Published in Mint on 13th May 2014, Written by Kapil Mehta
I will be shifting to another city soon and plan to take my car with me. I bought it just a few months ago and plan to get it registered there. Do I have to inform my insurance company that I am moving as my policy will expire in one year?
—Ashu Toshniwal
You must inform the insurer by sending an email. They should issue an “extension of geographic area” endorsement. Sometimes, the insurer will charge additional premium. Generally, the extension excludes damage during transportation. This means you will need a different marine insurance to cover the transit risk. Inform the insurer when your registration number is changed. It will make an endorsement with the new number.
What does it mean when an insurer says that its health insurance policy restores the sum insured if it is used up. Is this a good facility?
—M.D. Dwivedi
Restoration of sum assured is a good feature to have and is now standard in the newer health insurances. It is particularly relevant in a family floater when different members of a family may suffer serious ailments.
Restoration implies that if the entire sum assured is used up in any one year then the sum assured is reinstated and can be used by any of the insured persons to treat an unrelated ailment. The feature is seldom utilized because of the unrelated ailment condition. Nonetheless, it is useful for adverse situations when insured persons are afflicted by multiple unrelated diseases.
I had purchased an overseas travel insurance for 15 days of travel. Unfortunately, my travel has been postponed for personal reasons. Can I modify the travel insurance dates or do I need to buy a new insurance?
—Nitin
You can ask for a change in dates, provided you make the request prior to the original start date in your insurance. However, if you have crossed the original start date, your insurance becomes active in the insurer’s books and it is unlikely to accept any changes.
The insurer rejected my health insurance application and deducted the cost of medical tests from the refund. Is that fair?
—Bhaskar Reddy
Insurers follow different approaches in accounting for medical tests. Some will make the customer pay upfront for tests and promise to refund a part or the entire cost if the insurance is accepted. Others build the medical test costs into the premium and will deduct a part of the cost only if the insurance is not accepted. I think it is fair if the insurer explains the rules to you before you apply for insurance. In any event, you are entitled to complete medical reports from the insurer.
