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Once the policy is issued (Higher or Lesser value) insurance company has to pay money as per the IDV only.

I have also seen that insurance company playing around with the Higher IDV policy. (Bargain game in claims) but it is wrong.

Meaning of IDV is Insured Declared Value. - I hope this word itself is self explanatory.

I think you are right. The whole point of paying a higher premium for the higher IDV is to get that amount in case of a total loss claim. What is the reason for paying a higher premium for a higher IDV if the question of paying back that higher amount does not arise? That makes no sense.

Yes that is what I was debating, but he says it is not the reality.

If anyone has made a total loss claim after having increased it previously, they can clear this confusion.

Since you have paid for higher IDV with an higher premium, you are fully entitled to claim up to the IDV value of the vehicle insured in case of total loss.
This is an option given by an Insurer and as such the Insurer is liable to comply with the policy agreement.

Many insurers will try all sort of tactics to deny claim, if the insurance company is unrelenting on that, you can always complain to the Insurance Ombudsman which will intervene in such cases.

Sir, Absolutely no confusion on this one. Talk to some good insurance company surveyor and you will get this information.

As I told you insurance company bargains but that is a baseless thing. If at all they don't want to pay the IDV, they have to inform you at the time of taking the policy, they can't tell at the time of claim.

I can say of one company that is Bajaj: - They have a IDV chart with them of all the make & model, while taking the insurance you can change the value of that table only by 5% (+/-) they will issue the policy, but more change in the IDV is simply not allowed at the time of taking the policy. If you force them, they will not do the business. I personally work with 4 different insurance company but only Bajaj has this system.

Gentlemen,

Quoting the standard definition of IDV from the Policy wording doc and this is common for all Insurance co. Pls note the wordings highlighted in bold.

Ideally IDV needs to be calculated on the basis of the manufacturer's current selling price of the model (ex showroom cost only) times the depreciation applicable based on the years of ownership. The manufacturer's cost if changes on yearly basis then the thumb rule of every year depreciation % of 10 is not applicable. This is known to all insurance co, but still they allow the vehicle owners to fix the IDV (increase/decrease). The advantage for Insurer is higher premium and for the owner is a false sense of satisfaction that the car is insured for a higher amount. But the true reality is reflected when there is a case of total loss, thats the time when the Insurance co come to their senses and start calculating the IDV based on the real calculations. If owner debates this then the IRDA ruling is shown to the owner. This way the owner cant approach the IRDA since he is at fault for over insuring the vehicle than the actual. Insurers go scot free when owner agrees to Insurance co terms of total loss calculations.

Therefore it is a religious exercise which every vehicle owner must do is to calculate the correct IDV based on the prevailing car prices at the time of renewal

Thank you guys for bringing this up, as I am about to renew the insurance of one of my cars. After reading today's posts on this thread, I thought it is better to hear from the insurance guys itself regarding this. Hence, just had a chat with a couple of them.

This is what I understand. IDV is based on the ex-showroom price of your car (when you purchased it). At the time of purchase you already have a 5% depreciation applied to it. From then on, every year an added 10% depreciation is applied. This is the ideal case.

Now you have an option to go down by another 10% of the IDV as calculated (by the above method) or go up by 15% or 20%. This is the range of IDV shown. But he himself said that it is better not to go for the higher IDV as compared to the ideal one. He explained something like, they go by the market value at the time of total loss and from how the guys explained it, I did get a feeling that if I have to get that higher IDV in case of a total loss, I would really have to be behind those guys and be lucky. He said that they would even hesitate to declare total loss so easily (depending on the case ofcourse), especially if the vehicle is insured at 20% higher than it's ideal IDV. The lower 10% (the lower range) from ideal IDV is normally preferred by those guys who are about to sell their car, as per them.

As some one mentioned above, if the agreement says you have paid premium for the higher IDV, ideally the insurance company is supposed to pay you that amount, but it is not as straight forward as that, as per what I understand now.

My Skoda Rapid TDI Elegance 2011 insurance is up for renewal. Here are the quotes I have got for zero dep. insurance policy
Insurance quotes I have got for IDV : 7,09,943/- with 35% NCB are as follows
Future General: 20,714/-
Bharati Axa: 21,870/-
HDFC: 24,560/-
Tata AIG: 21,540/-

I have my current policy with TATA AIG. Should I simply continue with them? Any inputs are appreciated.

Surprising you say they may not accept it, probably in your case because the value is so high. Otherwise I have had no such issue, of course the money involved was much much lesser:D

Except for HDFC, rest everyone are almost same. Since you are already with TATA AIG, tell them that you have a better quote from others and unless they match the quote you will go elsewhere and I am sure they should be able to match it as the difference isn't much.

After being their customer for many years, I decided to come out of a sarkari insurance company [through agent] to Royal Sundaram [direct] as it proved to be cost-effective, quick and the best customer care! Why don't you get a quote from Royal Sundaram and then decide? I got free one year RSA from MyTVS. :) The details are here.

Quote I got from RS is 21,720/- more over IDV is 20K less than the rest.

[quote=ILTDrive;3590025]Surprising ybiay they may not accept it, probably in your case because the value is so high. Otherwise I have had no such issue, of course the money involved was much much lesser

Hi
Their initial response was that both were not from the same segment and hence NCB was not justified

Skoda Rapid TDI Elegance, make: 2011, IDV : 7,09,943/- with 35% NCB
I have shortlisted the following two quotes:
Tata-AIG: 21,524/-
Future General: 19,540/-

The difference is 2K. Should I go with Future General?

Check with your regular service center as to whom they have the cash less tie up with and go with them. You can always bargain with a quote in hand with the preferred insurance provider. My 2 cents.

I just renewed the Yeti's insurance. Third year.
Bajaj Allianz Comprehensive at approx 15K with 50% NCB.
Another 15K for the Drive Assure (Zero Dep) plan.
Each passing year, my Insurance cost keeps reducing by a few thousand. But the Zero Dep policy remains the same more or less.

I just think of it like this: It costs me Rs 2500 per month, for complete peace of mind. Considering this is around the same as a general mobile telephone bill, I guess it puts things in perspective.:)