FAQ: Making a motor insurance claim

1. Introduction

If you wish to make a claim against NTUC Income for the repair of your vehicle (whether you are claiming under your insurance or as a third party claim), please follow these guidelines.

We undertake to handle your claim promptly, fairly and conveniently, and to repair your vehicle to a satisfactory condition (ie at least to the same condition before the accident).

If you help us to reduce the claim cost (and still maintain a satisfactory standard of repair), we will be able to keep the premium rate at a low level, for the benefit of all policyholders.

2. Idac center

You should send your vehicle for the damages to be assessed at an Idac center. There are 13 centers located around Singapore. You can call Tel : 6788-6616 to find the location of the most convenient center.

The assessment should take about 20 minutes.

You have the following options for the repair of your vehicle:

- leave it at Idac center for us to arrange the repairs
- allow us to benchmark the repair cost, accept a cash settlement and find your own repairer
- choose your own repairer and have the repairer to negotiate the repair price with us

3. Option 1: Allow us to arrange the repair

Most claimants find it convenient to leave their vehicle at the Idac center for us to arrange the repairs.

We invite about 30 quality workshops to tender for the repair. They are required to observe our repair standard.

- carry out the repair to a satisfatory standard (ie at least to the same condition before the accident)
- use new parts for cars less than 3 years old, use suitable parts for cars more than 3 years old
- provide 6 months warranty on the repair
- pass the post-repair inspection (carried out by us, on your behalf)

The tender is usually awarded within two days of the reporting, and the repair completed within another four days. We will notify you, if the repair takes longer, due to the extensive damage,

We handle an average of 40 repairs daily. We carry out a survey of all claimants about the repair. We achieved a high satisfaction score. Over 96% of the claimants are satisfied with this arrangement and the quality of the repair.

4. Option 2: Accept a cash settlement

If the damages are minor, we are prepared to offer you a cash settlement and allow you to find your own repairer. This is based on our estimate of the repair cost and is usually slightly more than the price charged by our quality workshop.

You will usually be able to find a repairer who is willing to carry out the repair at a lower price. You can keep the difference.

Most claimants find it more convenient for us to arrange the repair (ie option 1 above).

5. Option 3: Get your repairer to negotiate with us

You can choose your own repairer and ask them to negotiate the repair price with us. We will offer a fair repair price, based on our estimate. This is usually slightly more than the price charged by our quality workshop.

If your repairer insist on a much higher price, the repair may be delayed. You should find a repairer that is willing to compromise with us, so that the claim can be settled earlier.

In practice, most claimants find this option to be the most difficult. We also find it to be the most troublesome to settle.

6. What party is liable for the accident?

The party deemed to be liable for the accident is determined according to a "barometer of liability" as agreed by the insurance companies (ie BOLA).

Preferably, all parties to the accident should sign the Singapore Accident Statement form (provided to all motorists) at the spot of the accident. This helps to determine the liability.

If you are liable for the accident, you will lose your No Claim Discount (NCD) partially or fully on the next renewal of your insurance.

If you are not liable (ie less than 20% according to BOLA), your will continue to enjoy an increase in your NCD, even if you make a "own" claim against us under your insurance policy.

If you are not insured with us, and you wish to make a third party claim against us, we will acept your claim only if our insured is liable for the accident (ie more than 20% according to BOLA).

Our claim officer will call you to give our assessment of liability within 2 days of the report at Idac, if all parties have submitted their report. We will make a fair assessment based on the facts of the accident. We hope that all parties will accept it.

If you disagree with the assessment, your case will be sent for a review by a more senior officer. The officer will contact you within 2 days.

7. Can I get a courtesy car to use?

If you are insured under our Quality Plus plan or you are not liable for the accident (ie less than 20% according to BOLA), you are entitled to the use of a courtesy car.

If we are not able to find a suitable courtesy car for your use, we will pay a cash allowance of $50 a day. This will apply from the date of the accident.

If you are not entitled to the courtesy car, you can rent it from us (subject to availabiity) at a special price of $65 a day.

8. Will you inform me about the status of the repair or claim?

We will notify you by SMS about the status of your repair as follows:

- the repairer who is assigned to carry out the repair
- the expected completion date
- any unexpected delay or problem.

For other types of claims, we will notify you by SMS or telephone, if there is a significant development, or if there has been no development for 4 or 14 days. We wish to settle the claim as early as possible, for the satisfaction of all parties.

9. Repair at distributor workshop

We will arrange for you car to be repaired at the distributor's workshop, if the repair requires proprietary equipment or technology or affects the integrity of the car.

In other cases, we will arrange for the repair to be done at our quality workshop. We will take over the warranty of the car (for the remaining period), if the warranty is voided by the distributor due to our repair. In practice, this situation has never occured.

If you prefer to have the repair done at the distributor workshop, you can opt for the cash settlement.

10. Injury

If any party is injured in an accident, please get the injured party to call our claim service center ( Tel:6877-3199 ). We will assist the claimant to get fair compensation.

11. Feedback

If you find that your claim has not been handled satisfactorily, according to this service standard, you should provide your feedback to the claim officer who is assigned to handle your claim. The mobilephone of this claim officer will be given to you immediately after your claim has been lodged.

If you are not satisfied with the handling of your claim by this assigned claim officer, you can give your feedback to our service quality officer ( Tel: 6877-3472 ).