[self_driven]

Quick question friends:

I'd purchased personal accident cover from some insurer in Dec 2019. However I am not able to find the document (soft copy) now. Shall I go ahead and get another cover starting from Aug 2020? Will this overlap of existing policy cause any problem with validity of the new one?

[Artyom]

Generally if its the same policy you are renewing then it will come into effect once the previous ones expire. I hope that answers your question

[black_rider]

Is own damage premium higher for 4x4 vehicles, compared to 4x2?
I see considerable difference in premium quotes, between my 4x4 Safari and my friend's XUV which is a 4x2.

[suzuki san]

Hi Guys,

Has anyone used Acko or Digit Online Insurance and if so, what was your experience with them. I have used Coverfox extensively in the past but am getting a cheaper quote from these two companies. Any advice or suggestions would be welcome. Please keep in mind that the car to be insured is in Goa so I am concerned about things like cashless claims etc. The Acko Insurance quote, at a glance, looked quite straightforward. Digit not so transparent.

Awaiting your valuable suggestions.

Regards,
SS

[lamborghini]

Hi Guys,

A little urgent help please.
We have a Swift ZDi AMT which got flooded and was subsequently declared a total loss by future generali the insurers.
Now to adjust the claim, they've auctioned it to a salvage buyer for X amount which will be paid directly to the owner (Company), and the balance to be paid by the insurance company.

Sounds fairly straightforward but I had the following concerns:

1) There was apprehension when I brought up cancellation of the registration. What I understand is that a vehicle declared a total loss should have its registration cancelled as per the law but it seems the salvage buyer will probably fix it up & resell it.
Given the car was registered on its IDV as per ex-showroom value, what should be our stand?

2) Since its on a company registration, selling the vehicle in that manner would entail an approx 11-12% hit in the form of GST. I assume in the case of the insurance company paying out, it would be labelled a loss & should not have a GST impact - meaning I get the full IDV back (not less GST). Please correct me if I am wrong.

3) Lastly, the workshop will start charging parking fees if the car is not moved tomorrow. Unfortunately I got the email from Future stating the details only today, so to save some money we are planning on having it towed to the Company's compound and stored there till the salvage buyer / insurer picks it up. Would this be ok?

Thank you!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Chennai Flood, 20015. Our Polo was sold similarly. The registration was not cancelled. "Total Loss" is this instance doesn't mean rightoff, as the vehicle will be restored and sold.

In fact, our buyer, a broker, did not want to sign the RTO forms, as he wanted to pass the car on to its final buyer as only one owner (me). However I insisted on this, and would not hand over the car without it.

[CHIRU3011]

Till how many years can we opt for add on engine protect cover while renewing insurance. My car is entering into its 4th year. I have it in my insurance till now. An executive from Future Generali says that this add on is not available in the 4th year. I have read online that it is available till the 5th year.

[prasanna.vps]

Its that time of the year again folks! My Red Queen (Brio VXI) is 6 years old (boy that went fast!), I was planning to renew my insurance when I found out there is no Zero Dep for vehicles over 5 years with my current provider (HDFC Ergo)

However, after some research I found that IFFCO and Royal Sundaram are providing a Zero Dep (albeit at a price!).

The larger questions I am pondering is, whether it is worth going in for Zero dep given the car is now older than 5 years and not in warranty anymore.

I have a week to decide, appreciate your thoughts!

Originally Posted by suzuki san

Has anyone used Acko or Digit Online Insurance and if so, what was your experience with them.
SS

I have only bought 2-wheeler insurance from them since it was cheapest and I will never bother claiming it.

I am not sure about the age of your car, if you are going for own damage, your primary concern should be cashless coverage of your known ASS or garage. Being penny-wise might not be the right thought here, a few hundreds should always weigh over the peace of mind, especially as you will probably claim damages on accidents and not think properly.

Also, digit and acko do not provide 24x7 RSA etc. If your dealer is covering it then go for it, else stick to traditional providers.

[ATULSHI]

Originally Posted by rjvora_2000

I have checked with two insurance company they both had a same reply.

Claim of the other car in not payable.

If you want to take the benefit of insurance Own damage you have to take the comprehensive insurance. If you have TP insurance then the claim is simply not payable of any kind of damage to the car.

TP mean only third party property (Other then car) and life.

Cholamandalam, I met with one branch manager.
Bajaj, I had talk to claim's surveyor.

Hi, In Insurance terms, it is called as Knock for Knock agreement, which is a very unique concept. You can not claim reimbursement of damages that happened to your car from another vehicle. Reasons being, in an accident involving two vehicles, it becomes difficult to account for the actual damages that happened due to the another vehicle, and hence, each car should settle its claim from its own insurer.

Originally Posted by rjvora_2000

AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Dear Team BHPians,

These are some of the FAQs which have been created by (me) Mr. Rupesh Vora - rjvora_2000 and Mr. Imran Jeddy - bblost.

Thank you for your support the entire T-Bhp Moderator team.


Q. Why two insurance company’s premiums are not same?
A. All the companies offer 1. Different discounts, 2. Different P.A. cover and 3. Different IDV. It is the reason of difference in premium amounts for all the insurance companies.
1. Different discount: - This mainly depends upon the claims experience of a particular company. If claims experience is good then they will offer higher discount and if claims experience is bad then less discounts are offered.
2. PA (Personal Accident): - PA cover premium will not differ from company to company but it is an optional cover you need to choose the amount how much you want to cover. Eg. One company will offer Rs. 100 as a premium and other company will offer Rs. 250 as a premium.
3. IDV: - Major factor influencing will be IDV. But be very careful, many companies reduce IDV a lot, reduced IDV means your premium will be reduced. Most important point here is at the time of claim insurance company will also have to pay less for your vehicle. (It should be reduced every year by 10% minimum to 20% maximum.)
Always keep your IDV on higher side, it helps
1) During claims.
2) At the time of selling car.

Sir, with due respect, there is a slight mistake in your post. The value reduction by 10% (IDV) is a malpractice done by Insurance companies. For first 5 years, there are clear cut guidelines laid down in Indian Motor Tariff issued by TAC to determine IDV. After 5 years, it is based on negotiations between the Insurance Company and the Insured.

Originally Posted by Maverick Avi

Posting on behalf of one of my colleague who is having a harrowing experience dealing with a claim with DIGIT.
.......
Furthermore, if it’s not CTL, and we would not want to go for repairs since the repair cost is significant, so what would be the other option(s) available with us for the claim settlement.

Extremely sorry that I came across this post today. You have a fair and definite case. Its better that you send them a letter asking for the reasonable difference, otherwise you shall have no option but to approach insurance ombudsman. First thing, a digital company based in Bangalore shall at all costs avoid litigation in Delhi. Secondly private insurers are known for this type of claim settlement when it comes to high amounts. Secondly, Insurance Ombudsman awards are generally biased towards customers (even if insurance company has not faulted) and award hefty interest along with claim to the customers.

[Oxy]

Need to renew my insurance. Thanks to the Covid factor I am not even sure if my car is going to be used next year, so I am now in a dilemma about whether choose something super inexpensive like Acko, or choose all the necessary add ons like I have been doing and pay a significantly high premium as a result. I also happen to have made a claim last year.

How are you folks approaching this?

[vinu_h]

Originally Posted by Oxy

Need to renew my insurance. Thanks to the Covid factor I am not even sure if my car is going to be used next year, so I am now in a dilemma about whether choose something super inexpensive like Acko, or choose all the necessary add ons like I have been doing and pay a significantly high premium as a result. I also happen to have made a claim last year.

How are you folks approaching this?

I continued with my Maruti-Sundaram insurance minus all the bells and whistles, played around with the IDV as well. Came down by 60%.

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by vinu_h

I continued with my Maruti-Sundaram insurance minus all the bells and whistles, played around with the IDV as well. Came down by 60%.

Thanks. Please help me with how to play around with the IDV. Last year it was 6.5 lakhs but the default IDV from Sundaram now is 5.4 lakhs. I am somehow not comfortable with such a huge drop. HDFC Ergo doesn't allow me to go below 6.3 lakhs, so it clearly varies across providers. Do we follow the standard 10% reduction or is there some other formula?

[vinu_h]

Originally Posted by Oxy

Thanks. Please help me with how to play around with the IDV. Last year it was 6.5 lakhs but the default IDV from Sundaram now is 5.4 lakhs. I am somehow not comfortable with such a huge drop. HDFC Ergo doesn't allow me to go below 6.3 lakhs, so it clearly varies across providers. Do we follow the standard 10% reduction or is there some other formula?

I had kept the IDV as high as possible till now, so was able to realise a big drop thru the dealer rep this time around. Cost difference between Acko and Sundaram was just INR 2k, so went with the latter.

[kalyan_hyd]

Originally Posted by self_driven

Quick question friends:

I'd purchased personal accident cover from some insurer in Dec 2019. However I am not able to find the document (soft copy) now. Shall I go ahead and get another cover starting from Aug 2020? Will this overlap of existing policy cause any problem with validity of the new one?

Technically, this does not cause any issues with validity, your new policy will start from whenever you want it to start (within the next 60 days) and be valid for a year but you would not be able to take the benefit of a previous NCB. Meaning, if you had an NCB of 20% on the prior policy, you still have to probably take this new one starting at 0% NCB. As you would be required to prove the NCB in the previous policy to have a valid claim on the current one.

Originally Posted by black_rider

Is own damage premium higher for 4x4 vehicles, compared to 4x2?
I see considerable difference in premium quotes, between my 4x4 Safari and my friend's XUV which is a 4x2.

The way insurance companies calculate OD esp the new-age insurers like Digit and Acko, may be considering the complex elements of a 4 X 4 vehicle and also keeping in fact that 4 X 4 car owners usually prefer to do some off-roading as a regular habit, the premiums could be coming up higher as compared to say a 4 X 2.

Originally Posted by suzuki san

Hi Guys,

Has anyone used Acko or Digit Online Insurance and if so, what was your experience with them.

Regards,
SS

I have used Digit and CoverFox(policies from Bajaj Allianz, Kotak, Digit) extensively in the past 5-6 years. I did not find any issues with either. However, I've had no claim in that time, so my interactions were limited to getting endorsement of my NCB when changing cars, requesting for the NCB retention letter, etc. I once had Digit assist me with transferring insurance on my sold car to the new owner and issue me an NCB retention letter. All this was done online only via calls/ email and it happened pretty swiftly keeping in mind, in an offline process, the insurer would want an NOC from me, RC copy from the new owner and the car for physical verification. Digit did all of the steps but it was online via the mobile.

Originally Posted by lamborghini

1) There was apprehension when I brought up cancellation of the registration. What I understand is that a vehicle declared a total loss should have its registration cancelled as per the law but it seems the salvage buyer will probably fix it up & resell it.
Given the car was registered on its IDV as per ex-showroom value, what should be our stand?

As another TBHPian answered, my recommendation is that you insist on transfer of the Registration to that party. Cancellation of registration may or may not be a straight-off option. Remember, that once/ if the car is restored and sold and the new owner does not bother to transfer RC to his name, you would end up being troubled for his/ her Traffic violations.

I wouldn't know much about the other two questions you had.

Originally Posted by CHIRU3011

Till how many years can we opt for add on engine protect cover while renewing insurance. My car is entering into its 4th year. I have it in my insurance till now. An executive from Future Generali says that this add on is not available in the 4th year. I have read online that it is available till the 5th year.

Generally, Zero dep can be added for 5 continuous years, meaning if you do not opt for Zero Dep in year 3, you usually may not opt-in post that. And I heard some companies like Royal Sundaram offer it for longer (6 or more years) if one has been with them for some time.

Engine protect, per my experience does not have a coverage limit. Its cost could keep spiralling based on the no of cases where this was used up the year before, etc. I had engine protect on my BMW X1 even in year 7 though Zero dep stopped after 5.

Originally Posted by Oxy

Need to renew my insurance. Thanks to the Covid factor I am not even sure if my car is going to be used next year, so I am now in a dilemma about whether choose something super inexpensive like Acko, or choose all the necessary add ons like I have been doing and pay a significantly high premium as a result. I also happen to have made a claim last year.
How are you folks approaching this?

Basis your claim, you know that your NCB gets reset to 0% unless you had NCB protector in your last policy. There are some inclusions like Zero Dep which once dropped might be difficult to add back next year while some like Engine Protect, etc may be dropped but these add-ons typically won't save you much but at the other hand provide a good cover. Some folks only take TP insurance and cover OD all by themselves, so it depends on your risk-taking nature. My recommendation is to continue with all the usual add-ons.

Originally Posted by Oxy

Thanks. Please help me with how to play around with the IDV. Last year it was 6.5 lakhs but the default IDV from Sundaram now is 5.4 lakhs. I am somehow not comfortable with such a huge drop. HDFC Ergo doesn't allow me to go below 6.3 lakhs, so it clearly varies across providers. Do we follow the standard 10% reduction or is there some other formula?

I generally select between the range offered by the insurer. I usually get my policy online on CoverFox or Digit and play-around. I suggest you do a compare on a common site like CoverFox. PolicyBazaar and then call-up the particular insurer and ask them for the IDV you want on your car, generally they are able to manage this change from the back-end even though you may not see it online.

--Kalyan

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by kalyan_hyd

Basis your claim, you know that your NCB gets reset to 0% unless you had NCB protector in your last policy. There are some inclusions like Zero Dep which once dropped might be difficult to add back next year while some like Engine Protect, etc may be dropped but these add-ons typically won't save you much but at the other hand provide a good cover. Some folks only take TP insurance and cover OD all by themselves, so it depends on your risk-taking nature. My recommendation is to continue with all the usual add-ons.

Thanks Kalyan, this helped.

The difference in premiums is like this:

1. Zero Depreciation super saver by Acko for 11k - basically a zero dep policy but I would need to shell out 6k as claim fee for each claim I make instead of 1k which is the norm.

2. The normal Zero Depreciation policy by Acko/Tata AIG for 15k.

3. Zero Depreciation with all the add ons I would like to have (Engine Protection, Key Replacement, Loss of baggage) - 19k (Royal Sundaram)

I would have definitely gone for all the bells and whistles if not for this Covid situation. Just thinking of spending minimum possible on the policy this time around as I don't see the car being used much this year due to the pandamic.