We purchase four-wheelers to make our daily routines more convenient, traverse long and distances alike and reduce our dependence on public transportation. However, with a rise in the number of vehicles on India’s roads, the chances of accidents and the consequent damage to our vehicles also increase.
Therefore, we must take the necessary steps to protect our vehicles from various potential dangers on the road. One of the most optimal ways to ensure your vehicle stays protected is by buying a suitable car insurance policy. You can opt to purchase car insurance online as it will help you understand the factors that impact your insurance cost and enable you to select the policy most suited to your insurance requirements and budget.
What Is A Car Insurance Policy?
A car insurance plan is an insurance policy that is designed to provide financial security to car owners against any potential damages to their four-wheelers. You will be required to pay car insurance premiums to the selected insurance company to maintain the insurance policy plan active, in return for which the insurance company will provide you with financial assistance if your car is damaged in any way.
Car insurance companies also allow you to enhance your insurance coverage by including several car insurance add-ons. However, you must carefully choose the add-ons for your plan, as it can lead to a rise in car insurance prices. It is advisable to carefully read your insurance policy document to understand the coverage you are going to get.
While looking through your prospective four wheeler insurance policy document and comprehending the policy’s features, it is important that you also pay attention to the garage network of the insurance company. This is because the insurer’s network garages can help you get cashless repairs for your vehicles.
What Is Cashless Car Insurance?
In India, all the motor insurance companies have tie-ups with a wide network of cashless garages. These garages can be found all over the country and are accessible to the policyholders residing in every state. With a cashless garage network, you can fix the damages to your four-wheeler without having to pay any money for the bill. This is termed cashless car insurance since you get the benefits of cashless repairs through a car insurance policy.
For instance, if your vehicle is involved in an accident and damaged as a result, you can directly take it to any cashless garage listed under your insurance company’s network garages. Once you have reached the garage, you can get the car repaired, following which the insurance company will pay the garage for all the repair expenses.
Therefore, through cashless car insurance, you can get your four-wheeler repaired without paying anything. However, you will still have to pay the deductible mentioned in your car insurance policy, that is, the amount of the car insurance claim you have agreed to pay from your pockets. Therefore, cashless garages are quite effective for getting your car repaired without worrying about the bills.
How Can You Make Use of the Cashless Garages Facility?
Most car insurance companies in India provide their policyholders with a list of the authorised garages in their network. This list is also available on the insurer’s official website. You can also learn about the network garages through your insurance agent. Along with this, most insurance companies provide a toll-free number through which policyholders can get all the details about their cashless service centres.
One of the most crucial aspects of the cashless garage tie-ups of car insurance companies is that following any accident-induced damage, a network garage will repair the damages caused to your car based on the extent of the insurance plan’s coverage. Therefore, to avail of the facility of cashless repairs, you will have to follow the following steps.
- Inform the insurer: You must inform your car insurance company as soon as your vehicle is damaged. You can contact the insurer by phone or email.
- File a cashless claim: You must then raise a cashless car insurance claim request with the customer care team or on the insurer’s website.
- File an FIR: File an FIR application at the closest police station in the event of an accident or theft and collect a copy thereof.
- Cooperate with the insurance surveyor: Your insurance company will then send an authorised surveyor to inspect the damages to the vehicle and analyse the total loss incurred.
- Submit the necessary documents: You will have to submit copies of the documents requested by the survey r. After the surveyor has ensured the documents are in order, they will approve your vehicle’s repairs.
- Locate the nearest cashless garage: You should get the address for the nearest cashless garage from your insurer’s official website or through their customer care team. Then you must get your vehicle transported to the garage and get it repaired.
- Don’t worry about the bills: After the repairs are conducted, the insurer will take care of the bills.
The cashless garage service offered by car insurance companies can be quite useful, particularly since the need for these repairs is mostly unanticipated. However, you must realise that the insurance company will pay only for the damages covered under your insurance plan. For instance, if some parts of the car, such as the gadgets, engines, etc., that aren’t included in the policy suffer any damages, you will have to pay for them out of your pocket.
Conclusion
Buying a car insurance policy is important to have financial security against the damages that your vehicle may sustain. While purchasing a car insurance policy, you must check the cashless garage network of the selected insurer since you can get cashless repairs for your car through these garages.
If you are looking for the best cashless car insurance plan in India, you must first analyse your car insurance requirements then carry out a substantial assessment and comparison of various plans to find the one most suitable for you.