GENERAL INSURANCE BLOG

Building a property from zero is a daunting process. It takes time, effort, and a high budget to construct your dream home or your dream office. Despite all this hard work, there are times when misfortune strikes unexpectedly. It can be a short circuit caused by lightning, a storm, flood, or cyclone that might drown your premises.

You won’t want your property to fall prey to such casualties. Despite taking all precautions and looking after safety measures, still, you cannot avoid the probability of mishaps. As rightly said, we must always pray for the best but prepare for the worst.

So, it is wise to be smartly insured against any such happenings. A policy that covers most misfortunes, either natural or man-made, is the Fire and Special Perils Policy.

What is the fire and special perils policy?

A fire and special perils policy is a contract where the insurer secures you and your property from any damages that may occur due to natural calamities such as storms, cyclones, and resulting floods, lightning, or man-made perils such as riots, strikes, or malicious damages.

Even though adversities like these may not strike you as something you should pay immediate attention to, it’s best to get insured before the situation gets out of hand. This will give you and your loved ones some much-needed peace of mind.

Key features of this policy:

This policy usually covers several contingencies, including

1. Fire hazard: Your property and possessions are insured if a fire breaks out.

2. Lightning: If any damage is caused by lightning impact

3. Explosion/Implosion: Your property is insured against an unforeseen explosion. If the building collapses inwards due to the failure of a system, that is also insured within this policy.

4. Human hazards like riots, strikes, and malicious damage: In case of these man-made hazards, your possessions are insured against visible physical damage.

5. Natural calamities: No one can accurately predict precisely when a natural disaster will occur. So, it gives great peace when your property is secured against these unforeseen calamities like storms, cyclones, typhoons, tempests, etc. This policy also insures you and your loved ones against floods, and landslides, including repairing your property.

6. Accidental mishaps: The repair charges are covered in the rare chance of accidental damages like the bursting of an automatic sprinkler installation.

7. Missile testing operations

8. Groundworks and other excavations

Some of the add-ons you can opt for in this policy are

1. Debris removal

2. Destruction in the event of a forest fire

3. Loss of rent

Features that are not covered:

Knowing the pros and cons of each policy before purchasing it is essential. There are a few instances where this insurance policy does not cover damage and loss to your property. These are

1. Destruction and damage caused by wars, being invaded by a foreign entity, civil war, rebellions, or in the case of military or usurped power

2. Nuclear war and allied risks

3. Pollution and contamination

4. Damages incurred due to volcanic eruptions or earthquakes

5. Damages incurred due to the loss of unclaimed precious stones or works of art

6. Acts of terrorism or militant activities

It takes a lifetime to build assets like property, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that one would want to get it insured against unforeseen misfortunes. The Fire and special perils policy are one of the most popular insurance policies chosen by homeowners, SME’s and big corporations alike. This holistic plan can protect you and your loved ones and also comes with a lot of flexibility.

You may even invest in the best HOME INSURANCE IN INDIA to protect the content of your home from incidents like theft or damage to the building. Investments that reap fruitful outcomes go a long way in safeguarding your dreams.

Click HERE to know more about the best home insurance in India.

Disclaimer: The information provided above is for illustrative purposes only. To get more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before purchasing a policy.

In modern times, uncertainty has become a part and parcel of life. You can take as many precautions as possible but certain unwanted situations can always take place. These situations can be related to your health, your life, or your possessions like car, mobile, house etc. Due to any man-made situations or natural disasters, you can suffer losses on various accounts. In such situations, an insurance policy is something that can reimburse you for the losses suffered to a great extent and reduce the monetary damage.

Although insurance policies cannot prevent the happening of any unfortunate incident, they can help minimize losses suffered due to such incidents. Irrespective of the fact whether you decide to Buy Insurance Policy Online or offline, having an active insurance policy is a must.

Insurance policies are available in various types and categories. The two main categories are life policies and non-life policies. The life policies are the ones that deal with ‘life’ of an individual. On the other hand, the non-life policies are the ones which deal with all other types of mishaps that can occur. These non-life policies are also called general insurance policies.

What are the different types of general insurance policies?

Following are the different types of general insurance policies that are available, whether you buy insurance policy online or offline: -

• Health insurance covers all the expenses related to a person’s health when he/she gets hospitalized due to problems like any illness or any accident. It also covers situations like an annual health checkup, daycare procedure, psychiatric support and other health-related situations. Specific extensions of these insurance policies cover critical illness, maternity-related situations and organ donation. The premium of a health insurance policy is based on the individual’s age, history of the health, any genetic disorders and other cases like that.
• Travel insurance losses suffered while travelling to domestic or international locations are covered by the travel insurance policy. Situations like loss of baggage or passport, hijacking, medical expenses and other travel-related situations that require settlement are covered. Any accidental deaths caused during the travel are also compensated by the insurance policy. Some insurance companies also allow the travel insurance policy to be free of any deductibles. In this situation, the company covers all the expenses.
• Motor insurance has further two types of policies that involve comprehensive and third-party policies. The third-party policy involves the settlement in situations that involve any damage caused to another vehicle or person by your vehicle. The accidental expenses caused by your vehicle are settled by the insurance company. Comprehensive policies also cover the damages caused to your vehicle. It is a policy which encompasses the features of third party policy in it.
• Marine insurance is useful in reimbursing of losses cause to goods that are being transported through cargo ships to national as well as international locations.
• Commercial insurance policies deal with the business-related insurances that involve loss of property, professional liability, marine damage and other such expenses.
• Home insurance the insurance covers the losses related to theft, fire, or other damages caused to your home.
• In case you are interested in buying a general policy, you can do so by contacting any insurance company, or you can even buy insurance policy online. The quotations will be provided to you in both online and offline cases. You can look at it and in case it suits you, you can purchase the respective insurance policy. You must make the premium payment on time to keep the policy active and enjoy its coverage. Any delay in the premium payment beyond the grace period would render the policy ineffective, exposing you to various liabilities and losses.

Traffic rules are meant for your safety, and there should be no arguments against why you should ensure to follow traffic rules while driving or walking on roads. Traffic rules help protect you on the road as well as everyone else driving on the same road. People should know about the basic traffic signs and rules that should be followed while driving any vehicle on roads. People driving bigger vehicles need to be extra careful because of the multiple blind spots that are created by the big size of the vehicle.

Moreover, someone behind any bigger vehicle should also understand that there is limited visibility of the driver, and they should not try to come in the way of such vehicles which can be dangerous for both parties. Prevention is always better than cure but in case any mishappening occurs due to mistakes from either side, there are insurance providers who provide personal accident insurance as well. You can buy Personal Accident Insurance Online from any reputed insurance provider after properly comparing the benefits of all the different policies that are provided by different insurance providers.

Need for following road traffic rules

Government statistics show that more than 400 road accidents occur in India almost every day due to the negligence of the people driving and walking on roads. In many of these accidents, people get injured and in most of them, there are deaths of people involved also while some may escape unhurt. But, if traffic violations had not taken place and people were following the road traffic signs properly, there is a very high chance that the number of accidents will be very less than the current rate of 400 accidents per day.

Such traffic crashes and accidents also affect the Gross Domestic Product of the country, and the impact can be as high as 3% of the GDP. The traffic signs put on roads by the government for the people work to ensure that order ensues on the roads and signs are followed by the people on the roads. These traffic signs if followed properly will greatly help in reducing the accidents that occur daily on Indian roads.

Misconceptions amongst the people are aggravating the problem

There is a large population of India that do not follow traffic rules and is habitual of violating the rules, either due to no knowledge of the signs or even due to some misconceptions. There is a long time misconception in Indian public that it is not necessary to follow traffic signals after 10 PM and you see people racing past signals after 10 PM. This is completely false but people still following such myths is also the reason for many high-speed accidents occurring at night on city roads. People also do not follow one-way road rules and come with their vehicles on the road from either direction. They believe that reversing their vehicle on a one-way road is correct even if they are walking in the opposite direction, but this is completely wrong. You can reverse your vehicle on a one-way road, but you should be moving in the direction in which the road allows movement. These were examples of some common misconceptions among the people in India but there are more, and these myths lead to an increase in accidents on the roads.

It is necessary to train the people what different traffic signs and signals mean and what you should do when you see one of these signs. Campaigns should be undertaken by the government to train people on how to drive their vehicles properly on the road without causing a nuisance to others. Additionally, one must purchase personal accident insurance online or offline, as preferable, to get protection in case of such incidents.

The foremost priority for any parent is to make their children financially secure by the time they turn eighteen and are ready to take on the world. In the growing years, your children may even decide to start up some business of their own for which they will require funds too. Also, you must consider the high living costs if your child decides to study or work in big cities like the metros. It is crucial to allocate funds to aid your child's education at foreign universities, considering the boost in international education opportunities.

Efficient financial planning is the key to being future-ready and meeting all expenditures to secure your child's future. We have designed our guide to help you plan your finances in the most appropriate way to ensure your child's bright future.

1. Start early and set your goals:
The first tip is to start as early as possible and set realistic and achievable goals. You should decide how much funds you will require to satisfy your child's aspirations. It need not be an exact amount; a close estimate will do. Calculate how much money you can save and put aside every month for your child from your current income.

2. Investing:
Investing your savings will make them grow; hence, you must decide where to invest this money. Ideally, your investment should be more in equity and less in safe-haven assets such as debt funds, fixed deposits, and gold, considering your long-term goals. Equity has the power to give you compounding returns over the years and grow your money exponentially. However, it is associated with risk.
Fixed deposits and debt funds will give you relatively lower returns, but they will be steady and safe. You must make smart decisions while investing your capital into these investment instruments.

3. Choosing the best schemes:
You will need some money for your child in the short term to meet her schooling and living expenses and more money in the long term for meeting her higher education expenditure. Allocate your investment between different asset classes accordingly and choose the best possible schemes available for the same. Invest in avenues that allow withdrawals without a long lock-in period to meet your short-term needs.
You can take the mutual funds route to invest in equity if you are not comfortable with investing in the stock market directly. Equity comes with many options, such as investing in different economic sectors, market capitalisation per your time horizon, etc. You can also buy government bonds and gold directly from outside sources.

4. Appropriate insurance coverage:
Insurance keeps your family secure in case you or your member meets with an accident. Hence, invest in a good insurance policy as per your individual need. What will happen to your child's future if something happens to you? Take a general insurance cover so that your children get fruitful benefits. Similarly, go for a mediclaim or comprehensive health insurance policy from the best health insurance company in India with a full family cover so that you are under no financial stress if anyone from your family meets with an emergency and requires hospitalisation.

5. Nominee appointment:
Never miss out on filling in the name of a nominee while investing anywhere. Fill in your spouse's name or a reliable third person, but do not leave the field blank. Only the nominee will have legal access to your investments in case of your sudden demise.

6. Regular review:
Review your investments regularly. If your investment is not performing as expected, change it to other investment options with higher returns. Similarly, keep checking your mutual funds' scheme performance and change it if it underperforms for a long time.

Proper financial planning will help you to secure your child's future. The above tips will keep you stress-free, and you will have a sufficient corpus ready by the time your child goes for her higher studies or is ready to start a venture. Reliable insurance coverage from the best health insurance company in India and good investments will be the perfect formula to turn your child's dreams into reality while being in their best state of health and well-being.

Click HERE to buy insurance from the best health insurance company in India.

Disclaimer: The information provided above is for illustrative purposes only. To get more details, please refer to policy wordings and prospectus before purchasing a policy.