THAI LAW - Insurance in Thailand
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| Thai law |
Thai law | As
a foreigner in Thailand you can easily apply for and gain life insurance, but
you are required to have a work permit or barring that a long term visa of some
sort such as a Non immigration O which is the visa for marriage, retirement or
family members. There is a myriad of choices and policies to choose from which
can be daunting especially with the different information and language barriers
encountered.
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| Thai law |
There are two types
of insurance here in Thailand; life insurance and non-life insurance which include
possessions, cars and property. When you take out insurance on say a property,
if it were to be damaged or destroyed then the insurance company will
compensate you for the amount of the property or damage. One factor that should
be considered is to only take out insurance equal to the value of the property
being insured. This is because if you take out an insurance policy of five
million baht on your house but the real value is only one million you will only
be compensated up to one million baht while paying the extra premium of the
five million. The chance of losing large property such as a house is slim,
there has to be a catastrophic event such as fire, an earthquake or large
storm. Usually only a part of the property will be damaged such as the roof and
as such it is not uncommon for people to take out insurance to the amount where
large repairs may be compensated, but not insure for the entire property.
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| Thailand law |
With regards to road
accidents the Thai system does not use the words right or wrong, but rather the
wrong party is considered to have committed the act by negligent means. If you
are involved in a traffic accident and are the victim then under Thai law you
have the opportunity to sue the negligent party for one year. Damages incurred
on the car, medical expenses, work compensation and any concerned expense such
as the rental fees of a replacement car can all be requested. Please also not
that if no party is found to be negligent and the police become involved then
normally they will deem one party negligent. But if they cannot determine the
wrongful party they will consider both parties to be negligent and drag both
parties to court by submitting a criminal case between the two parties to
settle the dispute. Usually the insurance company in this situation will
compensate the party not at fault first and then wait for reimbursement from
the party at fault or their insurance company if they have one.
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| Thai law |
Thai
people tend not to worry so much about insurance, they are usually adventurous
and take a “whatever happens solve it later approach”. This isn’t the same
mentality shared by foreigners, especially if they are residing overseas long
term. Thai insurance companies do not have the best reputation and are not as
effective as they should be. This is because it is always difficult for them to
pay compensation, say if a case for compensation of a car cannot be negotiated
for less than two hundred thousand baht. Then they will let you take the case
to court and sue them for fulfilling obligations, dragging the case out until
the court orders them to pay up, this will of course waste the clients time and
money to follow up. Insurance has its uses and it can help you out when it is
needed but you have to be wary and think it through on which one is the best
for you.
THAI LAW - Insurance in Thailand
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