Having a bike is not enough if you do not have an active two-wheeler insurance policy. Why? Because it is mandatory. Avoid riding your bike without a policy or with an expired policy as this can lead to heavy traffic fines or imprisonment, or both. Plus, you will lose financial protection in case of any damage due to accidents or other reasons and be denied cashless garage service facilities. Your insurer may send periodic reminders about renewals, but you may still miss renewing the policy leading to its expiry. Remember, renewal of an expired policy involves additional charges and may demand an inspection of your bike in certain cases. Here’s a step-by-step guide to renewing a bike policy online.
It is easy and advantageous to renew your policy online by visiting your insurer’s website. The process is easy, and you do not require visiting your insurer in person to submit documents or to follow-up. The steps include:
- Visit the renewal page on your insurer’s website.
- Fill in the required details about your previous policy and bike.
- Share the registration number and the policy number.
- If details don’t reflect automatically, you may have to fill in some more, such as the make, model, variant, year and location of registration.
- If you are switching over to a new insurer, you have to put in your personal details, your previous policy details, and other information, as the insurer requires.
- Provide the status of your previous policy and No Claim Bonus (NCB) details.
- You can buy add-on covers or opt-out from some existing covers, depending on your requirements.
- You will get a quick quote online.
- Make the payment online through your preferred mode, such as debit/credit card or net banking.
- The insurer would renew the policy instantly and send a soft copy to your e-mail address.
- Keep your previous policy documents handy so that you can refer to them anytime during the renewal process. The documents that you may require are:
- The previous policy copy or renewal notice sent by your insurer
- Your bike’s RC (Registration Card)
- Your photo ID
- Your driving licence
The process for online renewal is almost the same for an expired bike insurance policy. Some insurers may not ask for any inspection or hardcopy to be submitted. Learn how to renew bike insurance online in case of expired policies:
- Visit the renewal page on your insurer’s website.
- Share all the details about you, your bike, your previous policy and (NCB) details.
- Since it is an expired policy, you may not receive the benefits or discounts from NCB if there are any. It depends on the insurer whether he will provide the benefits or not.
- It is up to your insurer to provide any discount for online renewal.
- If you have a basic third-party policy, you can get an additional own-damage policy or upgrade to a comprehensive policy.
- You can also buy add-on policies depending on your needs and budget.
- Cross-check the calculated quote with an online calculator.
- Complete the payment online through your preferred mode, such as credit/debit card or net banking.
- If your insurer does not ask for the inspection of the bike or submission of hard copies of documents, then the third-party policy would be renewed instantly in PDF form and activated.
- You can download it and save it for future reference.
- For own damage or comprehensive policies, you may have to upload photos or videos of your bike for the inspection.
- Post-inspection and approval, the own-damage component would be activated, but it may take some time.
- You will also receive a soft copy of the policy in your e-mail inbox.
What precautions must you take in case of expired policies?
Once you realise that your two wheeler insurance policy has expired, start the renewal process immediately. Inspection and approvals take time, thereby delaying the renewal of your policy. It could take some time to get your own-damage policy activated. So, avoid riding your bike unless you receive the proper policy documents. This would ensure that you do not suffer any financial loss in case of an accident.
Insurers provide a grace period for the online renewal of expired policies. If you exceed the grace period, you will not be able to renew the policy further and have to buy a new policy from scratch. You’ll also end up losing your no claim bonus. If you renew the policy after a year or more, the insurer will send your policy to the underwriter for approval. These rules vary between different insurers, so you have to be clear about the process that your insurer follows.
Since bike insurance is needed to provide you financial protection against accidents or loss, you should renew it on time. If you miss the renewal for some reason, do not delay the process further as it can lead to several problems in future. With the online transaction facility available with almost all insurers, you can now renew your bike insurance policy in a few clicks. If your insurer permits, you can avoid submitting hard copies of your documents or visit the insurer’s branch office with your bike for inspection in case of an expired policy.
Remember to renew your policy in time to enjoy uninterrupted benefits, or pursue expired policy renewal at the earliest to avoid any unpleasant situation.
