Sparky Dies a Brave Death: ICICI Lombard plays truant

My beloved Sparky met with an accident on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway almost two months back and things are finally limping back to normal so that a post was long due. The pictures say it all when on a chilly October morning the left tyre burst and the car pulled to the left from the middle lane and ended up thus: (see pictures attached at the end) My family escaped almost unhurt in comparison to the disaster, though the post accident effects would last for long gruelling weeks - it was as if the car has taken the complete blow upon itself and saved us all. THANK YOU DEAR SPARKY. YOUR UNTIMELY DEMISE WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED AND YOU WILL BE SORELY MISSED. Post-accident: The IRB highway team IMMEDIATELY came to our rescue, we were pulled out and the car which was overturned was pushed over so that it lay on its four wheels again. An ambulance came within minutes nay seconds. We were witnessing a live miracle. A police officer came to survey the site and recorded my statement. We then had to go to the Lonavala police station and the chief there took inputs from the accompanying officer and started the enquiry. The police officer's behaviour was EXPEMPLARY - there was no bribe, no harrassment, he was as helpful as he could be. The FIR took a long time to record with minute attention to details and he cross-questioned me and my wife till he was satisfied. Kudos to these men. They represent the spirit of Anna Hazare's movement. Insurance Claim: The insurance saga deserves another thread and sadly this is what people ailing after an accident have to face in our country: ICICI Lombard's authorized Pashankar Body Workshop where we towed the vehicle to has estimated in the excess of Rupees Five Lakhs to repair the car. Pashankar charged Rs.300 per day as "Parking Charges" and took a leisurely week to prepare the estimate. If we had kept the vehicle still with Pashankar Garage (we had to again tow it back to our premises) we can well multiply the Rs.300 per day charge it comes to Rs.30,000. Duh? The IDV on the policy is slightly higher than Rs.2,10,000. ICICI surveyors are stll verbally "negotiating" with us saying that they will pay maximum Rs.1.5 lakhs including scrappage since "market value" of my vehicle is not more than this amount. To me it seems a clear case of the insurance company dishonouring their policy wordings which clearly states the following: " 'IDV' shall be treated as the 'Market Value' throughout the policy period without any further depreciation for the purpose of Total Loss (TL) / Constructive Total Loss (CTL) claims. The insured vehicle shall be treated as a CTL if the aggregate cost of retrieval and / or repair of the vehicle, subject to terms and conditions of the policy, exceeds 75% of the IDV of the vehicle." I am planning to stay firm on my stand that I WILL NOT settle for less than full IDV of my vehicle. I am firm that I will leave no stone unturned to get what is fair and mine. This would include approaching ICICI Lombard Senior Management, appealing to IRDA, appealing to the ombudsman authority and finally if things don't work out then legal proceedings against ICICI Lombard. I hope I receive full support from Team-BHPians for my just cause. Attached Images

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