What is General Insurance?
Life is full of surprises. There are times when you are not prepared and do not know what to do. Sometimes life takes a turn for the worst when you least expect it. Your hard-earned money, saved for a special occasion, gets spent on paying off hospital bills or someone else's outstanding dues.
Events like hospitalisation, natural calamities, car theft, riots etc can negatively impact your financial situations. At such times you feel the need of a protective cover to protect yourself from the rigors of such events. General insurance provides you that cover.
Types of General Insurance
General insurance includes vehicle, house, animal, crop, health insurance etc.
Home Insurance: If you get your home insured from a general insurance company, then your home is protected in it. After buying the insurance policy, if there is any kind of damage to your house, then the insurance company pays for it.
Coverage against any kind of damage to your home is included in this insurance policy. Damage caused to the house due to natural calamity includes damage caused due to fire, earthquake, lightning, flood etc. Artificial calamity includes damage caused to the house due to theft, fire, fight-riot etc.
Motor Insurance: Insurance of any vehicle running on the road in India is very important according to the law. If you drive your vehicle on the road without insurance, then you can be fined by the traffic police. According to the motor or vehicle insurance policy, the insurance company pays compensation for any damage caused to the vehicle. If your vehicle is stolen or has met with an accident, then a vehicle insurance policy can help you a lot.
You get the most benefit of vehicle insurance policy when your vehicle has caused injury or death to a person. It is covered under Third Party Insurance. If you also have a two-wheeler/three-wheeler or a car, then it must be insured.
Health Insurance: Nowadays the cost of treatment is increasing very fast. On taking health insurance, the insurance company covers the cost of treatment in case of illness. Under the health insurance policy, the insurance company pays the amount spent on treatment in case of any kind of disease. The limit of expenses for any illness depends on your health insurance policy.
Travel Insurance: Travel insurance protects against loss during a trip. If a person goes abroad for some work or for a trip and he gets hurt or the goods are lost, then the insurance company compensates him. Travel insurance policy is valid only from the start of your journey till the end of the journey. Different insurance companies may have different conditions for travel insurance policy.
Crop Insurance: According to the current rules, it is necessary for every farmer who takes an agricultural loan to buy crop insurance. Under the crop insurance policy, the insurance company compensates the farmer for any kind of damage to the crop. Under the crop insurance policy, compensation is given by the insurance company if the crop is damaged due to fire, flood or due to any disease.
Due to the very strict condition of the crop insurance policy and not getting compensation according to the cost, there is not much enthusiasm among the farmers for crop insurance. In fact, to give compensation in case of crop damage, insurance companies survey all the fields around that farm and compensation is given only when most of the farmers' crops have been damaged.
How does insurance renewal work?
The insurance policy gives you benefits until it expires. You have to ensure that your policy does not lapse. It ensures continuity of coverage and protects you against unforeseen risks. In addition, the No Claim Bonus (NCB) also carries over and does not lapse if you do not make any claims in the policy year. Here's how you can easily renew your insurance policy online and on time:
- keep an eye on your renewal date
- To get started, visit the insurer website
- Click on the Insurance tab
- Follow the instructions to complete the process
- Pay through Internet Banking, Credit or Debit Card
- Acknowledge the payment receipt with the reference number.
How do claims work?
Reimbursement Claims: Insurance policy benefits can be availed by filing an insurance claim. Here is how you can start the process of filing a reimbursement insurance claim -
- Contact insurance helpline number
- Provide relevant information about your policy
- Allow insurer to authenticate claim request
- After verification, a representative of your insurer will contact you
- Submit all necessary documents to the representative of the insurer for his report
- The Claims Department will then process the claim and disburse the claim amount.
Cashless Claims: Cashless claims are available only at network hospitals/garages. Here are the steps required to file a cashless claim -
- Call the insurance helpline number to locate the nearest network facility
- Show your insurance card at the facility to avail cashless insurance
- Fill the cashless claim request form and provide details of the insurer
- Fax the claim form and relevant documents to the insurer
- The insurer will then review the claim and either accept or reject it
- If approved, the bill will be paid directly to the establishment by the insurer.