Monday, September 18, 2006

FAQ: Motor Insurance

1. Why must I insure my vehicle?

The law requires all motor vehicles to be insured against liability to third parties for death or bodily injuries.

Most owners also want to insure for the damage caused by accidents, vandalism, fire or flood. The insurance policy will cover the repair of their vehicle. It will pay the market value of the vehicle at the time of loss if cannot be repaired economically or if the vehicle was stolen.

With a motor insurance policy, you pay a small annual premium and protect yourself against the loss arising from those contingencies

2. What choices do I have?

Most owners prefer to take a comprehensive policy to cover liability to third parties and repair damage caused by accidents, vandalism, fire or flood, and loss of their vehicles from theft.

The comprehensive policy provided by NTUC Income is called the "quality plan".

3. Why should I choose NTUC Income?

NTUC Income is a cooperative society. We are not profit-driven, unlike the commercial insurance companies.

We charge a fair premium to cover our cost of claims and expenses and a modest margin. We keep a tight control against inflated claims, so that the premium can be kept low. In most cases, our premium rates are up to 30% lower than our competitors.

Other insurers charge a higher premium, because they pay more to their agents and want to make a bigger profit margin.

NTUC Income is the largest insurer of motor vehicles in Singapore. We insure 200,000 vehicles, representing about 32% of all vehicles in Singapore. We achieve a large market share due to our competitive rates and quality of service.

4. How is your standard of service?

We are prompt, fair and transparent in our dealings with our customers.

We conduct a customer survey for every repair arranged at our quality workship. Our customers consistently give us a high satisfaction rating above 96%.

5. Do you take good care of me, if I need your help?

We have a 24 hour hotline (Tel: 6788 6616) to provide immediate assistance to you in the following:

- location of the nearest Idac center (to report an accident)
- get accesss to road side assistance
- advice on how to submit your claim
- towing service if your car is immobilised after an accident.

You can also call or visit our claims service center. The colleagues are specialised in handling claim issues.

You will get a FAQ from the Idac center or our claim service center. It tells you about how your claim is being handled.

6. Can I pay my premium in monthly instalments?

You can pay your premium in 12 monthly instalments by GIRO. This is free of interest.

You need only to pay the instalment 1 month in advance. At the start, you will pay 2 monthlh instalments. After than, we will collect the monthly instalments every month through GIRO.

7. Can I also pay my road tax in monthly instalments

You can apply for an advance to pay your road tax. We will collect it from you in 12 monthly instalments with a flat interest as follows :

- for customers with loyalty discount, flat rate of 3% per annum.
- for other customers, flat rate of 6% per annum.

Note : a customer enjoys a loyalty discount by insuring with us for at least 3 years.

8. Does your quality workshop provide a good standard of repair?

We select our quality workshops based on their ability to meet the following standard:

- abide by a code of professional conduct
- able to meet performance and quality standard
- meet our post-repair inspection checks
- provide 6 months guarantee on their repairs

For most repairs, our quality workshops are able to meet the same standard as the distributor workshops. Some distributors sub-contract most of the repair work to outside workshops anyway.

9. Can I go to a distributor workshop for repair to my vehicle ?

We will agree for the proprietary repairs (which require the use of specialised tools and skills) to be carried out at the distributor's workshop.

We prefer the general repairs to be carried out by our authorised workshops. If you wish to have it repaired at your distributor workshop, we will pay you a cash payment and you can negotiate for the repair at your distributor's workshop.

10. Will my car warranty be void if I repair at your authorised workshop ?

We will provide FREE protection against loss of car manufacturer's warranty, if the repair is done at our quality workshop.

If the distributor voids the warranty due to our repair, we will take over the warranty for the remaining period under the same terms and conditions provided for in the purchase of your car.

11. Can I switch my insurance to NTUC Income after the first year?

You have the choice to switch your insurance to us at any time.

You can enjoy a saving of up to 30%, compared to the rate charged by other insurers.

If you switch to us, we will make it hassle-free for you. We can help you cancel your existing policy and get the refund of the unused part of the premium from your existing policy. We will issue a replacement policy to take over the remaining period of insurance. It will be delivered to your home or office.

Call 98INCOME (9846 2663)

12. What are the special features provided by NTUC Income?

- FREE protection against loss of manufacturer's warranty.
- FREE NCD protection for policyholders who enjoy 50% NCD for 5 years.
- Replacement with a new car if your new car is stolen or totally damaged.
- Extension to cover you against third party liabilities while driving a rental car overseas.
- Extension to cover renting out of your car during public holidays.
- Cover of terrorism.
- No additional unnamed drivers excess.
- No elderly driver excess.
- No additional loading of your premium after a bad accident*.

* terms and conditions apply.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Coes are there for a reason. It is one of the few simple and straightforward systems left in

this *supposedly efficient* country. BLEH!

Nonetheless, if nobody buys cars it would even be better, Coes would drop to $1.

If everybody die die expects others to make sacrifices but not themselves, this is what we get.

Nobody can fix everything if nobody wants to play their own part. If want the car to be ho miah, then you pay.

Most Malaysians take busses across the causeway daily to work here. They make sacrifices for the high currency exchanges. They may not like their punishing routine, but when they see what they get 3 times more in their earnings with the currencies, they felt its all worth it.

NO PAIN NO GAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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