How to Renew Car Insurance?

Many car owners assume that the vehicle insurance they bought is valid for life-long. A car insurance policy stands valid only for a specific period. Therefore, you should know how to renew your car insurance. You cannot avail of any benefit if you let your policy expire.

Why is renewal of car insurance necessary?

The renewal of your car insurance policy is must for the following reasons.

• Financial help: The sole aim of buying a car insurance policy is compensation in case of an accident or damage. You cannot claim any benefit with an expired policy

• Legally mandatory: It is important to know how to renew motor insurance to avoid getting caught in legal wrangles. The Motor Vehicle Act mandates purchasing at least a third-party liability cover. Say, you purchased for this cover at the beginning of 2020 and the policy was up for renewal in a year’s time. In 2021, you failed to renew the policy and ran into an accident, injuring others. You could be charged with a punishable offence for driving with an expired car insurance policy.

• Loss of no-claim bonus: No-claim bonus is an discount offered, in comprehensive car insurance policies, on every claim-free year of the policy term. This translates into lower premium costs of insurance policies. Failing to timely renew your car insurance policy could result in loss of this advantage.

How to Renew Vehicle Insurance?

There are provisions to renew vehicle insurance policies, both offline and online. In the former option, you would need to directly contact your insurance provider and an executive would explain the steps. However, in the latter, the standard process may be as follows –

• Step 1: Visit your insurance company’s official website. Under this section, select the option for renewal of car insurance policies. A new webpage would pop up, requiring you to fill in details of your car insurance policy

• Step 2: Once the details have been filled in, you may browse through any add-on features you would want to add to your existing car insurance policy

• Step 3: After making your required selections, there would appear an option to confirm the details and proceed toward online payment. Through Net banking, you would be able to make the transaction online

• Step 4: After making the online payment, your car insurance policy would be instantly renewed. The details of this renewal would be received on your registered e-mail ID

Advantages of Renewing Policy Online

The purpose of technology is to make our lives easier. While people have started to recognise this and know how to renew car insurance online, still a large chuck of the population relies on dealing with this process offline. The advantages with an online version of renewal are as follows:

• Convenience: To renew a car insurance policy online, the policyholder can do so conveniently at his/her own time and place. The website of the insurance company has no business hours, and can be accessed whenever you wish to do so

• Cheaper Alternative: Typically, purchasing/renewing a car insurance policy online would cost you less as the role of middlemen is eliminated

• Facility to Compare: A policyholder can easily compare quotes provided by different insurance companies and take an informed decision; in an offline set up, you would be bound to visit your existing insurance provider and renew basis their rates

• Transparency: The online process would require no paperwork, and the updated policy details would be directly received on your registered e-mail ID. The transactions are carried on directly between you and the insurance company, leading to no manipulation by agents.

Conclusion:

The complications which an expired car insurance policy may land you in can be exhausting, mentally and financially. Hence, it is important to remain pro-active and have checks in place to ensure your car insurance policy doesn’t lapse.

Disclaimer: The above information is indicative in nature. For more details on the risk factor, terms and conditions, please refer to the Sales Brochure and Policy Wordings carefully before concluding a sale.