BMW Fire Claim Rejected, Commission Orders ₹70.75 Lakh Payout
BMW fire claim dispute ended with the commission ruling in favour of the policyholder. The insurer has been directed to pay ₹70.75 lakh after its rejection was challenged.
BMW caught fire on a highway, but the insurer rejected the claim. The consumer commission has now ordered a ₹70.75 lakh payout to the policyholder.
BMW: A consumer commission has directed an insurer to pay Rs 70.75 lakh to the owner of a luxury BMW that was destroyed by fire after a tyre puncture on a highway. The insurer had rejected the claim on the ground that the car was left unattended overnight. The order ends a dispute that ran for several years and saw the case dismissed more than once before the commission ruled in the owner’s favour.
According to the case details, the car suffered a tyre puncture at night while travelling on a state highway. No mechanic was available at that hour, so the driver parked the vehicle near a roadside dhaba, locked it, rolled up the windows and left. By the following morning, the car had been gutted by fire.
The insurer turned down the claim, citing a policy condition that requires the insured to take proper precautions against further loss when a vehicle is left unattended. In its view, locking the car and leaving it on the highway amounted to abandoning it.
BMW: Insurer Questioned Precautions, Fire and Valuation
The insurer argued that the driver should have stayed with the car or moved it to a safer spot. It also asked why the spare tyre was not fitted, or why the car was not towed using another vehicle that had reached the spot.
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It further described the fire as suspicious, pointing to burnt grass about 50 metres from the car. On valuation, the insurer said that after accounting for depreciation and a period during which the car was uninsured, the vehicle was worth no more than around Rs 59 lakh. It also noted that the owner, described as a former MLA with several vehicles, had the means to arrange better protection for the car.
BMW – Commission: Policy Does Not Bar Leaving Vehicle Unattended
The commission found that Condition 4 of the policy is not a blanket prohibition on leaving a broken-down vehicle unattended. It requires only that proper precautions be taken. Locking the car, rolling up the windows and parking beside a known landmark satisfied that requirement, it held.
The commission described the insurer’s expectation that the driver spend the night in the vehicle as hyper-technical. It said no one could reasonably be expected to risk personal safety to guard a car on a dark highway. What counts as a reasonable precaution, it said, cannot be judged rigidly and depends on the facts of each case, including the hour, the availability of help and the practical options open to the owner.
The commission also found no evidence connecting the car being left unattended to the fire, whose cause was never determined. On valuation, it held that the insured declared value fixed when the policy was issued cannot be reduced unilaterally by the insurer when settling a claim.
BMW: Breakdown of the Payout
The insurer has been directed to pay the insured declared value of Rs 70 lakh, with interest at 7 per cent a year from the date the claim was first rejected. It must also pay Rs 50,000 for mental agony and harassment and Rs 25,000 towards litigation costs. Together these come to Rs 70.75 lakh, excluding interest.
