Double whammy for policyholders! Insurer may deny claim of your stolen vehicle

New Delhi: Is it necessary to produce two original keys to an insurance company to get compensation if a vehicle is stolen? While the insurance regulator, IRDA, doesn’t specify this and leaves it to individual companies, most of them follow this as a norm citing cases of fraudulent claims.

Like many, it was a surprise for Suresh Kumar (name changed) of Delhi when he called up a government-owned insurance company seeking compensation for his Honda City car that was stolen from outside his house in February. “I never saw this condition of handing out two original keys in the insurance document I had signed. The agent told me the company can reject my claim, if I failed to do so. Fortunately, I had both of them,” he recalled.

Even transport ministry officials said there could be cases where people may have lost one of their keys and would have got duplicate ones. “Such conditions should also be weighed while considering each case,” said an official.


Some of the other conditions Suresh had to fulfil included getting an authority letter confirming he was the owner of the stolen vehicle despite having a valid RC. Even after all this and a fivemonth long ordeal, Suresh has yet to be compensated. He has been submitting and resubmitting a series of documents to both the insurance company and the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to get the claim. “While insurance company representatives assured me of closing the case soon after I escalated my complaint to the highest level, the local police says they will soon submit the ‘nottraceable’ certificate so that I get get the compensation. They are never keen to investigate the case simply because I have the insurance,” the victim told TOI.

An IRDA office bearer said some of the companies may have formed their own norms to reduce their risk. “They must inform the vehicle owners about the conditions so that they don’t get stumped when the companies ask for the necessary documents. Consumer awareness is really inadequate,” he added.

Even a top executive of the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) admitted that insurance firms have failed to spread awareness about such conditions.