Tips to Get the Best Insurance Plan for Your Maruti Car
Getting a car is like a dream come true for many, but one’s job doesn’t stop at just buying a four-wheeler. No vehicle owner can take their four-wheeler on roads without securing it under car insurance. The law requires every vehicle owner to have at least third-party insurance; otherwise, the owner will attract hefty penalties from the concerned authorities.
If you’ve recently purchased a Maruti car and are excited to drive it, make sure you first buy good insurance for it, advisably buy a Maruti Suzuki insurance to keep your car safe from financial losses. First-time vehicle owners can follow the following tips to choose the best insurance for their Maruti car.
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Compare the Different Options
Once you’ve completed the first step, it’s time to look for a similar type of policy being offered by different insurance companies. A quick online search of your preferred car insurance type will present you with a list of available insurance plans being offered by different insurers. The more options you have, the better the chance of finding an ideal policy.
Compare the options you get in terms of coverage and premium, and then choose the one that offers decent coverage at a reasonable premium amount. If you’re confused, you can seek unbiased opinions from real car insurance owners on online forums and communities that actively discuss things related to car insurance.
Choose the Ideal Insurance Type
Every car is designed to have car insurance. Without it, the owner will be charged heavy fines and penalties. Car insurance is mainly of two types, viz., comprehensive insurance and third party insurance. Third party car insurance covers damages caused by the insurer to the third party and also remains a mandatory type of insurance by the law. On the other hand, comprehensive insurance covers the vehicle owners for their own damages and damages caused to third-party individuals and properties. This insurance is basically a standard plan that covers most of the things a car owner would need.
But you can easily customise a comprehensive insurance policy by adding add-ons to enhance the coverage. Unlike comprehensive car insurance, third-party car insurance only covers the financial liabilities arising from the damages caused to third-party individuals and properties. This insurance has limited coverage but comes at a lower premium value than comprehensive plans.
If you’re comfortable with basic and limited coverage, you can go ahead with third-party insurance. But if you don’t want to compromise in terms of coverage, comprehensive insurance is better. Depending on your precise requirements, you can choose one of the two options.
Check Your Vehicle’s IDV
If you haven’t heard the term IDV before, it stands for Insured Declared Value. It refers to the current market price of your car, i.e., original purchase price minus depreciation, and it forms the base of your policy’s sum insured.
An insurance company is liable to pay you an amount equivalent to your vehicle’s IDV if it gets damaged beyond repair or stolen. This is why IDV and premium have a directly proportional relation. The higher the IDV, the higher will be the insurance premium, and vice-versa.
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Select the Add-ons You Really Need
Riders or add-ons are added to standalone insurance policies to enhance their coverage. But every add-on comes with an additional cost. So the more add-ons you add, the higher the premium will be. Hence, the best way to get the needed coverage at a reasonable premium amount is by adding only those riders that you really need.
At times, some car insurer’s end up picking too many riders out of FOMO, and it only leads to higher premiums that could have been avoided. Though the number of add-ons available with car insurance varies from one insurance company to another, you can find the following add-ons being offered by top insurers:
- Consumable cover
- Roadside assistance
- Return to Invoice cover
- Zero depreciation cover
- Engine protection cover
- Passenger cover
- Tyre protection cover
Before adding any add-on, read what it offers and think if you will even need it. If you don’t feel it is that important, don’t add it to your policy.
Enquire about the Insurer’s Claim Settlement Process
The worst thing that any car and vehicle insurance holder can ever experience is getting entangled in a tedious claim filing process that takes forever to process. To make it worse, the insurer brings in various roadblocks that eventually delay the claim settlement process. If you don’t want yourself in a similar situation, always do some research about the company’s claim settlement processes and claim settlement ratio.
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Only proceed with the insurance company if its existing customers have only good things to share about the insurer’s claim settlement aspect. It will ensure you get faster claim settlement and reimbursement when the need arises at a future date.
Use Online Premium Calculators to Choose Affordable Yet Excellent Plans
When you have several options to choose from, evaluating them on equal parameters becomes crucial. Hence, once you’ve decided the type of insurance you want along with the add-ons, head straight to online premium calculators.
These calculators make it easy to find out the near-accurate premium that you’ll have to pay. You can add or remove add-ons to see how it impacts the premium amount. If you provide all the details correctly in the premium calculator, you’ll be in a better position to pick the best Maruti Suzuki insurance from a reputable insurer.
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Be Clear with the Inclusions & Exclusions
Whether you end up with the best insurance you were looking for or end up with the wrong plan will depend on this point. The last thing you would ever want to do is assume that your shortlisted insurer is offering a set of inclusions in the coverage just because some other insurer is doing it. The same type of plans can have different inclusions and exclusions when it comes to insurance.
It all varies from one Indian insurance company to another. So to be on the seemingly safer side, always double-check what your four-wheeler insurance offers. Even if you’re purchasing comprehensive car insurance, certain things like the vehicle’s engine and tyres might not be covered in the standard plan and may require you to purchase it separately. So always be clear regarding the coverage and exclusions from day one to avoid any unpleasant shockers during claim settlement.
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If you duly take into account all the tips shared above, your chances of finding the best insurance plan for your Maruti car will become pretty high. Though you can exercise extra caution and add a few extra points to the above list, it will suffice even if you don’t.