If you claim insurance for your car in case of theft but don’t have all the car keys, you may not get your claim. The insurer can ask you to submit the two car keys before processing the insurance claim and if you fail to do so, your claim can get rejected.
You generally get two keys when you purchase a new car. In the case of theft, where you might not get back your stolen car, you might also not get the insurance claim if one of your car keys is lost or misplaced.
Rakesh Goyal, Director, Probus Insurance – an online insurance web aggregator, said, “Few people know that to get insurance claim for a stolen vehicle, it is necessary to produce the two keys to the car to show the insurance company. If you don’t have the two keys, there are chances that the claim can get rejected.”
Hence, to avoid getting your insurance claim rejected, you must ensure that you have both the car keys handy at the time of making an insurance claim. However, the regulator.
IRDAI, has not made it mandatory for the insurer to ask for both car keys before accepting the claim.
Why does the insurer ask for both keys?
The insurance policy covers theft but not negligence. If a car owner leaves the keys in the car and it is stolen during that time, the theft is viewed as the individual’s negligence. Providing both the car keys proves there isn’t any negligence on the part of the owner. At the same time, it also acts as proof that there is no
intention to defraud the insurance company.
Devendra Rane, Founder & CTO, Coverfox.com said that this is a step taken by the insurer to know that the theft of the car has not taken place due to the car owner’s carelessness. If the car owner forgets the key in the ignition and leaves the windows open and/or doors unlocked, leading to theft of the car, then the insurance claim due to theft in such situations is not accepted by the insurer.
“When you submit both the keys while making the claim, the insurer assumes that you have taken all the necessary steps for protecting your vehicle. Thereafter, the insurer investigates the case and makes the appropriate payments as per the claim settlement process,” Rane explained.
Sajja Praveen Chowdary, Head- Motor Insurance, Policybazaar.com said that as per the policy terms, the insured is supposed to take reasonable steps to safeguard the vehicle from loss at all times. “Therefore, any loss that happens due to not taking steps to safeguard your vehicle can be treated by the insurer as negligence under which this situation, where you are not able to produce two keys of your cars, is also expected to fall.”
Goyal said, “It is mandatory to provide at least one key, although it is advisable to submit all the keys, the FIR report and No-Trace report from the police in case of car theft claim. Insurance companies do ask for all the original keys to ensure that it is a genuine vehicle theft claim and not a fraudulent one.”
Don’t try to submit keys of some other car of the same model to the insurer
What if you do not have one or both the car keys of your stolen car? In such a case, someone may think of submitting keys of another car of the same model to the insurer to get the insurance claim accepted.
What if you do not have one or both the car keys of your stolen car? In such a case, someone may think of submitting keys of another car of the same model to the insurer to get the insurance claim accepted.
Normally, for a particular brand/model, the design of car keys looks identical. In such a case, how will the insurer recognise that keys submitted to them are of the stolen car?
Amitabh Jain – Head, Motor Underwriting and Claims, ICICI Lombard said that theft claims are evaluated through various details and evidence like circumstantial, verbal and written narrations, investigation, police report etc. which brings out the facts of the matter. He said, “The keys submitted by you are evaluated based on usage of the vehicle and verified against the initial declarations/narrations and revelations made.”
Jain further said, “Police findings and reports in news articles are used to further verify the incident narrated by the insured. The circumstantial investigation is done on suspicion which unravels various facts.”
Therefore, you must not try to submit fake keys to get a claim. For instance, during the process of car search if the police finds the stolen car and the insurer finds that the car keys submitted by you do not function/work in the car, then you may get into trouble for submitting fake car keys to the insurer.
What best practice you should follow
You normally use one car key to access your car lock system and when it gets damaged/stolen or worn out, then you use the other one.
You normally use one car key to access your car lock system and when it gets damaged/stolen or worn out, then you use the other one.
1. Firstly, if your old key gets worn out, do not throw it, keep it safe. Chowdary said that to make your case strong at the time of filing an insurance claim for the stolen car, providing both keys can help you get the claim settled easily. “Therefore, you must keep both car keys safe till the time you are the owner of the vehicle,” he said.
2. Taking a car key replacement insurance rider with your car insurance policy can help. Normally, getting duplicate keys made, except in case of FOB keys, is not too expensive. However, if you only get duplicate keys made then you run the risk of misuse of the lost/stolen key. Further, the key maker has the print of your original key which could lead to a safety breach.
Therefore, the safer option is to get the car lockset replaced. In case of new technology, remote keys or FOB keys of cars, authorised OEMs refuse to make duplicate keys and insist that you replace the complete locking system. Replacing the complete lock set, which almost becomes a must in case of loss of high-tech keys, is a costly affair and many people avoid it for that reason. Consequently, if you have car key insurance to cover this cost, you are more likely to get a lost key replaced by re ..
Goyal said, “In a case where you have a key replacement add-on cover, the insurance company will either reimburse the key replacement cost or will get the key replacement done for you.” This way whenever your car keys get lost/damaged/misplaced, you can easily get the lockset replaced from the authorised dealer or local garage as and when required.
Points to note:
- On losing your car keys, you need to report it to the police and get an FIR (First Information Report). Also, inform the insurer about the loss of key(s) before getting another key made in case you are getting duplicate keys made instead of getting the entire lockset replaced.
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At the time of filing the insurance claim, apart from submitting both the keys to the insurer, you must keep the following things handy: insurance policy details, vehicle details, and copy of the FIR.
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