Car insurance is vital for every car owner and an insurance policy is basically financial support during the time of need. So, irrespective of the type of car you own, new or second-hand, it’s prudent to have valid four-wheeler insurance in place. If you buy car insurance for your second-hand car, you will ensure its safety on the roads.
So, in order to understand why car insurance is important for every four-wheeler, let’s learn a bit more about what exactly is four-wheeler insurance and how it helps a car owner.
What is Four-wheeler Insurance?
Car insurance online is a kind of financial umbrella to help you protect against any sudden events involving your four-wheeler. Such events may include man-made disasters like vandalism, natural calamities like cyclones, thunderstorms, etc., and any major or minor road accidents. Also, in case of third-party accidents, a car insurance claim can help you with the reimbursement of all the losses incurred.
Four-wheeler insurance policies ensure that along with providing the car owner with a financial cover it also offers the needed legal support. This is important because any accident may lead to legalities and having valid insurance in place can make the processes a lot easier. So, depending upon the coverage options offered by the insurer, car insurance policies are of two types; comprehensive insurance plans and third-party insurance plans.
With comprehensive car insurance policies, you can go for several add-on cover plans as per your requirements. However, with third-party insurance plans, you cannot get any additional coverage options. So, it’s prudent to go for comprehensive plans and before opting for one, you should always compare the policy options in hand and then choose one that fits perfectly to your needs.
Why is Insuring Second-Hand Vehicles Important?
Driving in India without valid four-wheeler insurance is an offense as per The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. So, you should at least buy a third-party policy to insure your second-hand car in the country. But such a policy would offer lesser coverage than that of a comprehensive plan. So, it’s prudent to choose a comprehensive insurance policy to ensure that your car gets the maximum protection all the time.
If you are thinking about buying a second-hand vehicle without opting for a comprehensive insurance policy, you and your car could be vulnerable to the below-mentioned risks:
- Theft of the car: If your car gets stolen in the near future and if you do not have a valid four-wheeler insurance policy in place, you will be at a total loss. So, if you have insurance for your second-hand car, you will be able to protect your pockets from paying for the loss as the insurer will reimburse the money that you will declare as the IDV for your vehicle when buying the car policy.
- Third-party mishaps: If you cause damage to a third-party in case of an accident with your second-hand car, you will have to bear all the costs of repairing the damage or the injuries caused to the third-party if you do not have insurance plan. With a comprehensive insurance plan, however, all your third-party risks will be covered.
- Natural disasters: Any natural catastrophes like earthquakes, floods, landslides, cyclones, etc., may severely damage your vehicle. Also, such disasters are unpredictable and hence, it would help if you have valid car insurance in place.
- Man Made disasters: Any man-made calamities like vandalism, riots, fires, etc., can also severely damage your car. And with comprehensive insurance plans, you can get the reimbursement for the financial loss due to the damages.
Things to Follow While Insuring a Second-Hand Car
Once you are done buying a second-hand car, you are all set to opt for car insurance online. However, there are a few things that you should keep in mind when buying car insurance or a used car insurance renewal online.
- First, you need to make sure that the ownership of the car has been transferred to your name by its previous owner.
- Secondly, if it had an insurance policy previously, make sure that the policy is transferred to your name. Although, in most cases, you won’t be able to change the type of coverage options of insurance before the expiration of the policy. So, if it previously had third-party insurance, you can only change it to a comprehensive plan once previous the policy expires.
- Finally, you need to confirm the claim history of the car from its previous owner. You can do so with the insurer as well. This will help you to verify the information that has been provided to you by the previous owner. You can do so by simply calling up the insurer and providing them with the policy number to learn about the car’s past claim history if any.
Conclusion
Thus, it is vital to insure even a second-hand vehicle in India from a reputed insurer like Tata AIG as it will keep you and your pockets protected against financial liabilities that arise due to accidental mishaps in the future. However, before buying a car insurance policy online, you should always compare the policies, read the policy documents carefully, and buy one that will suit your requirements the best.