Govt Urged To Help Taxi Owners Over Insurance Saga

A representative of the taxi trade on Wednesday urged the government to step in to help cab drivers transfer their insurance policies to new companies, with the biggest insurer for the trade set to cancel some policies over the next few days.

More than 60 percent of taxi insurance policies in Hong Kong are with Target Insurance – but the trade says many drivers have been told their policies would be scrapped over profitability concerns.

Target Insurance suspended trading on the stock exchange on Wednesday morning, pending the release of an announcement pertaining to inside information of the company.

Speaking on an RTHK programme, Cheng Hak-wo from the Taxi Dealers and Owners Association said although the Insurance Authority had liaised with four other insurance companies for them to take over the policies, nothing concrete has been set yet.

He said one of the firms has said it would not accept new policies, another two said they were evaluating the situation, while the last one is setting a lot of conditions.

He said it would be unreasonable if owners have to pay tens of thousands of dollars in new premiums, given that they had already paid Target.

"Can the taxi owners afford the money to buy a new policy? The pandemic has made lives of cab drivers difficult," Cheng said. "I have suggested to the Insurance Authority and legislators to just transfer Target's policies to the new companies. It will save a lot of hassle."