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Understand your vehicle cover before you choose.
Compare comprehensive and third-party cover from leading insurers, with an advisor who stays with you through the claim.
What motor insurance can cover
The benefits, and the condition attached to each. Your policy wording is what finally decides.
Third-party liability
Injury to or death of another person, and damage to their property, where you are liable.
Compulsory under the Motor Vehicles Act. Liability for death or injury is decided by the claims tribunal and is not capped; property damage is covered only up to the limit the policy states.
Own damage
Repair or replacement after an accident, fire, explosion, riot, natural calamity or theft.
Settled against the insured declared value and reduced by depreciation on the parts replaced, the compulsory excess and any voluntary excess you chose.
Insured declared value
The agreed value of the vehicle, and the most payable if it is stolen or written off.
Set from the manufacturer listed price less depreciation for age, not from what you paid or what you could sell it for. A lower figure cuts the premium and cuts the payout with it.
Personal accident cover for the owner-driver
A fixed sum for death or permanent disability of the owner while driving.
Required where you hold a valid licence and own the vehicle. One such cover is enough across every vehicle you own, so it need not be bought again on a second policy.
Cashless repair at network garages
The insurer settles the approved amount with the garage so you do not fund the repair and wait.
Only at that insurer network garages. Depreciation, the excess and anything excluded remain yours to pay even on a cashless repair.
No claim bonus
A discount on the own-damage premium that grows with each consecutive claim-free year.
Twenty per cent after one claim-free year, rising in steps to fifty per cent after five. It belongs to you rather than the vehicle and moves with you to a new car or a new insurer. One claim resets it to nothing.
Add-ons
Zero depreciation, engine protection, return to invoice, consumables, key replacement and roadside assistance.
Each is priced and underwritten separately, and most limit how many times they can be used in a year. An add-on bought is not an add-on that applies to every claim.
Long-term third-party cover
A single third-party policy covering a new vehicle for its first few years.
Required at first registration since September 2018: three years for a new car and five for a new two-wheeler. Own-damage cover can still be taken a year at a time alongside it.
Worth adding
Zero depreciation
The insurer pays the full part cost, not the depreciated value.
Engine protection
Cover for water ingress and oil leakage damage.
Roadside assistance
Towing, jump start and on-site help.
Return to invoice
Total loss settled at the invoice value.
What to check before you choose
These decide whether cover is real when you claim. Read them before the premium.
The insured declared value is not a formality
It is the ceiling on a theft or total-loss settlement. Accepting a low figure to shave the premium looks sensible for four renewals and costs you badly on the one that matters. Check it at every renewal as the vehicle ages.
Depreciation is deducted from part costs
On a normal claim the insurer pays the depreciated value of what it replaces, and plastic and rubber parts depreciate steeply. A zero-depreciation add-on removes that deduction, usually for a limited number of claims a year and often excluding consumables unless those are added too.
The excess you pay on every claim
A compulsory excess applies to each own-damage claim whatever the cause. A voluntary excess reduces the premium in exchange for you paying more of each claim. Both come off before anything is paid, so they decide whether a small claim is worth making at all.
What a motor policy does not cover
Driving without a valid licence or under the influence, using a private vehicle for hire or reward, ordinary wear and tear, mechanical or electrical breakdown, and consequential damage such as running an engine after water has entered it. Tyres and tubes are covered only when damaged along with the vehicle.
A small claim can cost more than it pays
Claiming resets a no claim bonus that may be worth half the own-damage premium, and the excess and depreciation come off what you receive. Work out what the claim will actually pay before making it.
Where the network garages are
Cashless repair is only cashless at a garage in the insurer network. A long list nationally is no help if the nearest one is two districts away, so check the list for the places you actually drive.
Do not let the policy lapse
Cover ends at expiry, not at a grace period. Driving uninsured is an offence and leaves you personally liable for whatever you cause, and restarting expired cover usually requires an inspection of the vehicle first. The no claim bonus is also lost if the gap runs past ninety days.
The documents that have to be valid
The registration certificate, a current pollution certificate and a valid driving licence. A missing pollution certificate can stop a renewal, and an invalid licence at the time of an accident can defeat the own-damage claim entirely.
How Beema1 supports you
What we do at each stage. The claim decision itself rests with the insurer.
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Work out what the vehicle needsIts age, what it is used for, who drives it and what it would cost to replace, which is what decides between third-party and comprehensive and which add-ons earn their price.
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Compare across insurersThe premium, the declared value, the excess, the add-on conditions and the garage network side by side, rather than the premium alone.
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Put the policy in placeThe paperwork, the inspection where an expired policy needs one, and making sure the no claim bonus you have earned is carried across.
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Remind you before it expiresMotor cover ends on its date with nothing to catch you. A reminder in good time is the cheapest part of this service.
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Stay with you through the claimReporting it, meeting the surveyor, getting the estimate approved and chasing the settlement, so you are not negotiating a repair and an insurer at once.
If you need to claim
- Tell usCall your advisor, or the number on your policy.
- We register itWe help you notify the insurer and understand the documents requested.
- AssessmentThe insurer reviews the claim and may request documents. Timing depends on the claim and applicable requirements.
- SettlementPayment depends on the policy terms and the insurer’s decision. Ask about the cashless or reimbursement process that applies.
How to choose, and what to check
Four things worth more than the premium figure.
Claim settlement ratio
Read the insurer’s report and check the reporting period, calculation basis and limitations. A ratio based on the number of claims differs from one based on claim amounts. Neither guarantees that an individual claim will be approved.
How long settlement takes
A claim paid slowly is paid while you are out of pocket. Ask for the average turnaround, not the best case, and ask what happens when a document is queried.
What is excluded
Every policy excludes something, and the exclusions decide whether cover is real. Waiting periods, sub-limits and room-rent caps matter more than the headline sum insured. Read these before you buy; nobody enjoys reading them at claim time.
Who helps when it goes wrong
The difference between a policy and a promise is who answers the telephone on the day of a claim. Ask that question before you pay, of us and of anyone else.
Motor Insurance questions, answered clearly
General guidance. Your own policy wording and Customer Information Sheet decide the specifics.
Choosing cover
Is third-party cover enough?
It satisfies the law and nothing else. It pays for the harm you cause to other people and pays not a rupee towards your own vehicle, so a stolen or written-off car is simply your loss. It makes sense mainly for a vehicle worth so little that insuring it is not worth the premium.
What should the insured declared value be?
As close to what the vehicle would genuinely cost to replace as the insurer will allow. It is the most you can receive for theft or a total loss, and reducing it to save a few hundred rupees a year is a poor trade the first time you need it.
Which add-ons are worth buying?
Zero depreciation is usually worth it for the first five years or so of a vehicle life, when parts are expensive and depreciation bites hardest. Engine protection matters where you drive through water. Return to invoice matters most in the first year or two. The rest depend on how and where you drive.
Is two-wheeler insurance different?
The structure is the same, the sums are smaller and the long-term third-party requirement for a new vehicle is five years rather than three. Two-wheeler own-damage cover is often skipped, which is a reasonable call on an old machine and an expensive one on a new one.
What about a commercial vehicle?
It is rated differently, on the use, the load and the route, and it carries obligations around the driver and the permit that a private policy does not. A private policy on a vehicle being used for hire is a policy that will not respond.
Premium and no claim bonus
What decides the premium?
For third-party, the engine capacity, on rates set centrally. For own damage, the declared value, the age and model of the vehicle, where it is registered, the excess you accept, the add-ons and your no claim bonus.
How does the no claim bonus build up?
Twenty per cent after one claim-free year, then twenty-five, thirty-five, forty-five and fifty after five. It applies to the own-damage part of the premium, not to third-party, so it discounts a portion rather than the whole bill.
Can I keep my bonus if I change insurer or car?
Yes. It belongs to you, not to the policy or the vehicle. Ask the previous insurer for a no claim bonus certificate and give it to the new one. Sell the car and the bonus comes with you to the next one.
Does one claim wipe it out?
Yes, unless you hold an add-on that protects it, and those usually allow a limited number of claims before the protection itself lapses. It is worth comparing the bonus you would lose against the claim you would gain before reporting minor damage.
Is a voluntary excess a good idea?
Only if you would genuinely absorb that amount rather than claim. It cuts the premium every year and costs you on every claim, which suits a careful driver with savings and suits nobody who would struggle to find the money after an accident.
Claims
What should I do straight after an accident?
Make the scene safe, tell the insurer before the vehicle is moved for repair where you can, photograph the damage, the other vehicle and the surroundings, and take the other driver details. Do not agree what you will pay anyone at the roadside.
When do I need to go to the police?
For theft, for any injury or death, and for damage caused to a third party. Report it promptly: a delayed report is one of the easier grounds for an insurer to question what happened.
Cashless or reimbursement?
Cashless at a network garage means the insurer settles the approved amount directly and you pay the excess, the depreciation and anything excluded. Reimbursement means you pay the garage and claim it back, which is the route at a garage outside the network.
What happens if the vehicle is written off or stolen?
The insurer pays the insured declared value less the excess, and the vehicle or its wreck becomes theirs. For a theft you will need the registration papers, both keys and the police report, and the settlement follows the untraced report rather than the complaint.
Why was less paid than the repair cost?
Usually depreciation on the parts replaced, the compulsory and voluntary excess, and items the policy excludes. Ask for the surveyor assessment in writing; it sets out what was allowed and what was not, line by line.
Renewal, transfer and the law
What if the policy has already expired?
Arrange cover before driving again. Most insurers require an inspection of the vehicle before restarting cover after a lapse, and the no claim bonus is lost once the gap passes ninety days.
I am selling the vehicle. What happens to the policy?
The policy should be transferred to the buyer within fourteen days of the transfer of ownership. Your no claim bonus does not go with it; ask the insurer for a certificate so you can carry it to your next vehicle.
Why does a new vehicle need a multi-year policy?
Since September 2018 a new car must carry three years of third-party cover and a new two-wheeler five, taken at first registration. It removes the commonest cause of uninsured driving, which was simply forgetting to renew.
Can I change my mind after buying?
Check the cancellation provisions and permitted refunds in your policy. Ask the insurer to explain the process and any deductions before cancelling, and keep any cover required for your vehicle in place.
What happens if I drive without insurance?
It is an offence under the Motor Vehicles Act, carrying a fine and possible imprisonment for a repeat offence, and more seriously it leaves you personally liable for injury or damage you cause, which a tribunal can award without any upper limit.