If you are thinking about signing up for an EQ car insurance plan, here are some pointers that can help you decide if their product is suitable for you or not.

As with other insurance companies out there, EQ Insurance offers coverage for both individuals and enterprises. In this article, we will focus on Personal Coverage, which was designed to safeguard you and your family.

More specifically, we’ll touch on the motor insurance classic plan EQ insurance offers. So, if you are planning on signing-up for car insurance read on and find out what this plan can do for you.

Windscreen Coverage

Most comprehensive policies cover the cost of a replacement windscreen. Damage to your car’s windscreen cannot be helped as specks of gravel dislodged from tires of trucks in front of you trigger it. Over time this natural process can weaken the car’s windscreen and eventually break it.

With EQ Insurance’s windscreen coverage you can have it replaced by simply visiting an authorized workshop. Under the Classic Plan you will be able to limit your windscreen excess at $100 + GST. Reinstatement of cover is free.

Personal Accident (PA) for Insured/Passengers

As for personal accident, with EQ Insurance’s Classic Plan, you are insured up to S$ 50,000.

Towing

This service can be seen with most car insurance policies and EQ Insurance is no different from the rest. As a policyholder, you are entitled to free towing service of up to $500.

Medical Reimbursement

Another important part of motor insurance is the medical reimbursement. As a policyholder of EQ Insurance Classic Plan, this is something that you do not have to worry about. For both the insured and the passenger, a medical reimbursement of up to $300 will be provided if the need arises.

Excess Structure

Excess is a standard feature of every insurance policy. The average excess clients have to pay range from $600 to $800. For EQ Insurance, their standard excess is within this range if your car is of a typical make and model.

Under any EQ car insurance plan, there will be an additional excess imposed for unnamed drivers or young, elderly and inexperienced drivers.

Let us discuss how additional excess is applied for unnamed drivers. With the Classic Plan, policyholders have to pay twice the policy excess. Say for example, the insured pays $750. The unnamed driver thus needs to pay twice that amount, which is $1,500.

(All unnamed drivers should be older than 26 years old and younger than 70 years old and with more than 2 years driving experience.)

For drivers who are younger than 26 years old or older than 70 or with less than 2 years driving experience, there will be an additional $3,000 above the unnamed driver excess.

Adding Named Drivers

In some cases, there may be multiple drivers for a single car. Remember that with EQ Insurance the first named driver is for free however it is still subjected to the driver’s age and experience.

Adding named drivers (second and third) to the classic plan would mean an additional $50 + GST.

Installment Plan

Many car owners have a budget plan for their money. As such, you may want to look into EQ car insurance seriously if you are thinking of paying by installments. You can sign up using their 6-month or 12-month installment plan via either UOB or Citibank credit cards.

Payment Method

To date, interested parties who would like to sign up for EQ car insurance policies can pay using either: cash, check and credit card.

If you are a UOB card holder, you may take advantage of their 5% UOB Smart Dollar Rebate. Do take note, however, that this is applicable only for Single Premium payments, not installment.

Excluded Models

Like every other insurance companies, there are certain make and models that EQ insurance will not insure. This generally includes high end models, sport models and high performance vehicles.

Availability

EQ Insurance only accepts car insurance applications coming from local Singaporeans and Singapore permanent residents (PR) only.

With the above benefits, you will surely be able to enjoy a complete peace of mind while you are driving to work or just cruising along with your family.

If you want to see how EQ car insurance measures up to the rest of the insurance companies (in terms of price and features), click on www.motorinsurancesingapore.com and request for quotes now.

AXA car insurance and Chartis car insurance are 2 very popular products in the market. In fact, when you buy a new car it will most probably be insured with an insurance plan from either of these insurance companies. As such car owners will definitely have heard of these names. But not many of them know which insurer they should choose after the first year of car ownership.

Here are some points that highlight the difference between AXA car insurance and Chartis car insurance. As you go through each point, decide whether it is really important for you. Then you can have an idea which insurer suits you best.

Windscreen Coverage

Quite often, specks of gravel can be dislodged from tyres of trucks in front of you. And as they hit your windscreen surface at great speed, the very top layer of the glass surface may weaken at the point of impact. Given time, internal fracture of the glass can happen. Eventually this can result in windscreen breakage.

With windscreen coverage, you can replace the damaged glass simply by visiting any AXA or Chartis appointed workshops. For Chartis, an excess of $100 + GST is required. For AXA, the excess is $0 and you can enjoy free reinstatement of coverage.

Loss of Use Benefit

In Singapore, cars are expensive and many families own only 1 car. In case your vehicle needs to be in the workshop for accident repair, transportation can become quite a problem for everybody.

For Chartis, a courtesy car is provided to ease this inconvenience. You have a maximum of 10 days to enjoy this benefit. For AXA, they give you a cash allowance of $50 per day. Thus you can have the flexibility to arrange for your preferred type of transportation. Nevertheless your vehicle needs to be in the workshop for at least 4 days and the maximum payout is $250.

Personal Accident Benefit

Personal accident benefit is now pretty much a standard coverage for any comprehensive car insurance policies. For Chartis, the payout is $50,000 for the insured and $10,000 for the passengers. Under AXA, the compensation is $30,000 for the insured only. And if you want to extend this benefit to your passengers, additional premium is required.

Towing Service

Towing service is a necessity. Sometimes vehicles become unsafe for operation after an accident. Under both AXA insurance and Chartis insurance, towing is free of charge. All you have to do is call up the accident hotline and get the officer-in-charge to arrange for you.

Medical Reimbursement Benefit

Even though medical reimbursement benefits may be small under any type of car insurance policies, they are certainly useful. If you have tons of accident-related bills to pay, you’ll be very thankful someone is paying for the medical related expenses. For Chartis, you can claim up to $300 for you & your passengers. With AXA, the maximum payout is $500 for you & your passengers.

Waiver of Excess

Having a waiver of excess benefit is like icing on the cake. In case you need to make a claim, the upfront amount you have to pay is reduced. Under Chartis, this benefit only applies when you carry out your repair at any of their authorized workshops. If you are a 50% NCD holder, your excess can be waived by $600. Otherwise your excess is reduced by $300.

For AXA, your basic excess is waived off totally as long as you are a 50% NCD holder. Otherwise half of your excess can be waived.

Distributor Workshop Benefit

If your car is still under the 3-year warranty, this may be something you want to pay attention to. Under Chartis, you are allowed to bring your vehicle back to any of the distributor workshops if your car is still under the 3-year warranty. (* This does not apply for parallel imported cars.)

With AXA, you have to visit any of their authorised workshops for accident repair. If you want to go back to your distributor workshop, then you may have to upgrade your policy to an any-workshop plan.

Payment

This is a small yet important detail. Chartis accepts cash, cheque and credit card. Installment payment is also accepted if you have a credit card with DBS, POSB or UOB. For AXA, you can likewise pay by cash, cheque or credit card. And their installment plan is similar – for DBS, POSB or UOB credit card holders only.

Adding Named Driver

You do not have to add your named drivers under Chartis. This is because authorised drivers are automatically considered named drivers. And they enjoy the same excess as you. If you want to add a named driver into your AXA car insurance policy, you may be required to pay additional premium.

Third Party Compensation

The above points list the benefits that you as the insured as enjoy. However there is also another aspect of motor insurance – to protect you from third party liabilities as a result of damage to other people’s vehicles or property, bodily injury or even death. Both AXA car insurance and Chartis car insurance cover these aspects. Moreover it is a legal requirement for any car owner in Singapore to have at least such insurance coverage.

Other Differences

AXA launched an MPV scheme that rewards MPV owners with additional discount. Likewise for off-peak car (OPC) owners, they can enjoy a special discounted rate. As for Chartis, you can customize your insurance policy a little by imposing an age condition. This can help to reduce the premium a little.

Reputation & Service Standard

AXA insurance and Chartis insurance are 2 of the largest insurers in Singapore. Their reputation and reliability are top-notch. Also, if you want to get anything done, their customer service is often helpful enough to guide you. Yet due to their size, you may find it a little difficult to get through their customer service hotlines during peak hours. Thus it is often easier to go through your car insurance specialist if you need any help.

And as far as their accident hotline is concerned, it is easy to get through and the person on duty is trained to lead you to the nearest reporting center and a relevant workshop.

With the above comparison between AXA car insurance and Chartis car insurance in mind, hopefully you have a clue as to which insurer you want to go for by now.

A No-Claim Discount (NCD) entitles you to a lower car insurance premium. The maximum NCD you can have is 50% and the lowest is 0%. Thus the discount you get depends on how high your NCD is. This is one of the ways you are rewarded for being a safe driver.

If you have not made any insurance claim in the past 1 year, your NCD will increase by 10%. The 2 tables below illustrate this:

For Private Cars:

For Commercial Vehicles and Motorcycles:

With the above in mind, it does not necessarily mean you will lose your NCD if you make an insurance claim.

In Singapore, insurers depend on a benchmark known as the Barometer of Liability Agreement (BOLA) to determine what your responsibility is for each accident you get into. As long as it is less than 20%, your NCD will not be affected.

Otherwise your NCD may drop by 30%, as illustrated in the table below:

There is a common misunderstanding about No-Claims Discount you must know about. People are often confused whether their NCD applies to them or their vehicle.

Technically, your NCD applies to you. This means whether you switch to another insurer or buy another vehicle, your NCD remains with you. Nevertheless if you own a second car, the NCD for that vehicle will have to start from 0%.

In other words, your NCD can be transferred from one insurer to another and from one car to another. But it cannot be transferred from one person to another.

(NCD also cannot be transferred from one vehicle class to another. For example, you cannot transfer your Motorcycle’s 20% NCD to your Car or vice versa.)

If you are concerned about losing your NCD in case of an accident, you can buy an NCD protector.  Most insurers only allow you to buy this rider if your NCD is at 50%. With this, even if you make an insurance claim, your NCD will not drop.

However you have to bear in mind that your NCD protector cannot be transferred from one insurer to another. This means if you want to retain your NCD at 50% after an accident, you have to renew with your existing insurer.

Finally, if you don’t own a car (or vehicle) for more than 12 months, you will lose your NCD. For example, if you sold off your car and went overseas, then bought a car again after more than 12 months, your NCD will start from 0% again.

If your car insurance renewal is near, you may find a great insurer by getting car insurance quotes from as many as 12 different car insurers. Simply take 2 minutes to fill up the form at www.motorinsurancesingapore.com and the best 3 quotes will be sent to you.