Bloated quotations irk insurance association

The Insurance Association of Malawi says it is worried with bloated quotations by garage owners when repairing insured vehicles.

Insurance Association Chairman, Grant Mwenechanya, said this in Blantyre on Wednesday during a Motor Symposium the association organised with garage owners and assessors.

Mwenechanya said it was worrisome to note that garages charge different rates to individuals and insurance companies.

He said observations have shown that garages tend to balloon their charges when charging an insurance company.

“These exorbitant charges have a potential to bring down insurance companies. What we wanted to tell the garages is that once we close shop, they too would lose business.

“So we wanted to correct the situation before things get out of hand,” Mwenechanya said.

Motor is the most common insurance in Malawi, largely because the laws of the land make it mandatory for motorists to have insurance.

Indigenous Garages Association representative, James Nthara, said garages charge differently depending on the materials used to repair the vehicles.

Nthara said different garages get their materials, including spare parts and paint, from different sources, thereby having different costs.

“I should say this has been a fruitful meeting with the insurers as we have heard from them their concerns and we have also voiced out ours.

“We hope moving into the future, we should have a very cordial relationship with the insurers. We also tend to form an association for all garages so that we create a platform through which our concerns could be channelled,” Nthara said.