14/05/2020
What your car insurers won't tell you
- Your N5,000 third-party car insurance gives you 1 million naira cover
By Azuka Onwuka
Why do Nigerians bicker when their cars are involved in minor accidents? It is usually argued that the reason is that most Nigerian vehicle owners do not have "comprehensive insurance cover."
Nigerian comedians use this as a joke regularly, comparing how Nigerian vehicle owners react to minor road accidents and how vehicle owners in the Western world react to similar accidents. When two vehicles have a minor accident on a Nigerian road that involves some dent or some damage to the headlamps or rear lamps, the two drivers would quickly jump out of their vehicles, inspect their vehicles and start shouting at each other, wagging fingers at each other, which may degenerate to an exchange of blows. Some may seize the offending driver or tow his vehicle away and insist that he must pay for the damage caused. In some cases, the person whose car has suffered more damage may rush to the car of the other person and damage its mirror or headlamp or even windscreen in retaliation. As the comedian acts this out, members of the audience laugh because they have either witnessed it or participated in it.
However, when such a minor road accident happens in the UK or the US, the comedian changes his countenance. He paints a picture of how the two drivers will come out of their vehicles gently, survey what has happened, exchange insurance policy numbers and business cards and drive off. The reason is that they know that their insurance companies will take care of the damage.
These jokes have sunk into most Nigerians as the reality. Most Nigerian car owners believe that the N5,000 third party insurance does not cover anything. The belief is that it is procured just to avoid the trouble from police officers who check vehicle particulars on the highways. But is that true?
That is a big lie. That so-called meaningless N5,000 insurance cover that you think