Theft protection

The rate at which vehicle population is exploding, it is high time one considers steps to check their rise, lest we find there are more vehicles than people in this country. Tales of hour-long traffic jams on expressway and freeways are a common sight and indicate the kind of troubles we face. Naturally, expecting safe parking in cities is, rather, too much a luxury that very few can actually manage. For protection of vehicles, the mandatory third party or liability cover that motor vehicles need to ply on the roads exists, and so does the own damage cover.

As the vehicle ages, it is not uncommon for most people to stick to the mandatory liability cover. The reason for such an act is to save on the premiums because with depreciation kicking in, you land up paying significant money in case of a claim, which makes the purpose of own-damage cover less relevant. At the same time, you would like to protect yourself against car theft, for which insurance cover is mostly sold along with the own-damage cover only. I know of people who stay abroad or in a different city for long stretches, and have cars that are infrequently used. These people will be more than happy to have a theft cover with the mandatory liability-only cover. The insurance regulation allows for theft to be covered independent of the own damage and you will be surprised that the premiums on the theft-only cover are just 25 per cent of what the own-damage cover will be. It is a different matter that the majority of insurers do not propagate this cover. Having read this column, you should ask for a theft cover to alleviate your fears of losing your car when you are away or even when it is parked by the roadside for lack of safe parking.

olmdesk@outlookindia.com