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SINGAPORE: If you get into a motor accident, a one-stop service by insurers will do all the legwork and form-filling as long as you report the accident within 24 hours. Vehicle repair work will also be carried out by the insurers' accredited workshops.
This new motor insurance scheme, which will be implemented from May this year, has triggered a mixed response from the public.
Public relations practitioner, Cho Pei Lin, was approached by several car workshop representatives shortly after getting into a minor accident on the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) last year.
She said: "I opened the car door to try and find out who he was and I found out he was representing a workshop. I was very surprised because I just got into an accident – it had barely been a minute and there was a man from a workshop trying to solicit business from me.
"I spent about two hours on the expressway to sort things out – the police came to take statements. And in that short span of two hours, I had five different salesmen from different workshops stopping on the expressway, inviting me to send my car to their workshop for repairs."
As such, Ms Cho welcomes the convenience and clarity that a one-stop service will offer. But she is wary of premium increases, which the General Insurance Association said would likely happen.
"Insurance is compulsory. It is very much for government and regulators involved to make sure premiums are fair and reasonable, and to make sure there is a good reason why they are going up so that motorists are protected," she said.
The question of fairness is also on the mind of an operations manager at Mezzo International.
With this new insurance framework, Matthew Lim feels the profit margin of smaller workshops may be squeezed, which could have a corresponding negative impact on the quality of repairs.
He said: "The insurance companies have already made sure the prices are as low as possible, so I don't think there is a huge profit margin for workshops. So you get parts repaired rather than replaced. From my experience, the aesthetics will look the same but the internal may not... I don't think you will get your money's worth."
On the issue of accredited workshops, he feels personalised service will suffer.
"You trust your own mechanic and you want to know what's being changed. When you go to these one-stop shops, the cars are in the hands of others," Mr Lim added.
- CNA/so
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