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Fiji’s insurance legislation is working well, said the insurance industry as it hit out against concerns raised by the Consumer Council of Fiji regarding weaknesses in legal redress for victims of motor vehicle accidents.
The consumer watchdog on Friday launched a campaign to raise awareness on Compulsory Third Party Policy Insurance (CTPI), which motor vehicle owners have to pay in order to be able to register their vehicles and drive them on Fiji roads.
CEO Premila Kumar said there was a need to properly determine if this was fulfilling its intended purpose, as there were cases where victims ended up going through a long court process in order to get compensation.
Insurance Council of Fiji representative Lolesh Sharma said some statements being made by Kumar were not factually complete and there was nothing wrong with legislations dealing with CTPI.
“The Insurance Third Party Act is working very well. If you look at the statistics, you will see that out of around 130 claims we receive a year, maybe one or two would fall in that category,” said Sharma, who is also general manager operations for Sun Insurance.
“But by and large, the 128 claims out of 130 we get every year, we have paid for them. So I think you have got to look at things in the bigger picture rather than looking at one claim and saying that this is what happens in the country.”
He said there was a need for the Consumer Council to look at things in perspective as it continues its campaign for more awareness on compulsory third party policy insurance in Fiji.
