There are various options for car insurance policies available in the market. Before buying a particular insurance policy, you should be familiar with and have a proper understanding of the available plans as well as your insurance needs.
If you wish to choose the most suitable car insurance policy, you must ensure that you indulge in a little research before making a purchase. This will help you in finding an insurance policy that suits your requirements and has plentiful features.
Why is it Important?
Here are a few reasons why the comparison of options is essential before buying a policy-
- Better Cost Evaluation: Researching and reading about car insurance policies based on their costs will help you find the best policy that fits your budget. But before abruptly buying a low-cost policy, you should know that such a policy may offer less coverage when you redeem it. A higher-priced plan may offer more coverage. Thus, it is recommended to go for a comprehensive policy instead of a low-priced one, given that it comes within your budget.
- Easy Process: This entire process of research and comparison will hardly take a few minutes of your valuable time, while the benefits are manifold. Hence, you should assess all the plans in detail before buying a policy.
- You’re not Influenced by Agents: Comparing policies online lets you stay away from all the noise of agents that may be manipulating you into buying a policy for their own commercial benefit. You can take your time and carefully examine the policy to make the most prudent decision.
What to Compare?
Now that you know it is essential to compare a policy before buying it, let’s look at a few key things you should look for while comparing.
- Evaluation of Claim Settlement Risk Ratio: Before choosing a particular insurance policy company, you should check their claim-settlement ratio and reputation in the market. Doing this will help you understand their efficiency and competence in processing the claims.
- Coverage Options Available: To find the policy offering the most suitable coverage, you should go through the inclusions of the various policies. If you wish to get better coverage, you should compare car insurance policies based on the coverage offered by them. Proper cost evaluation and comparison of coverage options will help you find the alternative that serves your requirements the best.
- Pay attention to the IDV: Don’t just look at the cost of the policy when buying a car insurance policy. Make sure you also look at the IDV calculated in the policy. IDV or Insurance Declared Value is the amount the insurer promises to give to the car owner in case of total damage to the car. While a lower IDV will automatically lead to lesser premium cost, a very high IDV that is not as per the IRDAI guidelines may not be useful either when taking claims. If your car is 5-years old or less, the IDV should be as per the IRDAI guidelines.
Compare and Buy the Best Car Insurance Policy
It is essential to carefully scrutinise various policies and buy one that best suits your needs. Thanks to various third-party websites, today, it has become easy to compare policies online and also buy one that is best for you in terms of costs and benefits.
