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Old 7th March 2014, 09:38   #1
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Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

In India, are car insurance policies tied to the car? Or to the person in whose name the policy is being purchased? Or both?

That is, suppose we buy a car insurance policy for my car using my wife's login ID in online insurance sellers like ICICI Lombard. Then clearly the policy would list my wife as the insured. In such a case, does the policy cover:
- mishaps to the insured car only when my wife was driving it at the time of an accident? (ie. policy tied to car & person)
- mishaps to the insured car regardless of who was driving it? (ie. policy tied to car)
- mishaps to any car that my wife drives? (ie. policy tied to person)

Please advise. To clarify, the reason I am considering buying the policy for my car using my wife's login ID, is this:

We purchased our 1st car in my wife's name, she drives it 90% of the times. So we had created a login in her name and bought insurance on that car in her name.

About 1 year later we bought a 2nd car in my name, that I'll be driving always. I need to buy insurance for it, and am considering using the same provider as the one used earlier, so as to avail multi-car discount (is there any such thing?). But I am guessing that the only way the multi-car discount will automatically kick in (if at all) during the purchasing process, is if the 2 policies are purchased using the same login ID. Hence the question.

Last edited by FlyingSpur : 7th March 2014 at 14:39. Reason: Back-to-back posts merged. Please use EDIT button instead of creating a new post in quick succession. Avoid SMS language.
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Old 7th March 2014, 10:30   #2
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re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

Typically insurance is always tied to the car. So it covers anyone driving it as long as the person has a valid license and it is not used for any activity mentioned in their exceptions (Eg: Racing). Once you sell the car, the insurance goes with the car and can be transfered to the new owners name. Only point here is that any No Claim Bonus stays with you and can be used towards insurance purchase of the new car.

Having said that, the insurance policy should be in the name of the person who's name appears in the RC Book. So based on that I don't think you can purchase insurance for your 2nd car in your wife's name. if you meant just the login id to the website, that should not be an issue. Although I have not heard of multi car discount applied by default. I guess if you talk to the company, there may be some discount offered.
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Old 7th March 2014, 10:43   #3
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re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

Quote:
Originally Posted by vharihar View Post
I need to buy insurance for it, and am considering using the same provider as the one used earlier, so as to avail multi-car discount (is there any such thing?). .
Unfortunately, there is no such thing in India. I had checked with Bajaj, Tata and ICICI if they do offer multicar discounts and they said that it does not matter whether you have 1 car or 10. Insurance will be quoted purely on the basis of your car.

However, Bajaj did offer a discount based on my driving history and demographics. e.g. Married with kids having a DL issued 10 years ago, etc. resulted in a few hundred rupees discount on top of no claim bonus.
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Old 7th March 2014, 11:07   #4
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re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajeevraj View Post
...Having said that, the insurance policy should be in the name of the person who's name appears in the RC Book. So based on that I don't think you can purchase insurance for your 2nd car in your wife's name. if you meant just the login id to the website, that should not be an issue. Although I have not heard of multi car discount applied by default. I guess if you talk to the company, there may be some discount offered.
This is the puzzling part. If we use my wife's login ID, then the insured name automatically gets listed as my wife's name. There is no provision where it asks what we want the insured name to be. This is the way it works in ICICI Lombard and Reliance Insurance online portals.

So basically it means that multi-car discounts (I have got email ads about this, so I guess these do exist in India) can never be availed unless one is ok with the same insured name appearing in both policies! Which means one buys multiple vehicles for one's own use. Thats a bit rare I would think!
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Old 7th March 2014, 12:19   #5
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re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajeevraj View Post
Only point here is that any No Claim Bonus stays with you and can be used towards insurance purchase of the new car.
I think there is a slight correction in this point. If you require the NCB you don't transfer the policy to the buyer. Instead you take a fresh TPI in the name of the buyer and transfer your existing policy for the new car.

TPI is the minimum requirement for transfer of name at the RTO, however the buyer can opt for a Comprehensive policy at his cost.

Quote:
Originally Posted by vharihar View Post
This is the puzzling part. If we use my wife's login ID, then the insured name automatically gets listed as my wife's name. There is no provision where it asks what we want the insured name to be. This is the way it works in ICICI Lombard and Reliance Insurance online portals.

So basically it means that multi-car discounts (I have got email ads about this, so I guess these do exist in India) can never be availed unless one is ok with the same insured name appearing in both policies! Which means one buys multiple vehicles for one's own use. Thats a bit rare I would think!
Hari, you already have an insurance from Lombard for your wife's car, why not call-up the customer care directly and get all the clarifications from them. Members here may not be in a position to help on things/confusion regarding a specific insurance company and I think it is best to get all the confusions cleared from Lombard itself.
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Old 7th March 2014, 12:27   #6
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re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

I insured a car online for a friend of mine abroad - no issues

Last edited by GTO : 7th March 2014 at 18:38. Reason: Typo
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Old 7th March 2014, 13:25   #7
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re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

My wife's company leased car, was paid off recently. When the company owned the car, the Insurance only carried my wife as the user, while the company was the proposer.

She asked Bajaj Allianz to perform the insurance transfer. In the application form, the proposer was the employee (herself), but the proposer could also choose to have the car insured such that herself, spouse (me), or any named driver was covered.

Now, interestingly, even though the car's owner had changed , the insurance premium/coverage did not change - despite our having indicated that now, there would be two users (my wife and me).

The point I am making is that it would seem from the above that it is the car that is insured - and not the person.

But contrarily, one can transfer the NCB to the new proposer (so in a way the NCB belongs to a person).
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Old 7th March 2014, 15:49   #8
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re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

Thanks all for your helpful replies. I have sent an email to ICICI Lombard and Reliance. Awaiting a reply.

Meanwhile, I googled a bit and found the following to be helpful. See the 2 FAQs titled "What is Personal Accident Insurance cover?" and "Will I get a Personal Accident cover if the vehicle is registered under someone else's name, but is driven by me and the premium is also paid by me?" at https://www.icicilombard.com/motor-i...e/car-faqs.cms (see the tab labeled "Cover", for coverage-related FAQs)
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Old 7th March 2014, 18:43   #9
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Re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajeevraj View Post
Once you sell the car, the insurance goes with the car and can be transferred to the new owners name.
Not necessarily. You can also sell the existing car without insurance and use the remainder (of coverage) toward your new car.

Quote:
Originally Posted by vharihar View Post
This is the puzzling part. If we use my wife's login ID, then the insured name automatically gets listed as my wife's name.
Clearly a poorly designed part of the system. Create a new login
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Old 7th March 2014, 20:33   #10
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Re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Not necessarily. You can also sell the existing car without insurance and use the remainder (of coverage) toward your new car.
Thank you. Was not aware of that. I took the trouble to renew the insurance for my buyer since I sold it close to the expiry. Typically in all the ad's for used cars, there is an entry for 'Insurance Valid until..' Looks like very few people are aware of the fact that they can use the remainder insurance towards new car
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Old 8th March 2014, 01:15   #11
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Re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

As far as i know the insurance has to be in the name of the owner. Its simple if person A owns the car and person B takes insurance policy and if the vehicle is stolen person B would get the money. which should not be the case.

Ps. dont think of renewal, think of the time when you claim. company would happily give you the policy in your wife name when the vehicle is in your name but *might* create hassles when its time to claim some amount.
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Old 8th March 2014, 11:21   #12
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Re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajeevraj View Post
Typically in all the ad's for used cars, there is an entry for 'Insurance Valid until..' Looks like very few people are aware of the fact that they can use the remainder insurance towards new car
That includes the Team-BHP classifieds as well!
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Old 8th March 2014, 14:43   #13
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Re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajeevraj View Post
Thank you. Was not aware of that. I took the trouble to renew the insurance for my buyer since I sold it close to the expiry. Typically in all the ad's for used cars, there is an entry for 'Insurance Valid until..' Looks like very few people are aware of the fact that they can use the remainder insurance towards new car
Quote:
Originally Posted by slicvic View Post
That includes the Team-BHP classifieds as well!
You see many 2 - 5 year old cars with "3rd party insurance" only. The most common reason for that is the seller has already transferred the insurance to his new / upcoming car.
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Old 8th March 2014, 14:58   #14
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Re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

Yes, but even the 3rd party insurance can be cancelled after the car has been sold and a refund sought. If everyone practiced this then the column of 'Insurance' in classifieds becomes unnecessary.
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Old 7th October 2017, 20:18   #15
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Re: Car insurance in India: Tied to the car or owner?

A basic layman question. What happens to the insurance in the mean time after the car is sold and the new updated RC is yet to be issued?

The RTOs tend to take almost a month if not more to dispatch the new updated RC. During this time, is the new owner covered if the old owner doesn't cancel the insurance? If yes, won't it affect new owner's future premiums, in case new owner unfortunately needs to claim? If no, what option does the new owner have, especially since he can't buy insurance till he has the RC in his name?

Last edited by ghatotkatch : 7th October 2017 at 20:28. Reason: clarified the question
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