Each year most bike owners are plagued by this one question: “Can I postpone my bike insurance just by a day?” During the course of this article, I’ll try to answer that for you. :)
TrueStory
Admit it! As bike owners [and here I’m talking to you too, the edgy Scooty owners!] we have dared to be mini-rule breakers. We all have dared to ride our bikes on an expired insurance policy.
And when you were able to sneak past the traffic police, without paying a hefty fine – Oh the thrills!
And all this because, “I kept postponing the insurance renewal for my bike for two months (or more).”
Ask yourself, “Why did I not renew my bike insurance despite knowing of the consequences?”
And your inner self would say, loud and clear,
“Because you were lazy my dear, and because you thought paying Rs. 50 as fine to the traffic policeman is better than paying Rs. 800 in annual premium.”
90 Days and Beyond: Renew Before That!
You and I can give each other a thousand reasons to not renew the insurance policy for our bike in time. But the point is, you must do it within 90 days of your bike’s insurance expiry date.
Why?
It’s a vicious cycle which could include one or more of the below circumstances:
- Running the chance of getting caught by the traffic police, paying a hefty fine.
- Not getting compensated if something happens to your bike in an unforeseen incident, like theft, fire etc.
- Being forced to pay out of your own pockets if you injure someone else or damage their property.
- Losing out important benefits – no-claim bonus being one of them. It’s an important discount on the own-damage premium and if you hadn’t claimed in the past 5 years, it could have gone up to 50%.
- Paying more premium at the time of buying a new insurance policy.
Now I’m not going to bore you with the details of why you should buy insurance for your bike in the first place. You can just check out this real quick infographic.
Eternal Sunshine for the Insured Bike
Now that your inner voice has given you the sight of reality, let’s get to the point. Renew your two wheeler insurance each year.
There’s something known as the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 that makes it mandatory for all motor vehicles, including two-wheelers, to be insured at least of third-party liability insurance. A third-party liability insurance will make sure that if you were to injure someone or damage their property in an accident, your insurance company could pay them the compensation.
The dynamics of a third-party liability insurance looks like this:
Insurance policy [contract] = First Party [You] pays annual premium to Second Party [Insurance Company] Accident = First party injures a third-party [random guy walking on the road]
Insurance claim = Second party [insurance company] pays for injuries caused by you to the third-party.
Now third-party insurance is dirt-cheap, literally. The premium has been pre-set by the IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India). All you need to go online and pay.
But obviously, this plan doesn’t cover you for damages done to your own bike. Which is why people talk about a comprehensive two-wheeler insurance policy – a little expensive, but worth every single penny!
Renew like a Pro not a Procrastinator
Thank fully, for procrastinators like myself, insurance renewal is no more something I’d be shying away from.
1. Online hai, fast hai
When you miss your electricity bill payment deadline, where do you go? To the Electricity Board’s office, with papers, written application etc. But when you miss out renewing your bike insurance, you just go online. Just go to any online insurance portal, fill in your details, make payment and Viola! No inspections, simple insurance.
2. Zero Paperwork
It's kind of obvious, that when insurance is happening online, so is its paperwork. You simply give your registration details, your RC number, engine number, chassis number, previous policy details, etc. You even make payment through a debit / credit card or via net banking. That’s zero paperwork. Just make sure you don’t make any mistakes while filling in your details. And even if you do, call the insurance company or the online insurance broker immediately.
3. One, Two, Three years of Insurance
The insurance companies have recently introduced something called long-term insurance plan (you could read about them here). So now you can pay premium for three years in one go and ride hassle-free. And the best part is that insurance companies send renewal reminders. So even after three years, you won’t miss the date. Or will you?
The Answer to that First Question
You might recall, the question was, “Can I postpone my bike insurance just by a day?”
If you were able to answer “No” after reading this article, then it’s a job well done for me. The point is, it doesn’t make sense to ride around your precious set of two-wheels without insurance. There’s way too much risk, financially and mentally.
So iss baar, renew your two wheeler insurance in time.
