Beware of Mitsui Leasing and ACA

The recent floods jolted me into a painful awareness that PT Mitsui Leasing Capital Indonesia, through which I bought a Toyota Corolla sedan in 2000, failed to inform me adequately about the insurance cover for the car the company had purchased with PT Asuransi Central Asia (ACA).

Upon digging into the bundle of documents on the credit and car purchase agreements to look for the insurance policy and contract, I found only a one-page document bearing the ACA letterhead containing a very brief summary about the insurance policy.

The document only explains that Mitsui has covered the car with a three-year insurance contract of a compound method (gabungan), with three additional clauses, Nos. 32, 33 and 37. In another document containing the breakdown of the consumer loan, Mitsui mentions only that the type of the car insurance is all- risk. But it does not cite the amount of the premium for the three-year coverage, nor does it inform me of my rights under the insurance coverage, or what the term "all risks" means.

Upon inquiring at Mitsui, one of my office staff members was told that the original insurance policy and contract were kept by Mitsui. A copy of what Mitsui claimed to be the insurance contract was later faxed to my office. But what I got was only a copy of what is called the Indonesian Standard Automobile Policy, not the specific contract with ACA.

The copy of the contract does not explain the difference between what is defined as a standard insurance policy and the insurance contract of a compound method with additional clauses Nos. 32, 33 and 37 Mitsui had signed for my car.

Is this the way Mitsui and ACA treat their customers?. After all, the cost of the insurance was additional to the loan that had to be repaid. A company professing good corporate governance should have informed me of all my rights even without my having to make a specific request. Hence, beware of dealing with Mitsui Leasing and ACA, they might exploit your ignorance.

VINCENT LINGGA

Jakarta