Vehicle insurance is an integral part of your motor. Although, it’s a recurring annual expense, you can make a huge savings in the annual premiums. Hence, it would be a good idea to be well aware of the nitty-gritty of such motor policies.

There are two types of vehicle policies: Third Party & Comprehensive vehicle policy. Third party refers protection cover for the damage done to a third party into an event of an accident, such as injury or death or damage to his or her property – on account of any accident caused by your vehicle under Third Party insurance. It also includes personal accident cover for the owner-driver. However, it doesn’t cover any damage to your motor. As per the law, it is mandatory to hold atleast third party cover to driver your motor on roads.

A comprehensive is a protective cover for your vehicle as well. It will provide you both third party and own damage covers. Taking cover for own damage is not mandatory but it will be proves quite helpful as it takes care of your financial needs during emergency. Therefore, it is advisable to cover for damages to own the vehicle too. The risks covered are natural disasters such as earthquake, flood, storm, etc. Man-made disasters such as accident, theft, fire, riots, malicious act, etc.

Every vehicle is insured upon a value based on the manufacturer’s price of the vehicle minus the depreciation as per the vehicle’s age known as Insured Declared Value. The damage to third party property is covered upto a sum of Rs 7.5 lakh for car and Rs 1 lakh for two-wheeler. And there is no such limit on the cover for injury or death to the third party.

The premium on your Vehicle Insurance policy is determined on various factors like model, capacity, age, fuel type, city you stay in, your age, profession, security aspects, claim experience and lastly modifications made/accessories added to the vehicle.

One of the most common ways to save premium is the No Claim Bonus (NCB), where you can get a discount on your premium if you haven’t made any claim in the prior years. These discounts can be increased with each successive year of zero-claim and goes up to as high as 50% to 60%. It is advisable don’t claim for petty dents or small scratch and utilized your No Claim Bonus, instead accumulate these bonuses and utilized for higher discount premiums. Another way to reduce premium would be installing safety devices, having membership of an automobile association, choosing higher deductibles, parking in garages or safe area, etc.

Many van drivers and commercial vehicle owners often rely heavily on their vehicles as a source of income. For this reason it is important that you look after your vehicle well and make sure you are sufficiently insured should anything go wrong.
One of the most important factors of insuring your commercial vehicle is making sure you have the right cover for you vehicle and it’s intended use.

Most commercial policies will not automatically provide cover for any goods or tools in your vehicle. “Goods in transit” insurance can normally be purchased separately and added on to your existing commercial insurance. Note that the amount insured may be a limited sum for each vehicle and will based on the value of the contents. Goods in transit insurance will provide cover for:

• Theft (while in transit)
• Loss (while in transit)
• Damage caused by accidents during transit
• Damage caused during transit

You can always enhance the protective cover by opting for add-on to insure for risks that are not covered under a standard policy. Some common-add on would zero depreciation, no-claim bonus, hospitalization, etc. Some insurance companies offer the cashless facility if the vehicle is repaired at their authorized garages. Else, you can repaired at your preferred garage and then claim reimbursement from the insurer.

There are some standard exclusions such as normal wear and tear,  mechanical or electrical breakdown. If the person driving the vehicle doesn’t have a valid license or driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you may not be able to claim vehicle insurance. You can change your vehicle insurance provider without losing the benefit of any no-claim bonus that you  may be eligible for.