What the new insurance directive means – a guide

There’s a new IRDAI directive in town, and it comes into effect tomorrow, 1 September, 2018. This makes it mandatory for all new two wheelers to have a five-year third party insurance policy when they get sold. 

This new directive does not mention anything about the renewal of insurance, so for now, renewal is not included in the directive. For new bikes, a five-year period of third party insurance is deemed compulsory. The depreciation of value of the vehicle will be taken into account for the policy, and the no-claim bonus will be applied at the end of the policy. If the customer wants to purchase own damage cover (comprehensive insurance policy) above that, he can purchase that for one year. 

It is currently unclear what the procedure is when the customer wants to renew own damage premium with a different insurance provider at the end of one year, or whether the customer is bound to the original provider for the full five years. 

To go over the types of insurance – third party insurance is the most basic type of insurance, and all vehicles are required by law to have valid third party insurance. It covers the other vehicle involved in the accident and not the person who purchased it. Own damage or Comprehensive insurance policies cover the vehicle of the person who has purchased it, but at the depreciated value – the value of the vehicle at the time of the accident. Finally, there is zero or nil depreciation insurance which takes into account the value of the vehicle as new. This is understandably the most expensive type of insurance, as the customer has to put in only a token amount for a claim. The rest is borne by the insurance company. 

We’ve got a table below that shows how the cost of the insurance will change once the new directive comes into effect. Please remember that these are third party insurance rates, and comprehensive or nil depreciation amounts will have to be added as necessary.