The Knesset demands to cancel the arrangement between the insurance companies and the garages (Photo: Nir Ben Tovim, Keinan Cohen)
The Knesset's Economic Committee chaired by MK David Bitan discussed today the behavior of the insurance companies towards the garages that are not affiliated with them in the so-called "seder garages" and the price paid by the customers for their chaining and paving to be handled exclusively by these garages. A discussion that soon became particularly stormy, when the chairman of the committee And independent garage owners attacked the representatives of the insurance companies at the hearing.
The meeting was scheduled following the publication in "Walla! Car" which exposed the behavior of the insurance companies that pile difficulties on their insured when they choose to repair the damaged car in private garages that are not the settlement garages of the insurance companies.
This is after five companies began to unilaterally cut the reimbursements to the insured, if they did not make sure that the private garage they turned to would actually purchase from them the spare parts to repair the accident damage.
Ronan Levy, chairman of the garage union, claimed at the meeting that the conduct of the insurance companies in the last six months has blocked the business for most garages "like sealing a house for terrorist operatives.
If the insurance companies don't pay the insured the full cost of the repair at a private garage, then people leave it and go to the garage by arrangement." Another union member said that his client was offset by the insurance company 11,000 shekels from the price of the repair and he had to absorb the difference so that she would not pay the full price
It should be noted that since then the Commissioner of the Capital Market has begun to demand that the insurance companies stop the policy until a new regulation is approved that will allow the move, after it was presented to the customers when purchasing the policy, and when they can purchase one that will allow them to continue servicing at a garage that is not a settlement garage without
offsets
.
"David Bitan has been accompanying the issue of settlement garages for seven years and already during the 20th Knesset it was determined that the institution of the appraiser lists and the abolition of the settlement garages institution should be abolished, but in practice nothing has been done.
The Knesset's Economic Committee (Photo: Knesset Spokesperson, Noam Moshkowitz)
Beitan asked the Acting CEO of the Ministry of Transportation, Avner Flor, why the guidelines from 2016 were not implemented. Flor explained that many meetings were held with members of the Capital Market Authority in charge of insurance, but they did not reach agreements with them. While the Ministry of Transportation is the supervisor of the appraisers As for the insurance companies, the Capital Market Authority is the supervisor of the insurance companies, and any solution requires cooperation between the two bodies. The
ministry's compromise proposal that a random appraiser be selected from the records was met with great opposition from the representatives of the appraisers union. According to them, this is an infringement on the freedom of occupation, and their appraisers have areas of specialization Specifics that cannot be expressed in a random selection.
"Even a lawyer and an accountant do not choose a lottery, where do you hear such a thing?", said Yehuda Yagan, chairman of the automotive branch of the Association of Appraisers.
According to him, the appraisers are not opposed to a random selection outline in the case where the client does not indicate a particular appraiser with whom he wants to contract, but not to apply this to all appraisers.
The attempt of the VP of regulation of the insurance companies, Boaz Stambler, to claim that the insurance companies do not determine lists in advance, but work with those who give a favorable market price, were rejected by the representatives of the garages when they burst into his words and claimed that his statements that those who treat other than through the insurance company pay 50% less are not true and do not stand the test of reality.
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Who will determine how much you will pay and where? (Photo: Keinan Cohen)
The meeting dealt with the high prices of spare parts, which makes not only vehicle maintenance more expensive, but also directly affects the costs of insurance premiums.
"The cost of the repair at the garage is 70% of the cost of the premium," said Ohad Maodi, the deputy commissioner of the Capital Authority, "therefore the price of spare parts is critical, and as soon as there is an answer to this, it will directly affect the premium."
But the one who put things on the table in the clearest way was the deputy in charge of the competition authority Uriel Citroen who said that there is a serious market failure in the field.
"The price lists set by the parts importers are inflated, and these are the prices that the appraisers base themselves on," to the question of the chairman of the committee what would happen if the appraisers gave an opinion according to the market prices and not the official ones, Citroën replied: "It will solve most of the problem."
"It is unthinkable that the insurance companies determine who is in the settlement and do what they want," Chairman Bitan concluded the meeting and allotted two weeks for the Ministry of Transportation and representatives of the Capital Market Authority to return to the committee with a solution to the problem that would eliminate the work in front of the settlement garages in a way that discriminates against customers.
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