I have a bad encounter with my in-house insurance of Union Bank – PEOPLE’S GENERAL INSURANCE. Please beware of this insurance company who knows nothing but to take advantage of others.

My Tucson GLS was bought last December 9, 2009. It was mortgaged at Union Bank Caloocan. The bank has an in-house insurance broker -- First Union Insurance who handles the bank client’s insurance coverage. Came December 2010, an agent told me that my current policy is about to expire, she offered an insurance from Union Bank, but later on, we found out that the insurance company is “People’s General Insurance”. If I only knew then that it was from People’s I wouldn’t accept their offer, but it was already paid, so we have no choice.

Here are the coverage:


Period Covered : December 11, 2010 – December 11, 2011
III-B Theft : P 1,042,000.00

Unfortunately, the said vehicle was carnapped at gunpoint on December 16, 2010. It was five (5) days after they declared an estimated amount of insured of P 1,042,000 FMV. I understand that I couldn’t get the whole amount of P 1,042,000 since it was stated in their insurance policy Section III paragraph 2. But we didn’t expect it to drop that low.

On March 18, 2010 they sent me a conformity letter below:



I can’t imagine that the amount was dropped to P937,800. That was unreasonably low. According to Insurance Commission and PIRA, in case of total loss, the indemnity of the insurance company will be the fair market value of the property. They even advise us not to accept an amount far from P 1,042,000 since that amount was estimated as fair market value as of Dec. 11, and after 5 days, that FMV is still the same. They also told us to file a complaint against People's General to get what is just and fair for us. And so we did, just this afternoon.

We sent a letter of contest, attached with screenshots of ads in sulit.com.ph (selling at P 1,050,000 and P 1,000,000 on Dec. 2010) and a circular from PIRA with the FMV of Tucson GLS as of December 2010 of P 1,160,000 and P 985,000 as of February 2011 and up to date. We also got a certification from Hyundai dealer that no one has traded-in any 2010 Tucson GLS model, hence they cannot issue any FMV at the moment.

But here is their reply to my letter:



They might be forgetting what they stated in their policy / contract:



And even if they will apply a depreciation value, our vehicle is only 1 year old, which according to the table, 0-3 years = no depreciation.

From PIRA:



This is just not rational. We still have many inconsistencies found in doing business with this insurance company and Union Bank, but we chose not to elaborate further because you might get exhausted reading this thread.

From personal experience…just a precaution to all tsikoteers:
1. NEVER get insurance from PEOPLE’S GENERAL INSURANCE.
2. Union Bank has poor customer relation / after-sales support.
3. In case the bank is offering an in-house insurance, better check the company name first. Since we are confident with the service of Union Bank before, we just accept their offer right away without checking all the details, unknowingly, this reputable company is becoming a hiding place of a rotten insurance company – People’s General Insurance!