Claimants still need to pay participation fees, Standard Insurance says

Standard Insurance Co. will still require claimants to pay participation fees once they claim car damages from the company, a senior executive said. Fees may cover depreciation and deductible costs, Ernesto Echauz, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, told GMANews.TV. “At the minimum, it may reach two thousand pesos," Echauz said. At the same time, the company gave an assurance that it will consider auto insurance claims which did not have ‘acts of God’ (AOG) coverage and process them “with the view of settling them." However, the company is not liable for these claims since they did not have AOG cover in the first place. All insured vehicles will be towed to the dealer shops and detailed – a process involving cleaning, soaping, and vacuuming the car’s interior – at no cost to the owners, Echauz said. Auto insurance premiums that include AOG coverage are higher since this covers damages incurred from typhoons, flooding, earthquakes, and other disasters. This was also announced in a separate press statement issued by the company on Wednesday. The AOG coverage was extended to all comprehensive motor car insurance policyholders effective October 15, the company said. A week after storm ‘Ondoy’ submerged three-fourths of Metro Manila, there were a total of 300 claims which had AOG and an additional of around 50 which did not have AOG, the company said. The company even rented a “big" warehouse where damaged vehicles can be cleaned and later assessed, in preparation for major repair in their dealerships, Standard Insurance said. - GMANews.TV