Southern Express Way Rda Property Damages Are Totally Unrealistic And Insurance Does Not Pay Full Amount

[maheshd]

I have met with an accident on southern express way on my way to home. Accident happened when dog crossed the road and I was trying to avoid the dog. Unfortunately I have hit my car on iron bar along the highway. Luckily there were no casualties.

RDA road assistance was helpful and they had towed my vehicle to the nearest police station. Very next day they did the estimate for the road damages and it was nearly two hundred and fiftey thousand rupees. The damage was 1 iron bar. My opinion is estimate is totally unrealistic. They don’t release the vehicle from the police station, until I pay the damage cause by accident.

My insurance was c******o on the spot insurance. Once the accidents was happened, after calling the high way emergency, second thing I did is to call insurance hotline. Again I informed them regarding the police station that I’m gonna put my vehicle, and they took 5 hours to send an agent to the police station. Unfortunately, I had to stay in a police station for hours with my one year old baby, until the agent comes.

I have submitted all the relevant documents, including the highway damage estimation and the police report within 2 days, and after one week insurance company refused to pay the total damage to the highway, claiming that following amounts are unreasonable.

· RDA overhead that is 20% to total bill

· Contractor profit that is 20% to the total bill.

Also c******o insurance took nearly two weeks to arrange the cheque for RDA damage. I had to pay more than seventy thousand rupees for the RDA damage from my pocket and rest from the insurance. I also agreed that the RDA damages are totally unreasonable. But since this is a third party claim, according to the policy (even for a third party insurance policy) insurance company is liable to pay the damages which are upto 1 million for property damage.

I was inform from the insurance company mine was the smallest damage to RDA property. All other RDA damages over five hundred thousand rupees.

I have written my story to kindly request you all to inform the community regarding these kind of highway damages. I think people should think twice before they enter to the highway in such a environment.

Edited January 14, 2012 by maheshd

[VVTi]

Damn, this is a bad scene for all the users of the SE01. Is there a sort of a guideline issued by the RDA for the breakdown of damage costs?

Where is that Jami, the RDA Man when you need him?

Hey Jami, your RDA expertise is badly needed...

[miniace]

You have to send your appeal to your Insurance company to reclaim the deficit. Sametime you can contact local Insurance ombudsman by visiting 143A Vajira Road Colombo 5. (the Visaka College road close to the famous Indian restaurant) or by login to www.insuranceombudsman.lk

Good luck and thanks for sharing the news!

MINIACE

[VVTi]

If you can get a good lawyer, you can sue the RDA for their lack of control of dogs on the road. It was the the uncontrolled presence of the dogs on teh roads that caused the crash in the first pace,

he RDA is responsible of what is ON the road that poses a danger to the users.

MUST.STOP.WATCHING. AMERICAN. COURTROOM.DRAMAS!!!

[Watchman]

I think its a good idea that the RDA makes people pay for the damage they cause.

Without seeing the damage its difficult to say if they charged you too much, so if you have any photos why dont you share it with us. And those rails are made of galvanized steel/iron, so its not cheap. And they probably need to replace the entire rail that you damaged, Not like they can just weld in a small piece in. And you have to detatch it from the poles sticking out from the ground and revert or bold on the entire new one. Then you have to take the cost of labour. So if it is a case of replacing the entire piece of rail. numbers might be right.

Anyway the issue you should be pursuing is not with the RDA whose railing you destroyed but rather the insurance company who's legally obligated to pay for it. If they have an issue with the 20%s tell them to take it up with the RDA, as long as you're concerned the terms of the insurance policy means they should be paying up (if not what's the purpose of having the policy to begin with)

[Kamalraj Thiagarajen]

this is absolutely ridiculous.....man you gotta sue the insurance company!i mean why is it called "on the spot"? and they take 5 hours to come!.. and for taking 1 week and again 2 weeks to send the cheque! this is a very bad service by a big insurance company and companies take advantage of this because the people of srilanka cant be bothered to sue in court..... You want a response? sue them!

[terrabytetango]

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate turn of events. I would've stirred up a crap storm at my insurance company had I been given the run around you received. The fact that you had to pay by hand defeats the whole concept of full liability insurance, unless insurance companies in SL have implemented deductibles/copays without our knowledge. You should've cancelled your policy then and there and switched to another provider.

[VVTi]

The Insurance morons will find a way out one way or the other. Or if it doesn't go there way they will surely put a "E01" Premium on all customers.

It's quite strange that the E01 police kept your vehicle till it was paid, because it should ave been settled either by the insurance or worse case scenario the courts.

Are you sue the money went to the RDA coffers and not some morons pocket? Whop did you pay the money to?

[JadeyBlitzen]

go speak to the ombudsman like miniace said. or just casually mention you are considering visiting the ombudsman to your insurance agent. most insurance people shiver even when they hear the word ombudsman. so you'll definitely get something out of this.

I wish more people were aware of this service. So Insurance companies can't fool around like this.

[virajkv]

I could have given u few advises IF u have elaborated ur story a bit further... But for now what i can clearly say is to take the support and services of a lawyer... because there are quite a few injustices as it seemed to be happened with u starting from the police...!

Don't just pay from ur pocket because the police or the rda said so... and if u have done already take an action immediatley before its too late..

[liya]

Bloody rouges, these insurance companies. Not one good one among them.

[racerx]

thats too bad but its good that users have to pay for damage they cause. Same thing on the Nur ring.

[Scooter]

Was it an Armco rail u took out? Maybe yr lawyer will Google up Armco suppliers and check the prices of gaurdrail lengths and bollards. There are a few UK sites providing pricing details. Surprising how cheap the fencing is. And it takes 20 minutes, a couple of spanners and a piece of cake to replace a guardrail section. 250k bill 4 u???.....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

[miniace]

Where is the OP ?

MINIACE

[jdnet]

  On 1/15/2012 at 5:51 AM, miniace said:

Where is the OP ?

MINIACE

drinking milk.

[NPP]

it's been such a long time E01 was opened, and surely there have been accidents involving 3rd party (RDA damages)

and no one else bothered to visit AL, register and post about such things about an insurance company... hmm...

[maheshd]

Hi Friends,

Thank you very much for the comments. Yes my first option is go and meet the ombudsman check what they can do with this.

[maheshd]

Yes it was the armco rail got damage. One rail got damage and i have checked the prices on internet.

http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/armco-barrier.html

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/266576493/Armco_Barriers.html

According to their site it is around FOB Price: US $10-25 / Meter

After tax and everything say Rs 5000/Meter. 10M rail is around Rs 50000. They are charging another 200k to replace the bar. Is this acceptable ??

[NPP]

  On 1/15/2012 at 4:39 PM, maheshd said:

Yes it was the armco rail got damage. One rail got damage and i have checked the prices on internet.

http://www.alibaba.c...co-barrier.html

http://www.alibaba.c...o_Barriers.html

According to their site it is around FOB Price: US $10-25 / Meter

After tax and everything say Rs 5000/Meter. 10M rail is around Rs 50000. They are charging another 200k to replace the bar. Is this acceptable ??

have you considered the MOQ

[Ripper]

man this really sucks.

Not only the insurance morons but also the RDA and the whole government systems.

You pay to enter the highway... RDA haven't made it safe enough by not sorting out the dog issue. And if you have an accident due to the dog problem, it's you who ends up having to pay for the damages to RDA property.

people are still throwing stones and vehicular traffic and quite recently there was a mugging attempt at an exit after some group had blocked the road with logs.

[rman2000]

yes things like the attempted mugging attempt is deadly serious and i hope the cops are alert to prevent any more occurences

[NPP]

  On 1/15/2012 at 5:52 PM, Ripper said:

man this really sucks.

Not only the insurance morons but also the RDA and the whole government systems.

You pay to enter the highway... RDA haven't made it safe enough by not sorting out the dog issue. And if you have an accident due to the dog problem, it's you who ends up having to pay for the damages to RDA property.

people are still throwing stones and vehicular traffic and quite recently there was a mugging attempt at an exit after some group had blocked the road with logs.

if the safety issue is not dealt with soone it might spread to other areas. Only Kottawa exit is close to the main road. Pinnaduwa has a wide road kinda hard to block, but the others are prone to such attacks at night.

one the pricing, maybe the RDA is trying to have an early payback on the project through these kinds of things!

[CARBON B4]

Thanks for sharing this....

Btw what was the speed you were traveling and the type of car when it happened ? Just so that we have a better idea....

If I remember correctly for a 3rd party claim u need to be found guilty at a court for your insurance to pay the RDA. And you are clearly not at fault for trying to avoid a dog, so Insurance should have settled the full amount and they cannot cut and chop like they do for repair estimates.... Also taking 5 hours to come is totally not acceptable.

Fight with the insurance guys and dont give up.... they will try all possible stunts to not pay, so make a lot of noise, they don't like that and just might pay u to shut up....

[CARBON B4]

Also....

You are a great guy to have tried to avoid killing the dog... Although I am a animal lover I would have not taken that risk knowing that your child is in the car. Better option would have been to just slam down on the breaks, and let the ABS take care of the rest... and for the noise of the screeching tyres the dog would react..

Also note that a dogs instant reaction is to back away and not move forward, but a cow will contine straight whatever happens... So if a dog is crossing from the right side of the road to left never sway the car to the right.. as the dog also will head in the same direction. Do the reverse if a cow jumps....

[trinity]

  On 1/15/2012 at 4:39 PM, maheshd said:

Yes it was the armco rail got damage. One rail got damage and i have checked the prices on internet.

http://www.alibaba.c...co-barrier.html

http://www.alibaba.c...o_Barriers.html

According to their site it is around FOB Price: US $10-25 / Meter

After tax and everything say Rs 5000/Meter. 10M rail is around Rs 50000. They are charging another 200k to replace the bar. Is this acceptable ??

It says Minimum order 1000m.... so it comes around what they have charged isn't it???