FOR one Singapore motorist, getting into an accident became a case of adding insult to injury.

First, his car was badly damaged.

Then when it was towed to an Independent Damage Assessment Centres (Idac) branch at Ubi Avenue 1, several expensive accessories vanished from his car.

The parts were allegedly stolen while the car was under Idac's care last week.

Mr Alvin Cheng, a customer service officer, estimated the value of his stolen accessories at about $3,000.

The 28-year-old had bought his blue Honda Fit for about $50,000 about a year ago.

He said the accessories included a set of three Defi gauges and controllers worth about $1,200, a carbon fibre air-intake box worth about $590, two performance meters worth $700 in total, a carbon fibre spoiler, a gear knob and a radio antenna.

His car's bonnet was cracked from the accident and was not closed.

He didn't know if his car doors were locked when the vehicle was left overnight at Idac.

Mr Cheng also suspected that the thief had tried to dismantle his steering wheel but failed because he couldn't remove the tight screws.

His car was left with Idac one day after the accident for its damage to be assessed. A few days later, Mr Cheng's mechanic called him to say that Idac had notified him the car had been broken into.

'I was shocked. How is it possible that someone could break into my car and steal my parts while under Idac's care? The accident was bad enough, now this,' he said.

His car was involved in a collision with another car at a T-junction along Republic Boulevard on 1 May.

The damage was estimated to require repairs of about $5,000, of which he would have to pay an excess of about $2,000.

He doesn't know if the other party is claiming against his insurer.

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He feels his insurer, NTUC Income, should also bear some responsibility for insisting that its policy-holders' cars must be assessed at Idac.

NTUC Income is one of only two motor insurers here that require motorists to report accidents at Idac.

The other is Maybank, reported the Straits Times last month.

Mr Cheng claimed that security was lax as 'the cars were all parked in an open-air carpark'.

But a check with Idac revealed that there are security guards who patrol the industrial building, where Idac is located, day and night.

Mr Cheng has since made a police report about the theft.

The National Assessment Centre (NAC), which runs the Idac branch at Paya Ubi, confirmed that Mr Cheng had complained about the parts missing from his car.

It is investigating the incident.

NAC is not disputing that some parts could have been stolen because pictures taken of the car right after the accident showed that some accessories were still intact.

NAC's Mr Adrian Ling, who takes care of direct settlement, said: 'This is an unfortunate incident and we've given our assurance to the owner that something will be done.'

The two parties met yesterday and Mr Cheng said he was offered a compensation package which he was satisfied with.

Mr Ling said that it was the first confirmed case of items stolen from an accident car while in their care at the Paya Ubi centre.

But the branch had received a few complaints of theft from accident cars in its five years of operating there, said Mr Ling.

He added: 'But when we ask the owners to make a police report, they never do so. We don't know if those cases are genuine.'

Several workshops, car accessory shops and offices are in the same building as Idac. There are usually fewer than 10 cars left on its site overnight every day, Mr Ling said.

He said there are several closed-circuit TV cameras monitoring the accident vehicles and Idac is working closely with the police on the case.