Licensed insurance surveyors have urged the four public sector undertakings (PSUs), the general insurance companies, to utilise only their services so that policy holders are not affected. The companies at present are opting for third party surveyors, who are not technically qualified or licensed, could perhaps under/over assess losses to property.
A.R. Ramesh, the Chennai unit coordinator of the Indian Institute of Insurance Surveyors and Loss Assessor, said if an unqualified person assessed damages to a vehicle or a property, the policy holder might end up losing money due to wrong assessment. There are around 250 licensed surveyors in the city and 750-odd surveyors in the State.
“Licensed surveyors hold engineering degrees and have also passed an exam conducted by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India. The corporate surveyors to whom the insurance companies, who are currently doing the assessment, are being paid a consolidated pay, which is less than what they pay us. They assess losses to property value less than ₹50,000. Around 80% of claims are of this value only, which means we also stand to lose our incomes,” said K.P. Balakrishna, central sub-committee member of the Institute.
The surveyors also urged claimants to ensure that those assessing their losses are properly licensed so that they get proper valuation of losses.
