General Insurance rules you should follow

The world we live in today presents many precarious situations like natural or manmade disasters. These calamities can greatly affect our lives and put us in financial and personal trouble. As a result of this, there is an increasing trend of insuring various personal assets like Car, Bike, Home and one can also opt to insure one’s health and travel plans. In this article, we look at some of the basic rules you should follow while buying such insurance plans, also known as general insurance plans:

    1)     Buy policies online: Buying insurance policies online has many advantages. Firstly, it allows cashless and paperless process which makes it very convenient for the buyer. Also, as no distribution charges and processing charges are levied and lack of commission costs to the agent also helps in bringing down the cost of the policy. This helps the buyers to buy the policies at affordable rates.

    2)     Comparing thoroughly: It is important that the buyer compares policies offered by various general insurance providers to cross-check the various features, the premium amounts, coverage duration and other important factors. This allows the buyer to make a smart choice from the various options provided to him.

    3)     Don’t focus on low premiums: Sure, cost is a huge factor when buying anything. This applies to the purchase of insurance policies as well. However, some buyers are so fixated on price points that they ignore all other factors. This is a cardinal sin in the case of general insurance. You could be missing out on important cover, just to get lowered premium amounts. So always look for plans that satisfy your needs and then compare the ones that do on the basis of their premium.

    4)     Purchase from Genuine: We live in a world of scamsters! There are numerous posers out there that promise the world in terms of protection but disappear once you’ve made the premium payment. Even if the general insurance company legit, there’s a possibility that they might run into financial hurdles and shutdown, leaving you hanging. This is why you should always look for plans that are certified by the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDAI). You have complete peace of mind when your purchase plans from such players.

    5)     Long-term is always better: Today most general insurance plans come in long-term variants. These plans might have a slightly higher upfront cost but they work out to be much more cost-effective in the long run. They also come up trumps in terms of their NCB workings. Lastly, and probably most importantly, they do not need to be painstakingly renewed every year.

    

    6)     Don’t renew blindly: Talking about renewals, most just pay the premium every year without sparing a thought about switching things up. Ideally, one should take a quick litmus test of the market when renewing, who knows, you might find a better plan at a lower cost!

So, as we saw in this article, there are various factors to consider when you buy various general insurances. We hope that this article was helpful to you and gave you a better perspective on buying general insurance policies. Wishing you a great day!