Motor Insurance Claims (Third-Party Liability and Own Damage)
Motor work is the volume business of Iranian adjustment. The exam separates two distinct covers that are often confused: compulsory third-party liability (bimeh-e ejbari) and own-damage (bimeh-e bedaneh).
Third-party liability
- Created by the compulsory statute (1395/2016): the insurer must pay bodily injury and property damage caused by the insured vehicle to third parties, up to statutory limits.
- Bodily injury is quantified on diya/arsh, following forensic medical (pezeshki-e qanuni) opinion; the adjuster verifies documents and applies the tariff in force at the loss date.
- Property damage has a lower sub-limit; the insured bears the policy deductible. Fault allocation from the police or traffic expert report drives recovery between insurers.
Own damage
- Sum insured equals the vehicle's value at inception; settlement is on repair cost, or total loss when repair exceeds the insured value less salvage.
- Depreciation (kahoordegi) is deducted from parts - and usually paint - to prevent betterment; labour is not depreciated.
- Use approved repairer estimates, verify the damage corresponds to the accident, and dispose of salvage transparently.
Worked example
Repair estimate 80m, of which parts are 50m; depreciation 20% on parts. Deduct 10m, leaving 70m; subtract the own-damage excess of 3m = 67m payable, assuming the sum insured is adequate.
Traps that cost marks
- Applying the own-damage excess to a third-party liability claim.
- Paying bodily injury above the statutory diya limit without a separate cover.
- Ignoring depreciation and creating betterment.
- Accepting a repair invoice with no engineer's estimate or photo evidence.