Page 18 - Australasian Paint & Panel July-August 2019

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News • In Focus
PAINT&PANEL JULY / AUGUST 2019 WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
CUSTOMER CHAMPION AFCA
DID YOU KNOW THERE'S A GOVERNMENT BODY THAT'S HELPING THOUSANDS OF CONSUMERS RESOLVE ISSUES WITH INSURERS? SAM STREET SPOKE TO AFCA’S JOHN PRICE LEAD OMBUDSMAN GENERAL INSURANCE TO FIND OUT MORE.
the repair process there are disputes relating to the quality of repairs and to amount charged.
CASH SETTLEMENTS
“That is where we get involved. What most insurance policies provide is for the insurer to have a discretion as to whether they wish to repair, pay the cost of repair or write the vehicle off. We will get issues around the cost to repair where an insurer is seeking to cash set- tle the claim. Generally in those circum- stances we say an insurer can cash set- tle the claim but if they choose to do so it must be done within the principles of good faith, fairness and reasonableness.
“The settlement needs to provide the consumer with sufficient funds to have the vehicle repaired.
"Conversely sometimes the consumer doesn’t want the car repaired in the in- surer's network but wants a cash settle-
A
THE AUSTRALIAN FINAN-
cial Complaints Authority
(AFCA) was set up after the 2017 Ramsey Review, to es- tablish a one stop resolution shop for consumers and small busi- nesses with financial complaints. AFCA covers insurance, insurance brokers, mortgage brokers, financial advisors,
banking and other financial services. The concept of the ombudsman has been around for a long time but the or- ganisation know as AFCA has only been
operating since 1 November 2018 and Price says they have been very busy.
“In the general insurance space we’ve already received close to 8,000 disputes and roughly 28% of those deal with motor vehicle insurance claims,” Price says.
They cover disputes relating to claims handling – that might be de- lays in repairs, it might be denials – the insurer denying certain coverage for certain damage or deeming the damage to be wear and tear. During