Our car holds a special place in our life; it is convenient to use, offers safety & privacy, and saves time. For many of us, our car is the easiest way to commute on a regular basis. It is only natural that we want to ensure the safety of our vehicle, given its importance. One of the best ways to safeguard our car is with the help of insurance.
As per the law, it is mandatory to have a TP cover to drive the car on the road. The TP cover protects you against the third party liability which may arise if a third party suffers a financial loss attributable to your vehicle. However, the TP cover does not extend protection to your vehicle, for that you require a comprehensive policy.
A comprehensive policy shields your vehicle from natural calamities like hailstorms, earthquakes, floods, inundation, hurricanes, landslides, and rockslides. It also covers man-made disasters like riots, accidents, and thefts. The cost of a comprehensive policy is higher than a TP-only cover because the former provide wider protection.
Add-on helps you strengthen the protection of your vehicle, and allows you to customize your cover. Each add-on has some unique feature and serves a specific purpose. The insurance market offers various add-on like roadside assistance, zero deprecation, medical cover, engine protection, to name a few.
These add-on covers come with a cost, thus increasing your motor premium. It is advisable that you pick the add-ons which suit your requirements and accordingly customize to expand your cover.
IDV (Insured Declared Value) is the maximum value your insurer will pay for the complete damage or theft of your vehicle. The IDV is calculated each year during the renewal, the value arrived after computing depreciation. As your vehicle depreciates over the years, the IDV also comes down. Since IDV signifies the value of the vehicle, it plays a decisive role in premium computation.
Your insurer grants you NCB for each claim-free year. NCB is the reward you get for your good driving behaviour. The discount is granted as per pre-defined slabs, it starts from 20 percent for the first claim-free year and goes up to a maximum of 50 percent for five consecutive claim-free years (Y1: 20%; Y2: 25%; Y3: 35%; Y4: 45%; Y5: 50%). NCB helps significantly to bring down your motor insurance premium.