Thousands of recent buyers of vehicles are discovering they did not purchase sufficient vehicle coverage. They instead signed for insurance that covers the bank loan and will not guarantee a new vehicle if theirs was severely damaged in the flooding on 4 November 2022.
As with insurance, hundreds of people are finding out the hard way that they got the wrong coverage. The question is whether the insurance is for the vehicle’s original value or the market price for the year of its manufacture. Those that insured the vehicle for the market value, not the total of the loan, will do fine. If the insurance just covered the loan, the customers will have lost everything.
Acento reports that most sales of vehicles in the Dominican Republic are of used vehicles, where it is totally up to the owner to decide whether to insure fully or not.
Vehicle insurers say that only those vehicles with full insurance plans, in which the comprehensive risk coverage has been contracted, that is, those damages or material losses caused directly and accidentally to the vehicle by earthquakes, hurricanes, windstorms, hailstorms and floods, are covered.
The flooding caused dozens of vehicles to be buried underwater, be they because they were parked in street areas that became lagoons or stuck in underground parking that flooded. In other cases, people abandoned vehicles dragged by rising river and gully waters, suffering major damages.
As reported in Hoy, the Superintendence of Insurance says that there are only 1.2 insured vehicles circulating in the country. Of these, only 25% have full insurance.
Dozens of cars were underwater. People without full insurance are praying that their vehicles will dry out and systems will kick back in. In a report on what mechanics say, Listin Diario indicates that most of the vehicles they are seeing after the storm have the electronics scorched. Their computers don’t work and may need to be replaced.
Mechanics say they first examine the electrical system to find out whether it has shorted out when the car was underwater. They recommend checking the tires, battery unit,e xhaust pipe, door and window seals, lockouts and other minor components. The good news is that in most cases, the owners will be able to get away with replacing a few fuses and spark plugs if there is no other damage inside the car.
The Emergency Operations Center (COE) reported towing 855 vehicles. The COE said in its preliminary report that around 251 had suffered mechanical failures due to the flooding. Add to this the vehicles that survived the initial brunt but later have failed to start up again. Mechanics report melted engines, with light oil mixed with water.
Read more in Spanish:
Hoy
Acento
Listin Diario
9 November 2022