Hi,
This review is on behalf of my cousin brother Mr. Joby whose life is a mess now with his newly purchased Mobilio. Joby purchased a 2014 Honda Mobilio vehicle on 23rd January 2015 from Peninsular Honda, Cochin and paid a total of Rs. 10.3L on-road. During purchase talks, the dealer said: "Sir, you just pay the money and we will take care of everything. The On-Road price 10.3L includes Honda Assurance Full Coverage worth Rs. 23, 500. So if anything happens to the engine or any other parts, it will be'REPLACED' free of cost during the covering period". He wanted a low-cost B2B alternative for insurance and said so, but the dealer said Honda Assurance is the only way to go. He had an Alto before, but due to more family members and aged parents needing frequent medical help, he was in need of a 7-seater and paid the money and got the vehicle - believing the brand Honda!
On 4th Sep 2015, four of them were en-route to hospital for his father's doctor appointment. It was raining, and about 3 km from home, on the main road, the vehicle got stopped unexpectedly. There was water on road(but less than a feet) and that seemed to be the reason. As it was a main road, the crowd gathered immediately to help and pushed the vehicle to the road side. Immediately he called the dealers and they came and towed the vehicle to their service station. He was still wondering how come this happened to such an SUV with high ground clearance in <1 feet water while all other common vehicles(including autos, altos and many other low-ground clearance hatches and sedan) could pass without any issues.
That was the starting of all issues. The dealers neither called nor gave him proper updates about the vehicle after that. H etried to reach them many times, but the response was irresponsible. Finally, after a few weeks, by end of September they said Honda Assurance will not cover the engine damages caused by hydro-lock and we need to pay around Rs. 30, 000 from our pocket! The Honda Assurance was taken from Bajaj Alliance. We paid about 23, 500 INR for FULL COVERAGE(Bumper to bumper) and they are saying this engine is outside full coverage(REALLY? Then where is engine exactly?). On top of that, they are saying hydro-lock(damage due to water) is something outside this coverage and customers needs to purchase it separately. But they NEVER ever mentioned it at the time of purchase!
We emailed Honda on these issues of pathetic response from dealer and insurance screwing up. But apart from forwarding the email to the dealer HONDA DID NOTHING! Then we called Bajaj area manager to ask about the insurance. He didn’t pick it up first, seems was discussing with the dealer’s insurance guy(as he went to the dealership and talked with them just before that), and after sometime called us back and said this damage is not covered and we need to pay. Then we called Honda on 1st Oct 2015 and the executive assured that they will escalate this issue to Honda authorities. NOTHING, NOTHING has happened so far! So for the last 32 days, we don’t have our vehicle. But our parents had many hospital visits and we really had a tough time - both from Honda Dealers and from the Dealers!
The insurance company is saying it is not accidental but a consequential incident! Will anyone en-route to hospital with his father put their 8 months old 10.3L vehicle intentionally in water? If we are not supposed to use a car in rain, then what it is meant for? Upon further check, people are saying the dealers has some tie-ups with the insurance company where they will give them certain percentage of commission for the money they get from the customer. So both are playing hand-in-hand to fool the customers. This is neither an accident, nor a problem from our side – either the quality of the engine was bad or the insurance company is fooling us.
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These are his questions to the Dealer/Honda Assurance/Honda Company:
1, How come an SUV like Mobilio with such a high ground clearance on a main road with <1 feet water has damage, where no other vehicles had any issues?
2, When this is purely an accidental incident, how can Honda assurance say it is consequential and ask us money for engine damages? Will anyone en-route to hospital with his father put their 8 months old 10.3L vehicle intentionally in water?
3, Why Honda Assurance Full coverage is not covering the vehicle fully? Dealer mentions there are add-ons on full coverage also, then why it is not mentioned at the beginning? Basically what is the meaning of'Full' coverage here? Is Honda/Bajaj assured for'Full headache' instead of'Full coverage'?
4, The insurance company is saying they won't cover engine parts damage because it usually happens when the driver drives the vehicle even after hydro lock. That day the vehicle got stopped in the middle and after that only manual pushing and towing happened, no driving in between. Then how come the insurance company came to such an idiotic conclusion and claim-rejection?
5, We already paid Rs. 23500(if from some third party, it would’ve been very less) just for Honda assurance where they claim it is cashless insurance and customer doesn't have to know anything if any issues happen. Now, when we are having an actual issue, only Honda are the people not assuring anything and we, the customers, are the ones suffering. What kind of service is this? And they are asking approx. Rs. 30, 000 for engine parts repair, then why we need full coverage insurance? Even the term insurance is useless here.
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We reached the Heights of frustration! Please please stay away from Honda Assurance from Bajaj and Peninsular Honda Dealer!
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The vehicle details are given below.
Vehicle: Honda Mobilio 1.5 SMT
Reg Owner: Joby P.D.
Date of Delivery: 23 Jan 2015
Fuel: Diesel
Dealer: Peninsular Honda, Patel Cars Pvt Ltd, NH-47,
Vytilla-Aroor By-Pass Road, Maradu, Cochin, 682034
Insurance: Full coverage Honda Assurance from Bajaj
- Thank You! We appreciate your effort.