The state’s Consumer Dispute Redress Commission ordered an insurance company to reimburse a claim of ₹23.98 lakh to a Chandigarh man whose Mercedes was mutilated in an accident in 2018.
The company, Bharti Axa General Insurance Company, was also asked to pay ₹2 lakh in compensation for bullying and ₹33,000 as legal costs to plaintiff Bhagwant Singh Chadha, a resident of Chandigarh.
According to the judgment, Chadha had bought his Mercedes car in Coimbatore on November 18, 2016, to ₹37.29 lakh. The car was insured with the company with a policy in force since January 17, 2017. The vehicle was temporarily registered in Coimbatore and later in Chandigarh. She has been regularly maintained and her insurance policy has been renewed twice.
The complainant said that on December 27, 2018, his car was damaged after hitting the back of a truck and a rock lying on the side of the road. A DDR report was filed and he filed a complaint with the insurance company. But, to his surprise, the company replied that his vehicle had been declared a total loss on June 14, 2016, before he bought it. He tried to appeal again, but was denied in 2019.
The company had appointed an expert who determined that the loss was ₹43.56 lakh. The company, in its response to the commission, alleged that the complainant fabricated the accident because he did not mention the truck’s registration number in his complaint. They also claimed that the vehicle was purchased from a salvage buyer in South India and that the fact that it was already a total loss was not made known to them when obtaining of the font.
The commission observed, however, that even at the time of the first insurance of the vehicle, the company had not raised the issue that it was already a total loss vehicle and ruled that the complainant was entitled to a compensation.
The indemnity to be paid was calculated at 75% of the insured declared value, plus the supplement ₹2.33 lakh compensation to be paid for harassment and litigation.