What is comprehensive car insurance

Comprehensive car insurance

In today’ times of high vehicle density, the likelihood of a mishap too increases significantly. In such a scenario, having a car insurance is important. It will help to protect yourself from heavy repair bills in the unfortunate case of an accident, man-made, or natural disaster. While the legal mandate is to have a third-party coverage as the bare minimum, it will be a smart idea to opt for comprehensive coverage. In third-party insurance, the coverage is only for damages to third-party property or injury to the other person involved with you in an accident. This means that for repairs to damage to your own car, you would have to foot the bill.

However, with a comprehensive car insurance policy, you get better level of protection. You are covered not only for third-party damage, but also for own damage. Additionally, other calamities (both natural and man-made) like theft, fire, road accidents and natural disasters too get covered under a comp insurance, but not in a third-party insurance. This way, a comprehensive car insurance policy is the best package to provide all-round protection to your vehicle.

Why go for comprehensive car insurance

Opting for a comprehensive car insurance offers advantages at multiple levels. Check out why going for this type of policy provides maximum value for money for your car.

• Better coverage

  Imagine if your car steering wheel gets jammed and you ram it into Mr. Desai’s shop shutter. Now when the repairs are carried out to the shop and to your car, you get a bill of Rs. 2,650/- for the shop repairs and Rs. 4,500/- for fixing your car’s bumper.

  If you were carrying a third-party insurance, you would be covered only for Rs. 2,650 (third party property damage) and would have had to bear the Rs. 4,500 for repairs to your own car. With comprehensive insurance, you are protected from both ends for both repair bills.

• Offers more value for money

  You may think that third-party insurance which carries a lower premium will be a better buy for you. However, keep in mind that the premium on that type of policy is low because the risk carried by the insurance company is also low. For comprehensive policy, while the premium is high, the degree of protection you get is also high, which makes it a value for money deal for you.

• Remain stress free

  In a tough scenario, third-party insurance policyholders may have to deal with the intense stress of arranging for funds not only for own car damage, but also for the injury sustained in the accident. However, if you are a comprehensive insurance policyholder, then you can be stress-free as it covers damages to car or injury to the owner driver, as well as, repairs to the third-party car or the hospitalization of third-party driver.

What is covered by comprehensive car insurance?

• Damage to own car and third-party loss
• Personal accident cover
• Damage due to natural calamities
• Damage due to man-made hazards
• Car theft

What it does not cover?

• Mechanical breakdown or electrical issues during traveling
• Routine wear and tear due to kilometers clocked or due to the age of the car
• Damage due to driving under influence of alcohol or drugs
• Consequential loss which results from a certain action of the driver. A common example is the hydrostatic loss suffered by the engine by wrongly starting the car in a water logged area
• Driver doesn’t have valid driving license
• It doesn’t cover contractual liability. For instance, if the car is kept as a collateral for a loan and the lender uses the car when the contract is in force, and meets with an accident, then repairs for such accidents will not be covered

Why comprehensive car insurance is better than third-party coverage?

If you are thinking that cheap coverage is better, then think again. While a third-party insurance will protect you from being fined by a policeman at a traffic signal, it won’t protect you when you would need it the most – i.e. right after an accident has caused severe damage to your car. See why comprehensive policy provides far better value than third-party coverage:

• Protection is expanded to owner-driver too

  If as a comp policyholder, an accident has caused damage to your car or caused injury to you, then you will get protection for repairs as well as hospitalization bills. Under third-party coverage, you would have had to pay for these from your own pocket, causing higher stress levels along with the financial loss.

• Better value for money

  If we look at the amount of value it provides during recovery from an accident or to get the car repaired, this type of policy is more economical and provides better value for money than a third-party insurance policy

• Add-ons available enhance the degree of protection

  With a third-party cover you cannot buy add-ons. But with a comprehensive policy, you can significantly extend the level of protection for your car with handy add-ons like zero depreciation, NCB protect, and engine protect.

What add-ons are available under comprehensive cover?

Picking the right set of add-ons give you maximum value for money. Some of the more popular add-ons preferred by car owners include:

• Zero Dep

  Zero Depreciation or Zero Dep protects you from deductions arising from depreciation associated with the car. So if your car repair bill factored in Rs. 1,500 for rubber, nylon, and plastic parts, the claim payout for a standard policy will exclude this amount from the claims payout. However, for a comp policy strengthened by a zero dep add-on, the claim will factor in this amount too, so that you won’t have to bear the costs.

• NCB protect

  With NCB you are rewarded for not raising a claim in the entire year and are offered a discount on the next year’s premium. This might go as high as 50% for the 5th continuous year of no claims raised. Now, if suppose, you have to raise a claim in the 4th year, you may lose all the accumulated NCB discounts in the next year. Some insurance companies offer an NCB protection add-on that keeps your NCB applicable even if you have raised a claim in the year. It comes with a few conditions as below:

  • only 1 claim allowed in a year
  • claim should be on Own Damage only
• Consumables

  Consumables like nuts, bolts, and screw washers (parts which have a limited or specific usage) are usually excluded from coverage in a car insurance. However, when you opt for consumables add-on, you ensure that these parts are covered in the claim paid out by the insurance company. This is generally limited to vehicles that are less than 5 years old.

• Engine protect

  If you need to keep vital engine parts like pistons and crankshaft protected from issues like oil leakages or water ingress, then it makes sense to go for an engine protect add-on. If you are living in a locality where the likelihood of flood is high, then this is an essential add on to go for.

Claims process in 4 steps

Filing for a claim needs to be a well-thought out process. Taking care of all the points, steps, and documentation will prevent unwanted iterations, unnecessary delays, or chances of outright rejection. Check out the steps you need to take in case you want to file a claim on your comprehensive car policy when you meet with an unfortunate accident:

• Intimate insurance provider immediately

  It is wise to inform the insurance provider immediately. For this, you will need to keep the insurance company’s number at all times with you to carry out this step. Also, you need to be aware of the timelines within which you need to inform the company to avail of claims. This step needs to be carried out even before you start with the claim application form.

• FIR

  While the step seems obvious, it is generally missed out in all the hassle. File an FIR at the nearest police station as early as possible. This will be an important piece of paper in your claim processing and settlement process.

• Schedule inspection

  When you intimate the company, an inspection of the damage will be scheduled from their end within a day or two. It is important that you don’t get the car towed away from the spot before that. Once the inspection is done, the insurance company representative will let you know about the nearest cashless garage under their network to tow to and carry out the repairs.

• Settle claim

  Once the company has inspected the damage and got an estimate of the repair costs, they will provide approval to get the repair work done. Just check what expenses you would have to bear from the bill so that post claim settlement, you can get back the possession of your car on time.

Why choose Turtlemint?

It is true that you can go and purchase comprehensive car insurance from any provider. But what if you come to know later that the amount you have paid is far more than what others are offering? What if you come to know that the coverage you are getting wasn’t adequate?

This is why you absolutely have to check out Turtlemint.

With Turtlemint, you can come to know of the various car insurance providers and their different quotes. Having all these quotes at one place can help you do a detailed comparison and pick one that matches your need precisely. Some reasons why you can rely on Turtlemint are:

1. We line up the best quotes for your exclusive needs. These quotes come from a wide range of insurance companies that we have tied up with.
2. Get full support all the way – right from initial research to eventual policy purchase, or even later for claim settlement.
3. You benefit from unbiased and experienced recommendations from our customer care team available round the clock for you.

Save time and efforts and get competitive quotes from the leading insurance companies in India, only with Turtlemint.

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