Question: What is the maximum in loss of use expenses that my husband and I can claim as a result of the loss of our vehicle? We received a loss of use form from the third party’s insurers. It suggests that those costs are limited to 14 days. We are hesitant to sign the form. We believe that we are entitled to more. My husband travels across the island in connection with his job. Further, we have not been paid for our vehicle even though it was totalled five months ago. My husband is also claiming for injuries that he suffered in the collision. That claim is being handled by his lawyer.
– S.T. P., Kingston 5.
Answer: There are, to my knowledge, no common set of rules or standards that all motor insurers use to settle claims like yours. If such rules exist, I am asking The Insurance Association of Jamaica – the industry lobby group – to send them to me. Each insurer does its own thing in handling claims made by third parties. When property damage and loss of use claims like yours are handled by non-experts, they sometimes end up in a sort of no-man’s-land. This area, unfortunately, is often not on the insurance regulator’s radar. Claimants, therefore, end up holding the short end of a very long stick. The quality of service that is delivered to policyholders is invariably much better than what third-party claimants get.
In ‘Finally, insurance reform with upsides for consumers’ (September 9, 2018), I itemised six claims-handling rules that the insurance regulator said that it plans to introduce. The measures will force insurers to treat all types of claimants – policyholders and third parties – more fairly. One of the rules applies specifically to claims like yours for loss of use and the damage to the car. It imposes a duty on the insurer to “inform unrepresented claimants of their rights and duties when the claimants are not policyholders and (to) take steps to ensure that those claimants are treated fairly”. In the absence of this rule, third-party claimants without attorneys can, on some occasions, be left to ‘suck salt.’ This could happen to your family.
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