THAI LAW - Flood and Insurance

THAI LAW - Flood and Insurance  

Thai law

                            Thai law | At this time if there is anyone not talking about the flood situation here in Thailand it would seem to be that those people are not in trend right now. Because our main office is located in the heart of Bangkok we have seen many things affect the capital from the last few years and this year again it is no different. From the yellow shirt protest which closed down the main airport three years ago to the red shirt protest two years ago in the Ratchaprasong area, but this year it did not come from any colour but from nature itself. As many people can attest the power of nature is more powerful and devastating than that a human protest with many lives and homes being swept away. Because of the severity of the situation we will be forced to close the main office for some time, but even while we are still running there are few people left let alone out and about in this part of the city. In fact only around a tenth of the usual amount of people are still here, this has made traffic scarce and you can travel on a road in any direction and a trip that would take you hours before would only take five minutes right now.

Thailand law

                            So the topic we will discuss today is insurance from the flood situation happening now, especially regarding motor vehicles. If you look at the local news on the television or even on newspapers you will have seen many flooded cars and motorbikes on the streets on Bangkok. Most owners will have insurance but I have to tell you that maybe they will not cover your vehicle because of the extensions in their insurance policy. Even if they do have to cover something they will try to find ways around it, an example is this if a car engine is damaged by the flood for a long time and the engine develops rust and cannot function properly. The insurance company will consider only repairing the engine with the smallest amount of money possible, they will never allow a full engine change. Many things like this will happen in the coming months as the insurance companies will be responsible for a huge number of flooded cars, and you will see the extensions of your insurance policy that you have never seen before. Under Thai law, an insurance company is obligated to honour their agreement with you to the letter.  Failing this they can be taken to court.

Thai law

                            It will be a hard process to go through from the insurance companies saying no to fix your vehicle in the proper way. This is the main reason that insurance companies do not grow fast in Thailand, because the insurance companies will always try to say no and if they are obligated to pay they will make it very hard to do so making the customers not happy with the service they have paid for. Another thing you should know is that if you have an old car the parts they will use to repair your vehicle will either be second hand parts or parts from a copy brand not the original parts from the manufacturer. They will try to do everything they can to reduce costs. We have the experience in the court where an insurance company did not want to pay more than two hundred thousand baht when they were legally obliged to.  If you ask to claim that much money from them the company will fight with you in the Thai court, they have their own lawyers, who they will use to delay and play with you for up to three to seven years.

Thai law

                            This is the good chance for you to learn a lesson about the insurance companies here in Thailand. You have to make sure that the insurance policy that you take out for yourself is proper, with too many extensions so the insurance companies have to pay up and cannot get out of it so easily. You need to read through the agreement thoroughly if needed you can make amendments for some of the extensions by paying a premium, if you leave it until the situation happens it will already be too late.

THAI LAW - Flood and Insurance