Insurance Renewal questionnaire

1. The premium calculations at CaraWale.com seem to be flawed - it does not have a scaling factor for NCB, and the premium values thrown up by the calculator is almost certainly assuming no NCB factor, so it turns out to be rediculously high - by upto 80% of actual premium offered in the market. Is it designed to make the eventual TATA AIG offer seem a real steal?

2. Is it OK to change insurer based on the lowest quote? Is there a disadvantage in changing insurer?

3. Is there a lot of service quality difference in the private insurers? Who is the best? Who the worst?

4. What percentage of lower premium justifies shifting insurer?

5. Do insurers qualify their cover by small print (I did not see much in the policy I currently have, but it could be different for the next insurer, and the policy comes in your hand when you are committed for a year, hence asking in advance).

6. Like mutual funds, is it beneficial to buy policies directly from the insurer as against through agents?

7. How much is the depreciation on the IDV per year? CarWale.com says 15%, which appears to be too steep.

8. Is the NCB / discount at the discretion of the agent/ quote offerer from the insurance co? I was getting wild NCB %ages from 20 to 45, and conditions were being put like "this %age is only for this month, next month the NCB discount will come down by 10%" etc. Sounded totally random to me. How does this work in reality?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

when did you move to gurgaon... i thought you live in the neighbourhood

CarWale.com magic !

Checked insurance quote for my Gurgaon registered vehicle. Checking on road prices at a location or getting an insurance quote like I did changes the location field of the profile for the member. It should  be temporary, but somehow not so temporary for CW. An improvement request is pending.

Krishna, I have listed out the following threads/links that will by & large give you answers on most queries on insurance (please don't mind some repetitions) ...

• 1st insurance renewal
• Calculation of Insurance Premium
• Which one to take & why?
• Car damaged - should claim or not?
• NCB (no claim bonus)
• Insurance Variance
• Insurance Transfer
• Low IDV of new car

Thanks Pankaj, for the links! (Forums are the search engines for the lazy!)

Seriously, There are still some answers to be found, in spite of the links. Can we concentrate on the insurer changing part a bit? I am getting similar quotes from two insurers, with one (Reliance) starting out wildly off mark, but settling quickly to the expected level and is actually coupla hundred bucks below the renewal quote from my current insurer.

I'm sure with a bit of prodding, the reliance agent can come up with an incrementally better figure, but not much will be left to squeeze out of there then. So the premium delta remains tantalizingly small for me to take a decision about which side to lean...

I did change from ICICI Lombard to Bajaj Allianz at the time of 1st renewal - due to difference in the premium.  If the difference is negligible, I would prefer to continue with my existing insurer - in fact, in that case, the existing insurer itself would in all probability offer/reduce premium to match at par (almost). Reliance, as I understand, is not as good a service provider as ICICI Lombard, Bajaj Allianz, Tata AIG.