How is your car insurance premium calculated?

There are a lot of things in the fine print of our insurance policies- the Terms and Conditions, the Exclusions, the Special Cases… but premium is always told to us up front. More often than not, however, we tend to hear just a number, never really understanding how that number was arrived at, or what the process of calculation truly entailed.

The premium of car insurance depends on the following factors:

IDV (Insured Declared Value) of the vehicle
Type and age of the vehicle
Cubic Capacity of the engine
Geographical zone

3 Aspects of Car Insurance Premium

Your car insurance premium is the sum of the following 3 covers:

Third Party Cover

In India, it is mandatory to have a TPL cover if you own a car.

Third Party Liability (TPL) covers any damage to a person or property by your insured vehicle that results in financial loss or loss of life to the said person.

But TPL does not cover expenses borne by you for any repairs, so it’s always prudent to opt for a policy that covers losses caused by damage to your own vehicle as well.

The TPL premium depends on the car capacity and is issued by the Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDAI).

Own Damage (OD) Cover

The OD cover is optional but highly beneficial. It reimburses your expenditure in case your car is damaged due to any natural events such as earthquakes, fires, storms, etc. or due to an accident. The deal is - higher the Insurance Declared Value or IDV, higher the premium and vice versa. Thus, as your car grows older, the IDV decreases.

The premium for OD cover is calculated as a percentage of IDV as decided by the Indian Motor Tariff.

Formula to calculate IDV is:

IDV = Showroom price of your car + cost of accessories (if any) – depreciation value as per (IRDAI)

Thus, formula to calculate OD premium amount is:

Own Damage premium = IDV X [Premium Rate (decided by insurer)] + [Add-Ons (eg. bonus coverage)] – [Discount & benefits (no claim bonus, theft discount, etc.)]

Personal Accident Cover

This component of your car insurance premium goes beyond your car, and safeguards you, not only against accidents, but mishaps leading to a disability. This is a vital part of being comprehensively protected, because the chances of disability are higher than almost any other outcome. In 2014, nearly 3 lakh people were killed in road accidents. But 5 lakh were either seriously injured or permanently disabled. You can also increase the sum insured to include unnamed passengers in the policy.

The premium for this cover goes higher as your sum insured increases.

Other riders

And finally, you have riders. These riders, or car insurance add-ons, provide various kinds of protection and services to you at a nominal cost. For example, Engine Secure protects against damage caused by waterlogging, Road Side Assistance will send help if your car breaks down in the middle of the road, NCB Protection lets you make two claims without losing out on your No Claim Bonus, and more. Each rider helps to make your car insurance policy more robust to ensure you are protected in all situations.