Private motor car insurance: what to look out for when renewing your policy

Owning a car in Hong Kong can bring great convenience to our daily lives. Whether you drive a large SUV that can easily accommodate all the family or prefer something more compact to cope with city traffic, the one thing that doesn’t change is the need for car insurance.

But each year, when it’s time to renew our car insurance policies again, how many of us really do our research to see if we’re getting the best motor insurance for our needs? While it might seem more convenient just to let the policy renew each year,  this may not be the best approach when catering to your circumstances. Because circumstances change. Rather than automatically renewing your car insurance policy with your current provider, it is worth considering if your plan offers you the right protection at the right time.

Most insurance plans offer basic protection, such as personal accident protection or third-party liability, to varying degrees of coverage. However, some plans go a step further by offering you protection for specific scenarios or conditions. In this piece, we will take a quick look at some of the more common features to look out for when you are renewing your private motor car insurance plan.

Although thankfully rare, sometimes exceptional situations arise. One of these is if your car is totally written off as a result of an accident. In these circumstances, some insurance providers will offer a “new for old” replacement vehicle or cash equivalent, depending on the age of the car.

For example, Mr Chu was driving his brand-new saloon to work when he was involved in a serious road accident involving several vehicles. Thankfully Mr Chu wasn’t hurt, but his car was beyond repair. Luckily for him, his private motor car insurance plan stipulated that if his vehicle was less than a year old from the date of its first registration, it would provide cash or a replacement car. This saved Mr Chu a great deal of time, worry and money. 

So next time your existing car insurance policy comes up for renewal, take a moment to check that it still meets your needs.

To find out more about MSIG’s Private Motor Car Insurance plan, please visit here or feel free to contact us  or find out more about our insurance plans:

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Most motor insurance plans offer some kind of no-claims discount (NCD). After all, it pays to be a careful driver – both for you and your insurer! However, some plans on the market go a step further by offering a feature that protects your NCD when it comes to renewing your policy, even if you had to make a claim, although specific circumstances apply.

For example, Mr Wong scraped the door of his car while parking, requiring a trip to the body panel shop to remove the mark. As the cost of the repair work did not exceed HK$60,000, or 15% of the sum insured for his vehicle – and no-one suffered bodily injury during the crash – the accident did not affect his NCD when he came to renew his policy several months later.

Some plans also offer coverage that protects your NCD even if your windscreen is gets damaged – something which is quite a common occurrence as even a tiny stone can crack a windscreen if travelling at speed.

Ms Chan was driving along a busy stretch of highway often used by heavy goods vehicles. Damage to the road surface caused a small rock to fly up and chip her windscreen, causing her great annoyance and worry about the excess she would have to pay. Luckily, the damage wasn’t too extensive and the cost of repairing the windscreen was under HK$5,000. Happily for Ms Chan, her NCD wasn’t affected when she renewed her policy – much to her relief.