Knock-for-knock and own damage claims explained

An accident that is clearly the other driver's fault should, in theory, be simple: they pay for your repairs. In practice, chasing a claim through the other party's insurer can be slow, and often means appointing your own adjuster to negotiate a settlement. Own Damage Knock-for-Knock, usually shortened to OD-KFK, is the route most Malaysian insurers and takaful operators now point drivers toward instead, precisely because it avoids both problems.

What OD-KFK actually is

Own Damage, Knock-for-Knock is a claim you make against your own comprehensive motor policy for damage to your car, in a situation where the accident was not your fault. It sits under an industry-wide Knock-for-Knock Agreement signed by every general insurer and takaful operator in the motor market, which allows this arrangement to work consistently regardless of which two companies are involved in a given accident.

The name combines two ideas that are easy to mix up. "Own damage" on its own usually refers to a claim for damage you caused yourself — hitting a pole, scraping a wall. Adding "knock-for-knock" flips the fault: the accident was the other party's fault, but you are still claiming from your own insurer to fix your car, rather than pursuing the other driver's insurer directly.

When you can use it

OD-KFK generally applies where:

• You hold a comprehensive motor policy, which is what allows an own-damage claim at all.
• The accident did not involve a commercial vehicle such as a taxi, bus or hired car.
• Nobody was injured.
• The accident was not your fault, and a police report confirms this.

If any of those conditions is not met, a Third-Party Property Damage (TPPD) claim against the at-fault driver's insurer, or a standard own-damage claim if you were at fault, may be the applicable route instead. Which one actually fits a given accident is worth confirming with your insurer at the time, since the exact conditions and any updates to the agreement can shift.

Why insurers steer drivers toward it

Compared with a third-party claim, OD-KFK is generally faster and simpler for a few structural reasons:

• You deal only with your own insurer. There is no need to negotiate with, or wait on, a company you have no policy relationship with.
• No need to appoint your own adjuster. A third-party claim typically requires you to bring in an adjuster to assess and negotiate the damage and compensation; an OD-KFK claim through your own insurer skips that step.
• The process tends to move faster, without the lengthier legal back-and-forth that can accompany a claim against another party's insurer.

The No Claim Discount protection

The feature that changed how most Malaysians think about OD-KFK is its treatment of No Claim Discount, the accumulating discount on your comprehensive premium for each consecutive year without a claim against you. Under current market practice, an OD-KFK claim does not break your NCD streak, provided the police report confirms the accident was not your fault. That is a meaningful change from how motor claims used to work, since previously any own-damage claim, regardless of fault, risked resetting the discount you had built up over several claim-free years.

What to check before assuming this applies to you

1. Confirm you have a comprehensive policy. OD-KFK is an own-damage mechanism, so it is not available if you only hold third-party or third-party fire and theft cover.
2. Get the police report sorted promptly, since fault confirmation is what unlocks both the OD-KFK route and the NCD protection.
3. Ask your insurer directly whether your specific accident qualifies, rather than assuming, particularly if a commercial vehicle or an injury was involved.
4. Compare this with a standard TPPD claim if OD-KFK does not apply, so you are not left assuming a route exists that does not fit your accident.

Talk to an advisor

Whether a specific accident qualifies for OD-KFK, and how it interacts with your existing No Claim Discount, is worth confirming with someone who can read your policy wording alongside the police report. A licensed advisor can help you navigate the claim before it is filed rather than after. Find one through our advisor directory, compare motor plans at compare/my/motor, or ask our assistant to walk through your specific accident scenario.

Sources

• iMoney — OD-KFK: Simple Guide to Claiming Without Losing NCD
• PIAM — Motor Insurance Types & Coverage in Malaysia