer forum that the complainant had bought a policy from them but hadn’t informed police immediately after the vehicle was stolen. The insurer pointed out that the FIR was filed 10 months after the theft and thus violated the policy conditions. The complainant didn’t even inform the insurer of the theft of the vehicle.
Patel said in court that he had informed police on March 9, 2021, but an FIR was not filed on that day. The insurance company argued that the complainant had submitted a copy of an application he had made to police on March 9, 2021, but it didn’t bear any affirmation of it being accepted by police. The insurer said that in the FIR, the complainant had said that he filed the FIR late because he was travelling outside the state for work.
Most insurance companies insist that the vehicle owner file an FIR at the police station at the earliest and notify them about the theft immediately. The consumer forum, however, cited a Supreme Court judgement and observed that the insurance company is liable to indemnify the owner when he has obtained a comprehensive policy. The forum ordered the insurance company to pay Patel Rs 16,000 with 7% interest from the date the complaint was filed in the forum.
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