Bike owners can choose bike insurance plans of either single or multi-year duration. Keep reading to know the difference between the two to identify the plan best suited for you.
Single year two-wheeler insurance offers insurance coverage for a year. You need to renew such a policy every year to continue having the insurance cover.
On the other hand, multi-year bike insurance offers long-term insurance coverage of up to three years. Since you purchase the policy for the entire tenure of two or three years, you don’t have to worry about yearly renewals.
The Supreme Court of India, in its order, has made it compulsory for new two-wheelers bought on and after September 1, 2018, to have five-year third-party insurance at the time of their purchase.
Note that this is only valid for third-party coverage and not own-damage or comprehensive coverage. Thus, if you choose to opt only for third party cover, then you will have to purchase it for 5 years and if you choose to buy a comprehensive bike insurance policy then you can opt for 1-3 years of policy period.
It is essential to understand the advantages of both single and multi-year bike insurance before making an informed decision about which one to buy.
Advantages of Multi-Year Bike Insurance
- Premium Lock-in
Insurance firms raise the price of insurance premiums as the government hikes insurance rates. Moreover, the tax rates can also go up. As a result, you may have to shell out more while renewing your annual premium.
But you pay the premium amount for the entire duration of a multi-year bike insurance policy while purchasing the policy. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about future price hikes till the end of your policy tenure.
- Reduced Risk of Policy Lapse
Since a multi-year bike insurance policy has a long tenure of two to three years, the risk of forgetting to renew your policy on time resulting in policy lapse, is very low.
- Easy to Maintain
You must keep track of the bike insurance expiry date and the subsequent renewal every year if you choose single-year bike insurance. The problem becomes acute if you possess more than one vehicle.
Instead, you can consider multi-year bike insurance where you pay a one-time premium and relax for the next two or three years. You can easily buy such bike insurance online by visiting the official website of your insurance provider.
It is also easier to include add-ons while purchasing bike insurance online instead of buying offline.
Advantages of Single Year Bike Insurance
- Lower Upfront Cost
The premium of single-year bike insurance is just for one year, unlike multi-year bike insurance, where you pay the premium for two or three years. Therefore, a single-year bike insurance premium will have less upfront cost compared to multi-year bike insurance.
- Easy to Transfer
On purchasing multi-year bike insurance, you get tied to your insurance provider for the entire policy period. On the contrary, if you want to transfer your single-year bike insurance from your existing insurance provider to a new one, then you can easily do so when renewing the policy next year.
Both single and multi-year policies have their own set of advantages. You can weigh them against your requirements and go with the one that is best suited to your needs.
