I got involved recently in a minor accident with an SMRT taxi. It was my fault as I followed too closely from behind and bumped into the back light of the old taxi. The resulting damage was a hole in the plastic of a back light. I agreed to pay for the repair. I repaired my own car for $230.
SMRT wanted to charge me $1,635 for the damages to be repaired at their own workshop. I asked them to fix the repair at my nominated workshop but they refused. I felt that it was an extortion. I did not want to make an insurance claim as it would affect the NCD.
I called the Traffic Police, General Insurance Association of Singapore and CASE. None was willing to help. I called the Police as it was a case of blatant extortion and cheating. They advised me to engage a lawyer. Are there any other avenues that I can get help?
REPLY
It is a shame that a big company like SMRT can resort to this type of bad practice. It is also a shame that CASE does not wish to take up this case, as they do get a lot of funding from the government to do their work. I suggest that you offer a fair sum, say $500, to SMRT.
Amount of funding provided to CASE by government.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr. Tan,
Do you have statistics on the amount of funding provided by government to CASE?
CASE is supposed to be non-governmental body. But yet, it is funded by government and with public money and it is trying to appear useful, powerful and acting in the interests of consumers.
It is even chaired by a government officer.
Other than using the non-government body status to NOT do more for consumers because it says it has no power or whatever, i do not see how different CASE is from a government entity.
Yes, SMRT charges are very expensive. I am not surprised that SMRT will require the taxi driver to pay some damages as well. Hopefully the taxi driver read this and can reject the damages claim to him.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad to hear more and more such stories happening in Singapore..What is happening to our Society ? Looks like the weak and helpless would contuinue to suffer. We can forget about going to Government for help in such "trival" matters. They will tell you to resolve it yourself. If I were the one, I would defnitely bring SMRT to court and let the court decide if the amount is a fair one.
ReplyDeleteI was involved in a minor accident with a comfort cab back in 2007. Just a small dent to the blue sonata taxi. The bill works out to be close to 2k. Subsequently I also received a medical bill claim amounting to more than 1k too. My motor insurance then was NTUC Income. I tried to appeal, but to no avail. They insisted the claim is valid. I highly suspect they are colluding because they belong to the same mother organisation. Will never buy motor insurance from NTUC again.
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