Philipsburg:---- Members of the insurance association NAVV said that the administration fees that will added to all policy holders insurance is not a get rich scheme since the services that is provided by CARS ( Caribbean Accident Roadside Services) is indeed needed on St. Maarten.
Managing director of NAGICO Insurances Eric Ellis said NAGICO Insurances contracted the services of St. Maarten Roadside Services since 2004. Ellis said NAGICO invested over one million guilders over a five year period when they were approached by the prosecutor's office mainly former prosecutor Johan De Vreeze.
Ellis said over the years they were trying to bring all insurance companies together support the project but that took longer than expected. He said the reason behind the introduction of the services some five years ago was because the traffic department was lagging behind in providing proper police reports pertaining to accident. Ellis said the traffic department was only issuing these reports once per week at the Simpson Bay police outpost. But with the services provided by the St. Maarten Roadside services made their job easier, while valuable data was also provided to the police and prosecutor's office. He said when the police report is not available clients are left to argue as to whom is liable for accidents something which he said is not ideal for insurance companies.
He said just last year they managed to create the NAVV which decided that for them to support the program they needed a name change of the company as well as request for added service such as VISION. He said the NAVV worked hard and long hours to implement an administrative charge which is not part of the premium. That fee he said is obligatory for all policy holders.
That fee is he said is Naf. 31 of which Naf 28 will go to CARS for the services they provided while Naf.3 for the VISION. While he insisted that there is no increase in premiums the extra monies he said is an obligation to all policy holders. He said that since the insurance companies cannot increase premiums they do have the right to charge administrative fees.
Policy holders with the French license plates will not have to pay the extra fee since CARS will not be offering their services on the French side for now. Managing Director of CARS Henry Ellis said they are busy working with the French Administration where they plan to introduce the same services.
The money that is given to CARS has to cover the administrative cost for the company. The company intends to provide further training to their employees who would be executing the services of VISION who would have an on the spot van with the necessary equipments.
Managing Director and CEO of NAGICO Imran Macsood said that while he understands the concern of the consumers who are focusing on the extra fees. He said that one of the things that have to be made clear is that the idea was project was motivated by the prosecutor's office. He said NAGICO was invited by former prosecutor Johan De Vreeze who recognized the need for such services. He said five years ago when NAGICO took the initiative to fund the project the situation within the police force was extremely bad since they understaffed, and under equipped since they did not even had sufficient police vehicles.
He said instead of allowing the situation to continue with ill prepared people NAGICO funded the entire project since they were not able to convince the other insurance companies to come on board.
Macsood said while focus is placed on the fees he said the cost for the services comes down to a mere Naf.0.90 per day. He said they did lots of work to make sure a fair cost fee was decided upon. He said that not everyone will be paying the fee since there are many uninsured cars using public roads. He said the figures he saw in several newspaper reports are flawed. He said the insurance companies did everything possible to make sure the fees charged in not a get rich scheme. He said while the insurance companies will not be making monthly contributions to CARS they will be contributing otherwise since they would have to providing trainings and other financial contributions to CARS.
He said the services that is provided by CARS is vital since it helps to eliminate traffic ciaos, and road ciaos even people are to depend on the under manned police force.