A car insurance policy that has not been renewed before or by its expiry date is known as a lapsed or a ‘break-in’ policy.
Driving without at least a 3rd party insurance in India is illegal & has a penalty of Rs. 2000/-
Apart from the penalty you may even be imprisoned up to three months
You’ll have to pay for any car damages out of your own pocket in the absence of insurance.
You’ll have to lose ‘No claim Bonus’ (NCB) which can be up to nearly 50% of the premium.
You are provided with a grace period or grace time of 3 months which starts from the date of expiry of your car insurance. This period is most commonly known as the break-in period or break-in time.
The car insurance policy renewal during the break-in period requires a car's inspection by the insurance company. Either you can do this inspection or the insurer can arrange for it.
Being your relationship manager, the insurance agent would probably have the ability to restore your lapsed car insurance policy without any penalty on your part. Don’t make any postponements, particularly in case of an old car. The worst case scenario would be that you will be required to pay higher premiums.
Accidents can happen anytime and anywhere, do not drive your car if your insurance policy has expired. In case you run into an accident, you will have to pay for the damages caused to yourself, your car and any third party involved.
As soon as the inspection is completed by the insurance company, go ahead and buy the insurance policy within 24 hours.
Apart from renewing your policy, this is also a good time to purchase a new car insurance from a different vendor. Online comparison is a good option.
In case of new policy purchase, keep your basic documents such as previous year’s policy and Registration Certificate ready. These are the documents which the insurance agent will ask for as a mandatory requirement.
When a car insurance policy expires, the insurer will usually send a surveyor to review any pre-existing damages to ensure your eligibility for car insurance. The inspector will decide the predetermined fixed deductible based on the extent of damage, if any. The predetermined fixed deductible is charged in any of your future claims.
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Your car has adequate coverage 24x7 without any break-in period or gaps.
You get an NCB – No Claim Bonus for each & every year that goes claim-free.
Accidents are common and inevitable. If by chance you are involved in one, after your policy has expired, it means you'd have to shell out the money from your own pocket!
The more you wait, the tougher it’ll be to search for an insurance company, and furthermore for older cars. Along with this, you’ll also be required to incur the charges related to your car’s survey.
Were you aware that a car insurance policy lapsed for a period of more than 3 months could lead to a loss of all your accumulated NCB? Think of this way, the NCB raked up over 4 years could stack up to 45-50%. Imagine losing that? Not really.
Yes, you can. Many insurance companies provide a grace period in which you can renew your expired car insurance policy. The grace period is usually 1 month. However, it may differ from insurer to insurer.
The process has three steps that you need to follow in order to get your car insurance renewed:
Step 1 - Visit the official website of the insurance company. Go to the car insurance renewal section available on the website.
Step 2 - Enter the details of your previous car insurance policy, like the previous policy number and your car’s registration number/engine number/chassis number.
Step 3 - Check the policy details and the policy renewal premium and then proceed with the payment of the renewal fee. Usually, the available modes of online payments are - credit card, debit card, and Net banking.
While renewing your car insurance policy, make sure to check these things before you make the payment:
There is no need to worry because NCB can be transferred from one vehicle to another as long as the insured is the same. NCB is transferable from one insurer to another at the time of renewal. An NCB Certificate from the existing insurance company will be required in order to transfer the NCB.
Yes, you can downgrade your cover at the time of renewal. For instance, you can choose to remove some of the drivers you had previously identified. Or you can also choose to drop an add-on cover you had previously purchased.
Your car insurance financially protects you from liabilities and unforeseeable circumstances. By driving with an expired policy, your are not only losing that protection, you are also breaking the Indian Motors law.
Yes, but just make sure that you don’t delay the process any further. Better late than never, right? Keep in mind that in case of renewing an expired car insurance policy, your car would have to undergo inspection. Also, if your car insurance has been expired for more than 90 days, then you may lose out on your no-claim bonus benefit too.
Currently, you can only initiate the renewal process by contacting Coverfox online. This leads to a simple and quick offline renewal process.
Yes, you can but there is a catch here. If your car insurance has been expired for more than 90 days ago, you will lose out on your NCB discount benefits.
The only documents required for renewing you expired car insurance policy are the RC copy and a copy of your previous insurance policy. Your car would have to undergo inspection though. If your car comes out to be 'recommended', then you can move on to insuring it. However, if your car is labelled 'not recommended' by the insurance company [for pre-exsiting damages etc] then you'd have to first get those damages repaired before moving on to insuring your vehicle.
It is a temporary document that acts as a proof of insurance that helps insure your vehicle. Valid for 60 days, it is replaced by the renewed policy document.
