Motor insurance renewal

I had meant to write about this episode in my life more than three weeks ago but time whizzed by so quickly that I had to put it on the back burner. Anyway, I've more free time this morning as I wait for my car to undergo its first major for a long time. Gonna cost a hole in my pocket, ouch!

Anyway, today's blog entry concerns my attempt to renew the motor insurance for my old car. Normally, I would travel all the way to Taman Inderawasih, near to Chai Leng Park on the mainland, to where the branch office of the Automotive Association of Malaysia (AAM) was located. A drive of at least half an hour to get there, if there is no traffic congestion.

So there I was, cruising leisurely along Song Ban Keng Road in Bukit Mertajam when suddenly, I noticed a Chartis office. Chartis was the name of the general insurance company that the AAM used to renew all the motor policies of their members.

Thinking that it would save me time - the Chartis branch was halfway between my house and Taman Inderawasih - and it would also be the same if I went to this Chartis branch instead of to AAM for the motor insurance renewal, I went to approach their staff at the front desk. I told her specifically that I wanted to renew the policy under comprehensive cover. The counter staff went to consult her supervisor and both came back to say that they could only offer me third party cover.

Why not, I asked them, I have always had comprehensive coverage for this car. They refused, giving me a cock and bull(shit) story that that the car was too old and it was their policy not to offer anything but third party cover for cars as old as mine. So I said thank you to them politely and told them that I'd go back to AAM.

Hopped into the car and continued with my journey to Taman Inderawasih. At the AAM office, I whipped out the old policy and asked them to renew it - with comprehensive cover. Which they did, with only one concern raised between us: that the sum insured would have to be raised to a certain minimum amount. Would I mind, the AAM lady asked me. No, I had no issue with that.

So that was that. I walked out of AAM a satisfied customer with my comprehensive motor insurance renewed for the old car. Whole irony was that the cover note that AAM gave me was also issued from Chartis.

There was a sequel to this story. When I arrived home, I posted this matter up on my facebook. Later that day, I received a message from someone at Chartis to apologise for the inconvenience that I had been put through. He said the staff at the Chartis branch should have contacted their main office in Penang for such matters. There were always exceptions that they were prepared to deal with, especially for policy renewals. Hah, at least someone noticed my inconvenience.