Bike Insurance
Bike insurance is an agreement between the two-wheeler owner and an insurance company wherein the latter guarantees to cover the financial liabilities that might emerge because of an unanticipated occurrence involving the insured’s bicycle. Bike insurance covers all kinds of two-wheelers, including scooters, motorcycles, scooty, and moped.
There are three types of bike insurance plans accessible in the market, to be specific. These bike insurance covers are recognized based on their inclusion.
1. Third-Party Bike Insurance
Third-party bike insurance is a necessary prerequisite to riding a bike in India. Also known as a liability-only policy, third-party bike insurance covers temporary or permanent disability, bodily injuries, and death of third-party persons due to a mishap or an accident involving the insured’s bike. Bike insurance also covers property damage costs incurred by the third party up to Rs 1 lakh; however, it doesn’t cover damages incurred by the bike of the insured or the insured person.
2. Standalone Own-Damage (OD) Bike Insurance
The standalone own-damage bike insurance covers the own damages incurred by the bike of the insured due to a mishap, accident, fire, theft, man-made calamity, and natural disaster. This type of bike insurance offers flexibility to the policyholder to pick an insurance company of their choice. The policyholders can purchase a third-party policy and own-damage bike insurance policy either from the same insurance provider or an alternate one. In addition, a policyholder can extend the coverage by purchasing add-on covers.
3. Comprehensive Bike Insurance
A Comprehensive bike insurance safeguards your bike against damages that happened due to a mishap, fire, robbery, natural calamities, man-made disasters, explosions, etc. It provides complete coverage by paying for the financial liabilities that you might have sustained towards a third party and costs emerging due to own damages incurred by your bike. You can likewise enhance the coverage by paying an extra premium to buy add-on covers like zero depreciation cover, engine cover, roadside assistance cover, and so forth.
Key Features of Bike Insurance Policies
| Features | Coverage offered |
| Third-party cover | Coverage for any third-party liability in case of death, disability, and property damages due to an accident. |
| Personal Accident Cover | In case of death or disability of the owner because of an accident, the sum insured amount is paid. |
| Own Damage Cover | Offers financial protection against damage caused to own bike |
| Add-on covers | To enhance policy coverage, additional benefits are available at an extra premium. |
| No Claim Bonus | This benefit provides a discount on next year’s premium on not making a claim. With every claim-free year, the insured can enjoy a No Claim Bonus of 20%-50%, for up to 5 consecutive years. |
How to Choose a Two-Wheeler Insurance Policy?
While purchasing bike insurance, you need to do thorough research. To waitlist the most appropriate bike insurance policy, you should assess your necessities and look at a few bike insurance plans online. To make your search easier, here are different tips that you can follow to pick a bike insurance policy as per your budget and prerequisites:
- Know how much coverage you require: Assess your necessities and budget so that you can opt for the ideal one based on your requirements. While evaluating your prerequisites, you should consider various factors like the use of your bike, spends, liabilities, and so on.
- Pick a Reliable Insurance Company: Checking the claim settlement ratio of the insurance company is of most extreme significance while picking a reliable insurance company as it offers hassle-free claims settlement process when required.
- Pick Add-ons Wisely: Riders or additional items permit you to enhance the inclusion of your bike insurance plan. But as the add-ons are available at an extra premium, you need to choose the one you actually require carefully. Some of the common add-on covers in bike insurance include Engine cover, zero depreciation, Return to Invoice, and personal accident cover for pillion riders.
- Comparing bike insurance online: It is critical to compare different bike insurance plans online to settle on the best purchasing choice. You can analyze various plans based on the premiums, inclusions, exclusions, and various other parameters.
- Peruse Online Reviews: It is crucial to go through the reviews online from the verified customers who have purchased bike insurance as it will assist you with choosing if you are going for the right bike insurance policy or not. Hence, it is prescribed to pursue positive as well as negative remarks online with the goal that you can conclude what is best for you.
10 Best Bike Insurance Companies in India
Below is the list of the top 10 bike insurance companies according to the claim settlement ratio (CSR) in 2019-20 as mentioned below:-
| Companies | Claim Settlement Ratio |
| Bajaj Allianz General Insurance | 88.83% |
| Bharti Axa General Insurance | 87.99% |
| Hdfc Ergo General Insurance | 91.23% |
| Icici Lombard General Insurance | 87.71% |
| Iffco Tokio General Insurance | 95.30% |
| Kotak General Insurance | 82.81% |
| National General Insurance | 85.71% |
| New India General Insurance | 89.60% |
| Reliance General Insurance | 84.26% |
| Sbi General Insurance | 89.51% |
Advantages of buying a Bike Insurance Policy
Bike insurance comes with a host of benefits for the policyholders. Some of the key benefits include: following:
- Assists you Comply with Law: As indicated by the Indian Motor Vehicles Act, every bike owner is needed to hold at least a third-party bike insurance plan. Driving without third-party bike insurance in India is an offense and draws a penalty of Rs. 2,000 and additional detainment of as long as 90 days. Hence, a bike insurance policy assists you in complying with the law.
- Insurance against Third-party liabilities: Bike insurance covers the financial liabilities you might sustain towards third-party damage such as disability, bodily injuries, death, and property damage. The inclusion for property damage is restricted up to Rs. 1 Lakh.
- Insurance against Own-Damages: A bike insurance plan offers protection against the own-damage expenses of your bike, which might be caused due to mishaps, theft, fire, regular and man-made fiascos, and so forth. Such inclusions are covered under standalone own-damage plans and comprehensive bike insurance policies.
- Protection against Theft: A bike insurance policy covers your bike or two-wheeler against theft. In such cases, your insurance provider will pay you your bike’s or two-wheeler’s Insured Declared Value (IDV), which will be equivalent to the market cost of your bike.
- Individual Accident Cover: You can incorporate an individual accident cover of up to Rs. 15 Lakh under your bike insurance intended to cover the policyholder’s bodily injuries, death, or disability.
- Roadside Assistance: While buying the policy, you can opt for roadside assistance to assist you in need on the road. This benefit includes services like minor repair, flat tire, towing, amongst others.
A bike insurance policy is a necessity and comes with a host of benefits and features to keep you away from financial liabilities related to your bike or two-wheeler’s damage. Hence, if you are a two-wheeler owner, then having bike insurance is a must. You can visit iiflinsurance.com to gain more information about different types of bike insurance policies and choose the ideal one for yourself.