Driver unions endorse move by the NIC to eradicate fake motor insurance
Various driver unions have endorsed the National Insurance
Commission’s (NIC) move to implement an electronic Motor Insurance Database (MID)
to check the menace of fake insurance stickers and non-insurance.
This came after some national
driver unions paid a courtesy call on the Commissioner of Insurance to lend their
support to the initiative by the insurance regulator and also to find out more
about it.
The Union Executives led by Francis Sallah, expressed their
delight at the move as it has been the headache of the national leadership of
the of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) of
the Trades Union Congress (TUC) when their members fall victim to this menace
due to fake insurance stickers.
He bemoaned the situation where some of their unsuspecting drivers
are deceived into purchasing cheap motor insurance with stickers which looked
exactly like the originals.
He said reality dawns on these drivers only after they are involved
in accidents that warranted a claim payment, which was refused to be honoured
by the insurer they purportedly bought the insurance from.
In his response, the Commissioner of Insurance and the Chief
Executive Officer of the NIC, Mr Justice Ofori expressed his appreciation to
the leadership of the GTPCWU (TUC), which is a key stakeholder in the motor
insurance space, for such endorsement.
The expected implementation of the Motor Insurance Database in the
first quarter of 2020 will provide a centralised database from which security
agencies and the general public including passengers of commercial vehicles can
check the validity of an insured vehicle on the spot.
The checks may be done through either a mobile app, a text message
or by scanning a code on the insurance sticker. He also stated that the NIC is
collaborating with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and the
Police Motor Transport Traffic Department (MTTD) to enable a smooth take off of
the programme.
In an earlier interview with some victims of fake insurance, Ms
Doreen Dodoo, a teacher, shared her experience on how the nation should embrace
this move by the NIC that would inure to the benefit of all.
According to her, she was due to renew her motor insurance policy
after a year of cover only to be told by the insurance company that she had no
cover the previous year! Upon investigations, it was revealed that indeed she
had paid her premium alright but the money was clipped to the counterfoil of
her receipt and still lying in the drawers of the Agent who had done the policy
for her but failed to have the records of payment updated.
“Imagine if anything had happened to me during that period that I
was told I didn’t have cover even though I had proof to that’; I would have
been a victim without any compensation and it is my family that would have being
at the receiving end of the consequences of the bad nuts who are perpetrating
this menace,” she said.
Another victim, Mr Christian Bruce also shared his experience and
expressed his excitement at the MID policy by the NIC. Bruce was ran over by a commercial
vehicle and suffered serious head injuries but was told later that the vehicle that
knocked him down had fake insurance and for that matter there was no
compensation for him from the insurance company.
He overwhelmingly gave his backing to the Motor Insurance Database
that would make it easy for a motorist to tell at first hand through a mobile
phone alert the moment he or she purchase an insurance.
He lamented, “If this had been in place earlier, I don’t think I
would have gone through this hell.”
Comments
Post a Comment