Friday, March 29, 2024

Government should address difficulty Zambians face in accessing Car Insurance benefits after accidents

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The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group (ZRHSG) is urging Government to scrutinize the delivery of motor vehicle insurance services in Zambia, since it is compulsory that all motor vehicles must be insured.

The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group has observed the difficulties that insured motorists, passengers and pedestrians face in claiming their insurance benefits in the aftermath of an accident.

The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group also observes the lack of concern by insurance companies for the motorist’s welfare and inconveniences in the aftermath of an accident.

“We note with sadness that insurance companies have left it to the insured motorist to run around collecting police accident reports, looking for quotations from motor vehicle workshops and paying hospital bills while they sit in their offices counting money from the insurance,” says ZRHSG Group Admin Mthoniswa Banda

“Motorists are left alone to argue among themselves who should pay who and cover what damage when that role should be done administratively between the insurance firms involved,” says ZRHSG Group Admin Mthoniswa Banda

The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group is aware that the reason why motor vehicles are insured is to cushion the impact of an accident to the motorist and ensure that their way of life is not disturbed by the accident.

“On average it takes at least two weeks for a motor vehicle insurance claim to be honoured and another two weeks for a car involved in an accident to be put back on the road. If the owner of that vehicle only has one vehicle which they use for taking children to school among others, imagine the inconvenience and stress that the motorists goes through as they wait for their slow insurance wheels to turn,” says ZRHSG Admin Mthoniswa Banda.

The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group notes that if insurance was not compulsory in Zambia, few motorists would insure as the majority don’t see the benefits of insuring year in and year out.

The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group is aware that insurance companies are supposed to refund or give a discount to motorists whose vehicles are not involved in accidents at the expiry of their insurance period.

The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group is also aware that pedestrians that are knocked down by insured vehicles are supposed to be taken care of by insurance companies but this rarely happens leaving the poor motorist to foot the medical bill or funeral expenses of the pedestrian.

By Mthoniswa Banda

Group Admin – Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group (ZRHSG)

The Zambia Roads & Highway Safety Group (ZRHSG) is an online road safety group with over 2,450 road safety ambassadors and is for sharing personal experiences and knowledge on road safety issues on Zambian roads and Highways by road users. These discussions will help identify road safety issues, bad policies and bad road designs requiring improvement by government and its agencies such as RTSA, RDA, NRFA, ZP and local councils.

Every week, the ZRHSG will produce a statement summarising the group discussion and sharing this opinion with Road Safety agencies and other policy makers so they improve Zambia’s Road Safety.

8 COMMENTS

  1. my keen interest is for passengers who are involved in traffic accidents in long distance buses, whats the compensation like for passengers, do they even get compensated by these insurance firms?

  2. I have always liked the way this group stands to issue their observations which are correct and to the point they really need our support as they mean well to the motorists. May car was bashed by someone it took the insurance company 3 months to honor the claim am happy that someone has observed this anormally. If the law require motorists to buy insurance it should also mandate the insurance companies to honour the claims within a shortest possible time.

  3. To begin with the socalled New look of Lusaka Times website is horrible and user unfriendly. This is total disaster LT. Whoever is designing the Website for you has little knowledge of doing what he/she is claiming to know. Total disaster!!!
    Insurance companies a a total waste of space. Claims take years and years in the name of investigating. Their investigators are paid for “finding” reasons why they should not pay. So the more they investigate that the insurer was at faulty the better and the insurance company keeps ‘its’ money. Daylight conspiracy and crookery at its waist example.
    Another Disaster!!!

  4. Zambian drivers ….worst in the world. But yes it’s good to expedite insurance c!aims processing for safe and sober citizens (of which there are a ….few,)!

    As for the new website design…..it’s hard to get bored because it keeps changing! What I don’t get is why the site is publishing from a little town in Romania??? According to the banner, it’s 8.7 centigrade right now…..in Alba Lulia. Is that LT’S click farm?

  5. Start with Zambia State Insurance, They are the most Thieves. Where is the Consumer Protection to pounce on these Insurance companies?

  6. That is why you need the services of an insurance broker to do the running around for you. ZRSHG contact Minet Zambia at Acacia Park

  7. Compulsory motor vehicle insurance is for bodily injury and death. Rest all is between two parties, the Insured and the Insurer. There are many challenges in Zambia that delay in settling claims, non payment of excess by the insured, non compliance with policy terms and conditions, non availability of spare parts, insurance frauds that involves back dating of covers and police officers assisting Motorists without insurance to obtain covers from corrupt insurance intermediaries and then dating the accidents as if it happened after the issuance of motor cover note. Mthoniswa Banda shall educate public on which companies they know are run professionally. His executive shall visit each insurance company to hear from them and meet IAZ, IBAZ and the PIA to agree on way forward.

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