How to Evaluate and Renew Your Bike Insurance Before Expiry
How to Evaluate and Renew Your Bike Insurance Before Expiry
Published on January 05, 2023. EST READ TIME: 4 minutes
Buying a bike is one of the first steps toward freedom. Once you have a bike in your garage, you can travel to work with ease. You can take it out for a spin over the weekend with your friends. Or plug in your favourite songs and go on a long solo ride. The possibilities are immense. To ensure that you have a smooth ownership experience, do not forget to renew two wheeler insurance on time.
Since the cost of buying a bike has increased over the last few years, it makes even more sense to opt for insurance. As the cost of different components has also gone up, your repair bills will also be higher than ever. However, a bike insurance policy ensures that you never have to worry about these expenses. And continue creating memories with your bike.
Check the status of your bike insurance online:
Insurance providers these days contact the insured via SMS and email to remind them to renew two wheeler insurance. However, if due, for some reason, you do not remember the policy expiry, you can easily find the information online. All you need to do is visit the website of your insurance provider or insurance aggregator from where you bought the insurance. Log in and find the policy details.
How to renew policy online?
The process to renew two wheeler insurance online is quite straightforward and will take only a few minutes of your time. Once you visit the website of an insurance provider, you must enter some of the basic details of the bike. Details such as the registration number of the bike, the type of policy that you want to buy, and most importantly, the IDV of the bike. Optionally, you can select add-ons for the plan.
However, you can only opt for add-ons if you select a comprehensive plan. Insurance providers do not give the option to select add-ons with third party two wheeler insurance. Once you select all the above details and provide your contact information, you are ready to pay the policy premium. On completing the payment, you will receive the policy in your mailbox within a few minutes.
If you have forgotten to renew your insurance by the due date, it will be deemed expired. However, insurance providers offer a grace period of 90 days from the day of policy expiry. Should you renew the policy during this period, you will continue to receive the benefits of the plan. Renewal during the grace period does not require any sort of physical inspection of the bike. Especially if you are renewing the policy online. And most importantly, you get to keep the NCB and continue with its benefits.
Which two wheeler insurance should you choose?
If your two wheeler insurance policy is close to expiry, the following are the options that you can choose from. Depending on your usage, needs, and budget, you can select any one of them.
1. Third party two wheeler insurance
Third party two wheeler insurance is the most fundamental type of bike insurance policy. The Motor Vehicles Act mandates all vehicles to have third party policy at the minimum. In the unfortunate event of an accident, the policy offers compensation to third parties. This could either be damage to other vehicles or injuries or death of an individual due to the accident. Since the coverage is the bare minimum, the policy premium is also the most affordable.
2. Comprehensive two wheeler insurance
As the name suggests, this plan offers more comprehensive coverage. It includes the benefits of a third party liability policy and offers coverage for own damage as well. In simple terms, if there is any damage to your bike, you can file a claim for it. And this better coverage results in a higher premium than a third party plan.
The plan protects your bike from damage due to natural calamities such as cyclones, typhoons, earthquakes, etc. It also protects your bike from man-made calamities such as riots, vandalism, theft, etc.
When you opt for a comprehensive plan, you can opt for add-ons to further enhance the capabilities of your insurance policy. Depending on the add-ons that you choose, you will end up paying a slightly higher premium.
3. Standalone cover
Standalone bike insurance offers protection to the bike of the insured. If there are any damages due to natural calamities or man-made calamities, the policy will compensate for the repairs or loss of the bike. On the other hand, the plan does not offer any protection against third party liabilities. Thus, it must be bought in conjunction with a third party liability policy.
Where can you buy the right policy from?
Renewing your bike insurance policy online is the most effective and efficient way. You simply need to visit the website of an insurance provider and select the option to renew your bike insurance policy. Once you are on the renewal page, the website will ask you a few simple questions, such as the details of the bike, your previous policy, and contact details.
Once you provide these, you can view the available policies and choose the right plan. On selecting the plan, you can proceed with the payment and receive a digital copy of your renewed insurance within a few minutes in your mailbox.
Alternatively, you can visit the website of an insurance aggregator. Though the process of renewing remains similar, it offers one big perk. You can compare policies from different vendors. Once you provide the details of your bike, the website will display all the insurance policies available for your bike. You can then choose a plan based on the premiums and features on offer.
When you renew two wheeler insurance online, you almost always save a considerable amount of money. Since there are no intermediaries. Here are a few other perks of renewing your policy online.
○ You can compare policies from different insurance providers, which makes way for a much better policy at an affordable premium.
○ Buying online will save you a lot of time since you no longer have to interact with insurance advisors to visit local branch offices.
○ Renewing the policy online gives you the freedom to play around with the IDV of the bike and see how that impacts your policy premiums. A lower IDV results in a lower bike insurance premium and vice versa.
○ The process of renewing the policy online requires minimal paperwork.
○ Renewing your policy online offers you access to much better customer service.
Conclusion
It is crucial to renew two wheeler insurance policy before its expiry. Though you can still renew the policy in the grace period, should anything happen during that period, you will not get coverage for the same. Renewing the policy on time allows you to continue with the benefits and crucially, keeps you away from hefty penalties.
Disclaimer: The above information is for illustrative purpose only. For more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before concluding the sales.
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