Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Transport in each of the last three years (a) how many complaints has the Ministry received from insured parties about the counterparty failing to file an accident report when involved in a road traffic accident; and (b) what are the remedies available to victims of road traffic accidents who are unable to pursue insurance claims due to the counterparty failing to file an accident report.
Mr S Iswaran: Madam, in the last three years, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) have received 12 complaints and one complaint respectively, from insured parties about the counterparty failing to file an accident report with their insurer after being involved in a road accident.
The General Insurance Association of Singapore (GIA)’s Motor Claims Framework (MCF) sets out the procedures for all accidents to be reported to the insurer within 24 hours or by the next working day, which is incorporated as a condition of all motor insurance policies. The procedure is not, however, mandated legislatively.
Notwithstanding the above, under the Motor Vehicle (Third Party Risks and Compensation) Act, an insurer cannot refuse liability on the ground that the policyholder has not reported the accident. I repeat: an insurer cannot refuse liability on the grounds that the policyholder has not reported the accident if the third-party’s claim is for bodily injury or death. Victims of road traffic accidents who remain unable to pursue insurance claims can file a civil claim against the counterparty or claim compensation from their own insurer.
The Ministry of Transport (MOT), LTA and MAS will work with other relevant Government agencies and GIA to review and, if necessary, strengthen the requirements for reporting road traffic accidents to insurers.
Mdm Deputy Speaker: Ms He Ting Ru.
Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): I thank the Minister for his reply. The reason why I raised this question was because recently, at a Meet-the-People Session (MPS), a resident approached me for help on this matter. Obviously, he had gotten involved in an accident. I do not believe that there was any personal injury case, but there was obviously damage to the vehicle. He was actually told at the time that nothing could be done if the counterparty failed to file an accident report with his insurance company and, therefore, the only action he could take was a civil suit.
But obviously, as you know, going to Court and all of that can be stressful. It is time consuming and also, even though it might be the Small Claims Tribunal, it is intimidating and it can also be costly in a way. I am just wondering whether there is anything else that can be done even though we note that only 12 complaints were received about this; whether there is anything else that can be done to prevent this from happening.
Again, I do not know if the Ministry has any further data about how widespread this problem is because it might be that no official complaints were filed and this practice has been done. There was also an article to the Forum page recently about this matter. So, obviously, this is happening, and I am just wondering what else can be done to assist the motorists who actually find themselves in this unfortunate situation.
Mr S Iswaran: Madam, I thank the Member for her question. If I may layer my response, first, as the Member has observed herself, at least insofar as the number of complaints are concerned, it is a relatively small number, which suggests that, by and large, motorists do report these incidents, and it is partly because the incentive is there for them to do so; because if they do not, and if it were to come to pass that their insurer discovers this and it is a violation of the contractual condition, then there is a risk of losing the insurance contract.
Secondly, a civil suit is obviously one solution and remedy available. There is a spectrum of other options available to the aggrieved party. This includes, of course, claiming from their own insurer which I know is not necessarily an ideal outcome, but it does address the substantial financial loss. However, it does mean that the no-claim bonus and so on might be affected in that regard.
Amongst the GIA, there is a facility where such cases are referred to. And where the cases are assessed to be meritorious, there is also compensation available in that regard.
Finally, to reiterate the point that I made earlier, we will study this further with MAS and with the industry and others to see if there is a need for further tightening in this regard to safeguard the interests of motorists, as the Member has highlighted.
Ministry of Transport
4 July 2023
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-3272
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 