City plans to insure parked cars on streets

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration plans to insure all vehicles parked on street shoulders with the potential compensation reaching up to Rp 200 million (US$22,222), an official says.

The deputy chief of city parking operator BP Parkir, Bambang Rahmanto, said on Wednesday that many insurance companies had expressed a readiness to become partners of the administration.

"There are many companies that have made good offers, but we have not made a decision on which will become our partner," said Bambang, adding that the insurance scheme was part of the effort to improve services.

He refused, however, to name any of the firms involved.

Bambang's statement comes after the administration proposed a 200 percent increase in the on-street parking charge from Rp 1,000 per hour to Rp 3,000 for the first hour and Rp 2,000 for each subsequent hour.

Many city councillors, however, have objected to the tariff hike plan because, they say, the on-street parking regime in the city is fraught with corruption. Last year, BP Parkir could only contribute Rp 14 billion to the city coffers, far bellow its potential.

Bambang said that the on-street parking insurance would cover 75 percent of the vehicle's replacement value up to a maximum of Rp 200 billion for vehicles lost or damaged while parked on street shoulders.

According to the official, parking tickets would thus become very important for car owners as they would be necessary for making any insurance claims.

Meanwhile, a number of insurance company executives expressed skepticism that there were actually insurance companies interested in providing on-street parking insurance.

According to the senior relationship manager of a vehicle insurance company identifying himself only as Ade, insurance companies usually only collected premiums from individuals or organizations.

Ade said the number of vehicles to be insured needed to be certain as this was related to the level of premiums that would be charged.

"The number of cars parked on street shoulders is not certain. On what basis will BP Parkir calculate the size of the premiums?. The level of the premiums must be in line with the number of cars," he added.