The Wonders of Old and New Car Insurance Coverage
It’s a grim picture
The Association for Safe International Travel reports that nearly 1.3 million people die in road crashes each year at an average of 3,287 deaths a day and that an additional 20–50 million more are either injured or permanently disabled.
To many motorists and non-motorists alike, this may not be surprising. In fact, the modern concept of “defensive driving “ was born from the general public’s awareness of the dangers of driving and other road hazards. But even then, no matter the preparation or planning, accidents happen. And road traffic related incidents still rank as the 9th leading cause of death and account for 2.2% of all deaths globally and that road accidents remains as the leading cause of death among young people ages 15–29, and the second leading cause of death worldwide among young people ages 5–14. And this is to say little of the cost.
Car insurance coverage and companies exist primarily because of this. Aside from ‘protecting’ the bearer, insurance also protects families and relatives, at least from the damaging costs of accidents. Still, many people worldwide remain unsinsured, probably due to the cost of insurance premiums and amortizations or simple lack of understanding of the benefits of insurance specifically car insurance.
First, there is a popular misconception that car insurance protects car. But a more informed understanding of car insurance coverage would show otherwise. Car insurance policy is a comprehensive coverage for physical damages which means it will pay for any cost to both car and owner, driver, and even passengers in the event of an accident or other mishaps like vandalism, fire, theft and other non-accident causes. More comprehensive car insurance coverage even protect against “acts of god” or rain, storm, flood, wind, hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural calamities.
One of the wonder of car insurance is that it covers bodily injury which means liability or medical costs of treating injury or making death claims including legal costs against a driver if their vehicle is involved in an accident that injures or kills someone. More limited car insurance options are include medical payments insurance coverage which compensates for injuries to driver and occupants of a car which is still a wonder worth investing on since it automatically protects both the car, driver and passengers. Less comprehensive car insurance packages are for those working on tight budgets can still costly given the rate of monthly payment but it is nonetheless a wise investment since it is a type of property damage coverage. A quick comparison of insurance packages offered by different car insurance companies in Singapore would shoe cost-benefit ratio and prove this point.
Newer car insurance claim options are adding to the many benefits of car insurance. Currently, uninsured motorist protection and forgiveness insurance claim packages are also being offered particularly by insurance companies in Singapore and Asia. Uninsured motorist protection covers injuries caused to driver or occupants of a car by hit-and-run drivers or those with inadequate insurance while “forgiveness” packages are insurance claims which frees first time offenders from liabilities. In Singapore, drivers with no prior record of accidents can significantly benefit from this coverage option since accident forgiveness insurance allows drivers to avoid the insurance rate increase that comes with their first at-fault accident.
