Police Report Hinders Insurance Claims

Have you ever had to get a police report for a car insurance claim? I learnt first hand how police report hinders insurance claims.

While driving home the other day, my car started giving me signs something was wrong at Apongbon. But I couldn’t take a chance to stop there at 7 pm. So, I kept driving and praying to God that I made it home before the car broke down.

When I got to Bode Thomas, the car suddenly stopped. Bode Thomas is a safer environment than Apongbon so I was a bit relieved. I came down, opened the hood of my car and the smell of burning rubber immediately hit me.

I called my mechanic and asked him to send me a tow company to come and tow my car as it was evident I couldn’t drive it anymore. While I waited for the tow company, a guy pulled up and asked if he could help. He asked how far I was going, and I told him I lived very close by. He immediately mobilized 2 people to help us push the car to my residence.

Due to traffic, the tow company didn’t make it to my residence until 11pm that night. After towing the car, I went to sleep. Only to wake up to 5 missed calls the next morning.

When I called the mechanic, he informed me that they were attacked on their way back by a group of boys on bikes. The robbers smashed the back window of the car, broke the door handle, took their phones and cash at hand.

I made a claim by sending the pictures to my insurance agent. The agent then informed me that for vandalism, I would need a police report in other to complete my claims.

I went to the police station to make a claim at about 9am. The lady at the counter, after asking several questions, said I needed to drop something to make the claims. She insisted on N5,000 but I eventually gave him N2,000. She sent me upstairs where I met another officer who took my statements again. The officer interrogated me for several hours then informed me that I needed to come back by 2pm to see the DPO.

When I returned DPO did his own set of questioning and eventually asked how soon I needed the police report. I told him I would like it as soon as possible. He turned to the other officer and told him to do an expedited report.

The officer took me back to his section and told me expedited report is N50,000.00. I asked how much regular process is, he said that was N35,000.00 but I no longer had that option as DPO has already said I should do expedited. They would not bulge because they said they know I want to use it to collect money from insurance company.

Eventually, after a month of back and forth with the police and my insurance company, I gave up and called my insurance agent to express my dissatisfaction with their service, he took it up with his superiors and was able to get the police report waived. They went ahead to approve my claims and pay for the repairs.

I ended asking myself what would have happened if my insurance company didn’t waive the police report. How much would have been left to fix my car if I paid N35,000 – N50,000 for the police report? And they say police is your friend. My advise to you is that you get a good insurance company, so that police will not use you to do Christmas.

Do you have questions about car insurance or need guidance on how to go about making successful insurance claims? Send them to Insurance Info and please include the state where you live (no full names will be used).

By submitting your story to Insurance Info Nigeria, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.

Do you have questions about car insurance or need guidance on how to go about making successful insurance claims? Do you have any question you would like us to answer? Send them to Insurance Info and please include the state where you live (no full names will be used).

By submitting your story to Insurance Info Nigeria, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.