About a third of all the people who look for a car insurance policy settle for whichever policy their dealers offer them. Even though, the group of remaining people decides to look for the right insurance policy for their car in their budget but when it comes to actually put in the effort and comparing hundreds if not thousands of policies from different companies, half of the people give in and go for any policy. Now, this article is for the last half of the group, the people who really want to put in the effort required to find the right car insurance policy. you might be thinking what is so difficult about finding a car insurance policy that so many people don’t even give a damn about it. Well, my friend, you have to step in the shoes of one of these people and you’ll know what we’re talking about. Okay, so, now that we’ve got introduction out of the way, let us tell you what this article is exactly going to cover? In this article, we are going to discuss the things that will help you compare different car insurance policies from different companies. but before we move on to that comparison thing, let us first brush up our basics of a car insurance policy.
Brush up your Basics
Although, many of us here are already done with the homework of brushing up the basics of a car insurance policy what about the readers who haven’t? Well, let’s do one thing if you know about these basics, then feel free and skip this section. Well, if you haven’t, you know what to do. So, let’s get done with this quickly and move to the moot point of this article.
• Third-Party Insurance
A third-party cover is a basic type of insurance cover that you can get for your car. In fact, it is mandatory for every car to be insured under a third-party car insurance according to the Indian laws (Motor Vehicle Act 1988). The coverage is provided for the damage caused to the third-party by you. No personal coverage is provided under this cover. You can even get a third party car insurance online.
• Comprehensive Insurance Cover
A Comprehensive cover is what provides the personal coverage and the coverage for the damage repair of your car. Instead, a comprehensive cover is what we learning to compare here. Different comprehensive cover policies from different companies provide different coverages. Based on your requirements and budget, you have to choose the right policy for your car. In the last section, we learned that you can buy a third party car insurance online but here, you will learn that you can even get it as an add-on feature of a comprehensive cover from companies like ICICI Lombard, HDFC Ergo and Bajaj Allianz car insurance.
• No Claim Bonus
A No claim bonus is a discount that you get while going for a car insurance renewal or switching your insurer. The reward or discount is offered when you don’t make any claims from your insurer for a specific duration of the period starting from a minimum of 1 year. And every car insurance policy offers the same no claim bonus, therefore, you now have one less thing to compare. Refer the table below for further details about the No Claim Bonus:
Time Period | Discount Offered |
One Year | 20% |
Two Year | 25% |
Three Year | 35% |
Four Year | 45% |
Five Year | 50% |
• IDV of your vehicle
IDV refers to the value that you get from your insurer when your car gets stolen or it is the case of total loss. By the way, IDV is Insurance declared value. It is set through a mutual settlement done prior to the policy purchase between the policy buyer and the insurer. The IDV decreases with the age of your vehicle. All the modifications and accessories can also be included in the IDV but you’ve got to pay a slight extra for this privilege.
Factors to consider while comparing car insurance policies
Whether you’ve skipped the previous section or not, keep in mind that the content further will contain some terms that have been explained above. If you’ve cheated out, you’ll have a hard time understanding whatever is mentioned later on in this article. So, make sure you are through with the basics.
1. Coverage
You must have heard a popular saying, “More the Merrier.” Well, in the insurance world too, this work according to this popular saying. More coverage you get from a car insurance policy, better is the policy. here, we are only talking about the basic coverage that a policy offers and not about the extensions. Start by shortlisting few policies that fulfill your requirements and compare the basic coverage provided by each of them. This way, you’ll have a pretty good idea of which policy to go for.
2. Company
Pretty much, every policy offered by a car insurance company is similar to the others offered by the same company. Compare the plans from different companies like HDFC Ergo and BajajAllianz car insurance and find out which is the company that offers plans which fulfill your specific requirements. Not every company out there will have policies made for you and comparing them is the only way you will get a bespoke policy.
3. Extensions and Add-ons
Every comprehensive car insurance policy comes with a set of extensions that you can buy in order to make your coverage better. These add-ons include coverage for damage caused during a natural disaster like earthquake, flood or landslide, malicious attacks coverage, and self-ignition damage coverage etc. every company offer these extensions at different prices and these prices are the things that you need to compare when comparing car insurance on the basis of extensions.
4. Price and Payment Flexibility
This can be by far the most obvious factor to compare and even if it wouldn’t have been mentioned here, you guys would have compared it first anyway. But the overall cost of the policy does not make the complete picture. How flexible are the payment methods available also matter a lot. Compare the price of the policies and payment methods offered by a company in order to find the right policy. flexibility for payment means you as a policy buyer should have a couple of options through which you can pay the premiums or divide the cost between excess and the premiums.
5. Claim settlement Procedure
Ease of Claim Settlement is as important as the coverage provided if not more. See, if the claim settlement procedure is cumbersome, then even if you have a policy with the best coverage, you will not be enjoying the best services. Nowadays, companies likeBajaj Allianz car insurance offers complete end to end claim settlement within a matter of a couple of hours.
So, these were the factors to consider while comparing car insurance policies. But there’s one more topic which is left untouched and it is easily one of the hot topics when it comes to car insurance purchase. Well, if still haven’t guessed it, my friend, we’re talking about the purchase of Car insurance Online Vs. Offline. The next section will cover more on this subject.
Online Vs. offline Car Insurance purchase
To be honest, even if we dedicated this whole article to this specific discussion, even then we wouldn’t have landed on one solution. You know why? Do you? the reason is simple; this matter is more subjective than absolute. Therefore, your choice and preference will play an important role in deciding on which side you will land. While purchasing a car insurance online fetches you lower prices but at the same time, it doesn’t offer one to one interaction with the agent like it is in the case of offline insurance purchase. And yes, this interaction becomes important when you have very less or no knowledge of car insurance.
If you are comfortable with online insurance purchase and have a pretty good idea of the know-how of the car insurance world, then you can easily go for the car insurance online. But if online shopping is not your cup of tea or you don’t trust it or you feel the need that you need to consult an agent who will help you choose the right policy, then offline car insurance purchase should be your choice.
Use Car Insurance Calculator Online
Online car insurance calculator is your best friend when it comes to comparing the car insurance policies. This tool is simple to use and yet it serves a very significant function. Online car insurance calculators suggest you car insurance policies based on your budget and requirements and thus, makes it easy for you to compare them. You might be thinking how right? See, using an online car insurance calculator filters your sample space to very few policies that are suitable for you and now, you just have to pick the right plan. The cream had already been brought up to the surface by these online car insurance calculators.