With car insurance, a little extra premium paid for motor insurance add on covers can turn out to be the wisest decision as it secures your family and your beloved car in an all-encompassing way. We, at M R INSURANCE, offer the most wholesome car insurance plans with attractive features and affordable premiums. We partner with you to keep your car and your family safe in all critical situations.
Add-on covers are specially formulated to ensure added security and complete peace of mind for policy holders. These covers minimise out-of-pocket expenses and widen the existing scope of cover to include holistic protection. Here is a list of the striking CAR INSURANCE add-ons offered under different categories.
Zero depreciation claim: Under this add-on, the insurer is liable to pay the full claim without any deduction for depreciation applicable on the damage parts in a partial loss claim . This results in better coverage and thus minimises expenses.
Engine & Gear box protector: Internal damage to the gear box and the engine is not covered in general insurance but this add-on feature ensures coverage of accidental damage to the engine and gear box as a result of either water ingression or leakage of lubricating oil. You can be tension free when driving through water logged areas and other times of accidental damage. This is available in the platinum and titanium plan.
No claim bonus protection: One of the biggest concerns while opting for insurance is that if, by God’s grace, there is accidental damage to the car then you will not be eligible for no claim bonus . Well, this add-on cover ensures that you can avail the no claim bonus benefit of being a responsible driver. Here are other interesting features:
Emergency Assistance cover: While general insurance ensures repair of the vehicle, there is no facility of on-road assistance which is very critical for your family’s safety and comfort. This add-on feature includes the following emergency assistance services:
Cost of consumable items: This ADD-ON cover ensures the reimbursement of the amount spent on the replacement of consumable items which are rendered unfit for use such as engine oil, nuts and bolts, brake oil, conditioner gas, grease, washers, ball bearings, lubricants, air conditioner gas etc. .
Purchasing a car is a significant investment and an important decision of an individual’s life, so it is necessary to protect your car with a good insurance policy. There are various types of insurance policies available from which you can choose the one which suits your requirements best. Some of the most popular insurance policies are:
It is mandatory for every vehicle owner in India to insure his vehicle with a third party insurance cover. This policy rescues you at the time of the accident, and it covers any liability against a third party in terms of death, bodily injury and property damage.
It safeguards you against:
Usually, people opt for comprehensive insurance policy but there are different add-ons which can offer you effective cover from total loss. Return to Invoice (RTI) is one such effective add-on which offers a greater degree of protection to your car.
There is a problem with conventional comprehensive insurance policy; it does not cover all aspects such as depreciation. In case of a total loss, if you have a comprehensive insurance policy, you only get Insured Declared Value (IDV). Return to Invoice is an add-on option which covers the gap between the insured declared value and the invoice value of your car along with the registration and other applicable taxes. RTI helps you in fetching the purchase value (on road price) of the car in case of theft or total loss.
RTI is only applicable if your car is damaged extremely and becomes unusable. For small damages, RTI is not applicable. When the cost of repair of the vehicle is over 75% of the IDV, it is considered as total loss. If you are worried about partial loss then zero depreciation cover can take care of such losses. RTI also comes into force in case of theft of the vehicle. In short, Return to Invoice is not an option for you to compensate for small dents and repairs.
RTI is a better option for you if you are living in an area where car theft is extremely common, or you do not have secure parking, or you travel for long distances almost daily and chances of meeting with an accident are high. In case of any mishaps, with a normal insurance policy, you will only get the value which was declared in the policy (after depreciation).But with RTI, you will receive the on road price of your car. Depreciation is applied at 5% for the first six months from the day of purchase and 10% for each year, which means you can lose a lot if you do not have RTI. RTI helps you in bridging the gap of on road price of your car and IDV which you declared at the time of buying the policy.
Return to Invoice costs you around 10% more than your normal comprehensive policy. The policy is only available until your car reaches a specified age. If your car is over three years of age then RTI is not applicable. Usually, insurance companies withdraw the RTI option once your car reaches a certain age.
If you have decided to buy a new car, you must consider Return to Invoice option which will protect you financially in case of severe accidents or the Lost of Personal Belongings
There may be instances where your personal belongings might be unsupervised in your car. They can get stolen or damaged from the insured car resulting in you facing a loss. This is the meaning of ‘loss of personal Belongings’ in car insurance.
While insuring your vehicle, you might wonder, does car insurance cover theft of items in the car? If not, then is there a dedicated theft cover in car insurance? And what if the personal Belongings get damaged in the car? The answer to these questions is that a basic Third-party Liability car insurance certainly does not offer such a cover. A Comprehensive Policy might offer it if you have additional coverage. This extra coverage can be availed by purchasing a Personal Belongings Cover Add-on with your Comprehensive Policy.
You can buy this add-on by paying extra premium. With this cover in place, your insurer will cover losses arising due to damage or theft of your personal Belongings from the insured car as per the terms and conditions of the policy.
Some insurers might offer separate add-ons when it comes to this cover. Here are the different dedicated policies that might be on offer:
Note that some insurance companies might adopt a mix and match approach or offer the above policies as a bundle. Some might not offer such a cover at all. In a few cases, the add-on might be available but the list of exclusions can be lengthy.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance to read the fine print when it comes to purchasing such add-ons. The details will be mentioned in the respective policy’s Policy Wordings. If you have any doubts whatsoever, get them resolved from the insurer’s customer support team before purchasing the add-on.
Exclusions are those situations where the insurance company will NOT cover you. These exclusions are clearly stated in the Policy Wordings of the cover. Different insurers might have different exclusions in place. It is advisable to go through them before buying and claiming against the policy. If you have raised a claim for a situation that is mentioned in the list of exclusions in the respective policy, then the insurer will not approve your claim.
Here’s a list of generic exclusions of a Personal Belongings Cover Add-on in car insurance.
Here’s the claim procedure to be followed while claiming against the Personal Belongings Cover Add-on in car insurance.
Step 1: Contact the insurer and explain the situation.
Step 2: Share the required details for verification
Step 3: Follow the process stated by the insurer. For example, file a First Information Report in a police station for theft.
Step 4: Comply with the claims team and submit documents as required, if any.
Step 5: Receive claim amount as per the applicable circumstances.
Note that the amount received in claim settlement will factor the depreciation cost of the damaged/lost asset in question. For example, if a laptop was completely damaged while it was in the car due to an accident, then the insurer will offer the depreciated amount of the laptop and not the invoice value. This calculation is done as per the following table.
Nowadays, digital-first insurance companies are moving away from the old-school paper-based claim settlement process. To make the claim process simple and convenient, they do not ask for a long list of documents to be submitted. However, companies have their own ways of going about this process.
Usually, you will be asked for the following documents in case of a claim raised against a Personal Belongings Cover. Note that the exact list of documents might be based on the respective claim and the insurer’s claim settlement policy.
