What happens if you do not renew your
car insurance policy on time? Read on to know the pitfalls.
Makrand Joshi* (33) has learnt his
lesson. Never again will he put off doing a task which he should do at once.
“I was on holiday with my friends and
we were in my car. We crossed over to Goa from Maharashtra, and we were just
reaching our hotel when the car hit a bump. To avoid crashing into a divider, I
swerved into a tree,” he says. On getting out and inspecting the car, I saw
that the damages were severe. The bonnet had crumpled and the fender was
crushed. My friends told me to call my insurance provider and claim insurance.”
Then he got the biggest shock. “The
customer care executive told me that my car insurance had expired a month ago.
I had been unaware of this and I was driving without insurance. Naturally, I
had to pay for the damages myself,” he rues.
Take a cue from Makrand’s example and
get your motor insurance renewal done. Not renewing your car insurance
can land you in serious trouble. Even a day’s delay can prove costly. Take the
case of Shyam Dandekar* (44), who was aware that his vehicle insurance renewal
was coming up. “I was mistaken about the date. When I checked the policy
papers, I realised that I was three days late already. Despite numerous
requests, I could not renew the old policy, and I had to take a fresh one,” he
explains.
Most people take car
insurance renewal in India very lightly, but it can have
serious consequences. The car insurance policy is a yearly contract between the
vehicle owner and the insurance provider, and it must be renewed every year. The
insurance provider will initiate a fresh car policy renewal process if
the renewal is delayed by even a day. Driving without a valid car insurance
policy can prove fatal.
“People cannot be casual about vehicle
insurance renewal,” says Rajesh Virmani*, an insurance advisor. “A slight
delay is fine in case the policy only covers third party liability. Many
insurance providers are happy to renew third party liability after a slight
break. But comprehensive coverage policies cannot be renewed after even a
single day’s break. This means that any damage to self or the vehicle during
the break period will not be covered by insurance,” he explains.
Imagine meeting with an accident or
worse, causing damage and injury to another person when one’s motor insurance
has expired. “I am very careful about the renewal dates,” says Brijesh Kapadia
(44), who says he has never missed a renewal date. “Insurance companies have
made the renewal process very easy. I used the online car insurance renewal
option for the first time last year, and it was done within minutes. Besides,
the insurance provider sends a reminder before the last date elapses. It is
sheer careless to not renew the motor insurance on time.”
The risk of not doing the car
insurance renewal on time also extends to the insurance provider charging a
higher premium after a break in the policy tenure. You may also not get the
no-claim bonus if you do not renew on time.
*The
characters in this article are fictional and have been used for illustrative
purposes.
