Struck twice over

The Land Transportation Office under the Department of Transportation should review the performance of its accredited car insurance providers plus their auto repair shop tie-ups. The DOTr-LTO should ensure that the performance audit covers small and major insurance firms alike.

It’s been over a month since my car, at full stop while waiting to make a turn, was hit head-on by a car whose driver says he fell asleep at the wheel from fatigue.

Today my car is still stuck at the Man-Ar repair shop along the Roxas Boulevard service road in Pasay City, waiting maybe for Armageddon to be fixed. Man-Ar pointed to Makati-based Standard Insurance Co. for the delay.

I don’t know if this kind of delay is typical for auto repair paid for by insurance. If it is, the LTO must improve the system to ensure the least hassle to the public.

Last Monday when my driver tried to check on the progress of the repair, he was barred from doing so. The next day I asked the sleepyhead if Man-Ar had stolen or impounded my car. Or maybe the repair had not even started, so I said we would pull out the car, bring it to my chosen repair shop and send him the bill.

If he doesn’t want to foot the bill, I could just sue him for damage to property, reckless endangerment and unjust vexation, and demand that his driver’s license be revoked or at least suspended.

That afternoon when my driver went to Man-Ar again to get the car, he was finally allowed to see it, but it could no longer be pulled out because it looked like the damaged part had just been dismantled.

The manager told me in a phone call that it took forever to get started because Standard Insurance required inspection first before giving the go-signal for Man-Ar to procure the needed parts. The inspection and go-signal were given only on Dec. 2; the accident occurred on Nov. 4.

It had taken about 10 days after the accident before the car was taken to the repair shop. Standard Insurance had also wanted to delay this step, again ostensibly for inspection of the car. Is it an insurer or a car repair service firm? Since then, the car sat in Man-Ar for two weeks, waiting for someone at Standard to remember that, gosh, you mean that car needs repair?

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Motorists are required to have comprehensive third party liability insurance for vehicle registration. There are millions of vehicles in this country, with only 64 accredited car insurance providers as of the latest data in the LTO portal. Think of how much that means in insurance fees that are automatically collected upon vehicle registration. Shouldn’t the CTPL providers also be required to deliver speedy service?

I’m no congressman or senator with a fleet of vehicles, one for every member of the household including pets. Mine is a one-car household, and it’s a supreme inconvenience to be unable to use the vehicle. My home is a long way from light railway stations.

Considering what they earn from vehicle insurance, the managers at Standard probably have a fleet of vehicles on hand, and won’t feel crippled if one car is out of commission.

How did I end up with Man-Ar?

The sleepyhead survived with minor injuries, although his car was a wreck. My driver and I were shaken but uninjured. The sleepyhead, who works for a major logistics company, apologized and assured us that he would handle the repairs.

Aware of the long waiting line at the Toyota service center, I scouted around for other repair shops. Three gave us similar estimates of the cost and the period of repair – from just seven to 10 days.

But the sleepyhead requested that he or his insurance provider pick the shop that would repair the car. Since he seemed like a decent fellow (except he drives while dozing off), I thought he probably had a decent insurance firm with a decent repair shop in mind, so I relented.

I thought wrong. I’ll probably be regretting my decision until Christmas, when my car may still be rotting away at Man-Ar. The car will be waiting for more inspections at every step by Standard while I scrounge around for cars I can borrow from charitable folks in this busiest time of the year.

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Maybe Man-Ar repaired sleepyhead’s car first, since he is the CTPL policy holder. Shouldn’t the victim have been given priority? I feel like I’ve been struck head-on twice over.

The LTO supposedly subjects insurers to stringent evaluation for “financial stability, operational integrity and commitment to meeting obligations,” according to another car insurer’s website.

I don’t know if the treatment of my damaged car reflects “commitment to meeting obligations.” It sounds great in a website pitch, but in practice it’s budol-budol.

If you’re registering your car, there are 63 other insurance providers apart from Standard.

The insurance industry is built on trust. But several scandals in the past years, including those involving education and health/life insurance, have made me shy away from buying insurance except for my own burial.

And of course I can’t avoid mandatory insurance, such as for overseas travel, and CTPL.

The LTO must see to it that mandatory doesn’t mean service that sucks.