The greater part of the deaths in India happen because of street accidents, says a report recently published in a day by day. To manage the consequences and effects of these accidents, a motor insurance is necessary, as it gives budgetary help to take care of any misfortune or damage to claim vehicle or of an outsider.
What is Motor Insurance?
A motor insurance includes insurance for a wide range of vehicles, including private vehicles, bike and commercial vehicles. It provides monetary protection against damage related to any accident, theft or loss of the vehicle. It additionally takes care of any real injury emerging due to accidents or theft.
Types of Motor Insurance
It makes sense to get protection from the misfortune incurred by a vehicle owner due to accident or theft of the vehicle. There are three types of motor insurance based on the vehicle that is insured.
- Vehicle insurance : This insurance is substantial for all privately owned vehicles and not for vehicles used for commercial purpose. This is a comprehensive private vehicle insurance to overcome the money related losses incurred due to dangers associated with the vehicle.
- Bike insurance: This insurance covers bikes, scooters, scooty, etc. It helps the owner get coverage for any dangers associated with the bike.
- Commercial vehicle insurance: Commercial vehicles are those vehicles that are not used for personal use. They are used to ship merchandise or passengers starting with one place then onto the next. This insurance protects businessmen from the losses incurred due to theft or damage to the commercial vehicle. Additionally, the insured will get protection from outsider liabilities and accident coverage for the driver of the vehicle with this type of insurance.
Types of Insurance Cover
- Outsider Insurance: This type of automobile insurance covers outsider liabilities. The expenses of any unintentional damage caused to an outsider or their property due to your insured vehicle can be covered with outsider insurance. As per law, it is required to give compensation to the outsider in case of accidents causing serious injuries, handicap or death of the person or damages to their property.
- Comprehensive Insurance: Comprehensive motor insurance covers you and your vehicle against any unforeseen damage to your vehicle or an outsider and their property. It likewise covers death/inability of the driver, owner, and passengers due to an accident by the insured vehicle.
What all Insurance Covers?
Buying a motor insurance helps to get coverage for different requirements. Let us understand the different sections of coverage offered:
- Damage to the insured vehicle due to accident, riots, robbery, thefts, terrorism, regular calamities and man-made calamities like fire, explosion, flood, storm, earthquake
- Outsider legal obligation will cover accidental death and injury to the outsider, alongside any damage done to outsider property
- Under personal accident coverage, the insurance organization bears the expense of any medical treatment of the driver needed after any eventuality that occurred while driving
Documents Required To Buy Policy
Certain documents are required to purchase a motor insurance irrespective of its type. They are:
- Passport size photo
- Driving license or PAN card
- Confirmation of permanent residence
- Registration certificate of the vehicle
Eligibility Criteria
In India, a motor insurance can be purchased for private vehicles, bikes and commercial vehicles. To be eligible to purchase a motor insurance, you should claim a vehicle, can be old or new, ought to be above 18 years of age, ought to be a citizen of India and ought to possess the RC of the vehicle.
Extra Covers
A policyholder normally gets a comprehensive coverage under a motor insurance; however, he/she can get extra benefits or additional items by paying some extra sum. Following are some additional items available alongside a comprehensive insurance approach:
- Zero depreciation cover: An insurance organization for the most part deducts a certain sum as depreciation of your vehicle from the whole insured. Be that as it may, on the off chance that you settle on zero depreciation cover, the insurance organization will pay the first value of your vehicle in case of damage or theft.
- Key replacement cover: If you misplace the key of your vehicle, you can guarantee for reimbursement. With this extra cover, the insurance organization provides a piece of the expense incurred for the replacement of the key.
- Engine and electronic circuits cover: If your vehicle is damaged due to engine failure or electronic circuits, you can guarantee for reimbursement with this extra cover.
- Roadside assistance cover: In case your vehicle breaks down while traveling through remote areas, you can call for assistance with roadside assistance cover. Other assistance can be organizing fuel or mechanic in case of any problem while traveling and you can’t get any help.
Documents Required For Claim Process
In case of an accident or a damage, it is essential to intimate the insurance organization about the incident on their cost free number and lodge the objection. Afterwards, present the accompanying documents to the insurance organization:
- Properly filled in guarantee structure
- Driving license
- Registration certificate
- Police report (in case of an accident)
- Non traceable certificate issued by the police (in case of theft)
- Unique repair estimate bill (in case cashless service isn’t opted for)
Guarantee Process
- In case of any case, immediately educate the insurance organization and register your case
- In case of accidental vehicle damage, insurance provider will allot a surveyor to survey the vehicle and guarantee
- At the time of survey, the insured needs to present all the necessary documents like RC book, D/L, permit, load challan etc. for verification
- The policyholder should likewise file a FIR with police, if there is any case of property damage, injury to the outsider, or theft.
- After endorsement of the case, insured can either take his vehicle to the network garage or repair it in any garage of their choice
- In the event that the insured settles on cashless garage facility, payment for necessary repair work will be made directly to the network garage
- In case insured chooses to repair his vehicle to some other garage, S/he may guarantee under reimbursement process by sending guarantee structure and repair bills to the insurance organization
Exclusions
A motor insurance offers different sorts of coverage for a peaceful driving experience. However, certain circumstances and cases are not included in the coverage, additionally called exclusions. Let is take a gander at some of them:
- Typical wear and tear
- Damage due to noxious action
- Damage by the person driving the vehicle without a license
- Mechanical/electrical breakdown
- Consequential misfortune
- Damage occurred outside geographical boundaries
To what extent Does It Take To Pay Out the Claim?
After the required documents are submitted to the insurance organization, the surveyor will be assigned for the inspection. On the off chance that the garage covered under the network provider is nearby the accident/damage area, then case process will be cashless, else, the insured can repair it all alone and present the bill to the insurance organization which will be reimbursed within 30 days.
What is IDV?
The value of your vehicle when you make a case in the market is termed as the insured declared value (IDV). This is the highest entirety your insurer should pay you at the case of your vehicle insurance strategy. You can’t guarantee money more than the IDV.
Renewal Process
The approach term for motor insurance for the most part varies from one year to three years which the policyholder can renew online by visiting the official webpage of the insurance provider. At the time of renewal, policyholder should think about no case reward (NCB). It is the reward received for every case free year. NCB includes limits in premiums of your strategy at the time of renewal as a reward for following the safety measures while driving your vehicle. The rate of rebate increases at each renewal which is the reason it is advised not to guarantee your insurance money for minor damage.
Companies Offering Motor Insurance in India
Some of the general insurance companies giving motor insurance, i.e. Vehicle Insurance and bike insurance policies in India are:
- Bajaj Allianz
- Bharti AXA
- HDFC Ergo
- Iffco Tokio
- ICICI Lombard
- Regal Sundaram
Significant Aspects
Before buying a motor insurance, it is critical to check and compare the plans well with the goal that you get the best deal. Let us see some focuses to keep at the top of the priority list while buying the strategy:
History of the organization: Insurance is an indefinite asset thus it is imperative to remain alert while picking the insurance strategy. Numerous companies will publicize their service for an inappropriate reasons. It is your call to investigate the history and previous case records of the organization to choose the correct one.
- Budgetary dependability of organization: There are cases wherein the insurance providers failed to keep up a monetary balance resulting into loss of money of their investors. To maintain a strategic distance from this, you should check the money related solidness of the insurance provider by checking their budget reports and development rate over recent years.
- Cost: Another essential thing to consider is the cost you would bear to purchase coverage. As an approach seeker, it is critical to compare quotes from different insurance companies and choose the one offering most extreme benefits.
- Search for key features: There is a general set of features offered by all insurance providers. These features include personal accident cover, outsider cover, etc. Check for these necessary covers before concluding your insurance provider.
- Check add-on covers: Different insurance providers offer different extra covers based on the type and value of the insurance. Check for the available extra covers, benefits and limits offered to compare for the correct insurance arrangement and the insurance organization. Some of the standard extra covers include zero depreciation cover, personal accident cover, roadside assistance cover.
Advantages
Absence of legal enforcement and negligence in observing rush hour gridlock rules are adding to the increasing number of accidents occurring in India. Following are the benefits one can profit:
- Reduces your liabilities: In case the outsider is harmed or injured from the insured vehicle, the insurance organization will pay off the charges for the injuries/damage if the vehicle is covered under the outsider. It additionally sets you free from any legal liabilities that the policyholder could cause because of the accident.
- Damage to vehicle covered: Any damage done to your vehicle as a result of disasters caused by human error can be covered under comprehensive insurance approach. The case process can be cashless or reimbursement.
- Clinic bill payment: If you are injured or get permanently disabled in an accident, the insurance organization pays the emergency clinic bills and other medical charges under personal accident coverage.
- Reimbursement on death: In case of deadly accidents, the group of the insured gets compensation from the insurance provider.