Among the long list of things, you need to check before driving your car on the road, one of the most important things is whether you have car insurance or not. After you have checked that, you can pay attention to the type of coverage you want.While third-party insurance is a standard and mandatory policy by law, you can upgrade to other kinds of policies as well.
Any car ownerwould naturally want to avoid accidents and other mishaps. However, it is not always possible to predict and prevent such incidents. Moreover, these incidents bring a heavy financial burden with them. In the form of damages to your car and third-party liabilities. A third-party car insurance policy only deals with one of those.In such a situation, you would have to cover repair or replacement expenses for damages on your own in the case of an accident. Instead, you can supplement your vehicle coverage with other kinds of policies like own damage (OD) or buy a comprehensive insurance policy.
To make the right choice between the two, you need to understand what the difference between comprehensive and own damage insurance is. To do that, you need to look into the own damage insurance meaning and its importance in your vehicle insurance. *
Own damage insurance
An own damage car insurance policy is an insurance product that focuses more on coverage for your car against damages, theft, etc. This type of insurance plan is an ideal purchase if you have already purchased third-party insurance for your car. *
Since third-party insurance covers only third-party injuries, death or property damages, you should buy OD cover for your car. An own damage policy becomes active if your car sustains damage as a result of an accident, natural disaster, etc. The coverage extends to other situations such as total loss of the car andcar theft of the insured car as well. However, this type of policy does not offer third-party policy. *
Comprehensive insurance
Buying comprehensive car insurance means that you have access to the features of both third-party and own damages policies. So, you do not need to worry about covering liabilities, damage/ theft expenses, and other responsibilities individually. Purchasing a single comprehensive policy offers a solution for all your coverage needs. *
What makes them different?
The main point of difference between own damage policies and comprehensive insurance policies is the set of coverage benefits they offer. An own damage policy provides insurance coverage the insured vehicle against any accidental damages, loss, theft, and much more that the vehicle may incur. However, it does not offer coverage for third-party liabilities. *
A comprehensive plan combines the coverage of own damage policies and third-party policies. Hence, it offers you financial and legal support towards third-party liabilities. At the same time, it covers your vehicle against the repair cost of damages, and other instances like theft. For this reason, comprehensive policies are more expensive than other types of car insurance. Hence, it is smart to use a car insurance calculator to make sure comprehensive coverage falls within your budget. *
* Standard T&C Apply
Advantages of comprehensive coverage
- Financial safety against third-party liabilities
Most car owners buy insurance only to comply with the directive of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. As per this directive, third-party car insurance is mandatory by law to cover the losses of a third-party injury/death or property damage that may be caused by your vehicle. *
The advantage of comprehensive insurance is that it offers the coverage of both own damage and third-party liability policies. Thus, you can have the own damage coverage while being able to legally drive your vehicle in India and have financial safety against potential third-party incidents on the road. *
- Coverage against damages/loss of your car
As you may know, a third-party policy by itself alone doesn’t protect your car against accidental damages. In such situations, a comprehensive policy can come to your rescue. However, there may be many situations out of your control where your car may get damaged beyond repair or lost. A comprehensive policy can prove to be up to the challenge during a whole host of unforeseen situations. *
- Add-ons
The policy gets the name ‘comprehensive’ due to the holistic approach it offers towards car insurance coverage. However, every policy has its sets of inclusions and exclusions. Apart from those, there are pieces of coverage that you can choose to include in your coverage later. These are known as add-ons and charge extra premium for specific situational coverage that is not included in the basic policy. These add-ons can be purchased when you make your car insurance renewal online.
Standard T&C Apply
Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation. For more details on benefits, exclusions, limitations, terms and conditions, please read sales brochure/policy wording carefully before concluding a sale.
