The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has not fixed any rule which states that both vehicle keys are required to be submitted for getting compensation if the vehicle is stolen. The insurance companies, however, are asking for both the keys while processing such claims.
In fact, many cases have been witnessed in the recent past in which insurers are not only asking for both the original keys, but also rejecting the claim, citing it as a fraudulent one. This, has taken many people by surprise as most of them are not aware of this procedure, as it is also not explicitly stated in the insurance document.
The vehicle insurance claims for a stolen vehicle are largely affected by this. Some transport ministry officials say that there are many different variables which need to be considered in every case. For example, it won’t be possible for every customer to furnish both the original keys, as it might happen that they’ve lost one of their keys and made a duplicate one.
Awareness about this condition is the need of the hour. An IRDAI official says that, consumer awareness is really inadequate and this should be rectified as this requirement might catch many customers off guard. The official also mentioned that some of the insurers may have also taken advantage of the loophole and formed their own norms to reduce the risk.
*Source:The Times of India
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