Ceylinco rocks the industry with on-the-spot claims

Ceylinco Insurance raised many eyebrows in the industry this week with its announcement of the company’s new plans to settle all general insurance claims on the spot.

However many in the industry are sceptical about any ‘on-the-spot’ claim settlement schemes regarding them as misleading clients.

According to the new scheme which the company says is the first in the world, all claims pertaining to insurance polices obtained through the General Division of Ceylinco Insurance would be settled on the spot and the service would be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Claims pertaining to a host of policies of the company, covering VIP motor insurance, marine claims, Suwa Sampatha health insurance, homes, trade establishments, fire Insurance , and all types of miscellaneous insurance, would be paid ‘On The Spot’ from now on.

Chief Executive Director of Ceylinco Insurance – General Division, Ajith Gunewardena, said that ‘On the Spot’ claim settlement eliminates the need to wait for months on end, until inspections are carried out, documents are collected and a host of other painstaking procedures are seen through, which is what customers would have normally gone through.

Gunewardena is confident that Ceylinco would be able to effectively practice on the spot payment scheme.

“We settle 525 on the spot motor claims per day on average. We have the expertise for this,” he said. In the case of a fraudulent charge, Gunewardena said that the company will clearly identify such charges and if suspicion arises the claim would not be paid immediately.

However many in the industry raised issues regarding the valuation of the damage and fraudulent claims that may arise in the event of immediate settlement of claims. According to many the possibility of under estimation of the damage is high when the claims are paid on the spot.

“If it is a full claim there would not be a problem but when a partial claimant is made it is hard to assess immediately. Chances are the assessment would need time and an immediate assessment amount may be lower than the real cost of damage”, said Nalaka Godahewa, CEO of Sri Lanka Insurance when asked about the technicalities involving in an on the spot claim.

He further explained that a proper assessment especially on property damages would take time and it would be difficult to give a true assessment within a short period of time.

“The country does not have the expertise to do a full accurate assessment of damages on property in such a short time. The client should be given enough time to decide on the assessment.

They should not be misled which might happen if one goes for immediate settlements,” he said.