8 things to consider when buying car insurance (not enough people think about No. 3)

Not sure how to go about buying car insurance? Or confused over what to consider when buying auto insurance? Below is a simple guide to help you in your search for the most suitable motor insurance that is cheap and value for money given the different factors insurance companies consider that will affect your premiums, some of which you can control. 

8 factors to think about before purchasing your car insurance: 

1. Desired insurance coverage

Based on Singapore’s laws, the minimum requirement is to cover third-party liability. 

To also cover the damage to your own car, you will require comprehensive coverage. While premiums are higher, this is often the choice of most drivers.

2. Add-on insurance coverage

Add-on coverage such as a replacement car feature or a transport allowance rider may be offered by some general insurers. Do note that there will be differences in the maximum number of days that insurance companies will reimburse you for transport or provide a replacement car, as well as the type of replacement car or amount of reimbursement.

3. Insurance policy excess

An excess, also called deductible, is the amount you would have to fork out first before the insurance policy starts to kick in and contribute to your repair bill. The excess level offered will differ from insurer to insurer – you should check that you are comfortable with the amount. 

You can also choose different excess amounts in your search for auto insurance quotations that suit your budget. Some people prefer to keep their excess high to enjoy lower premiums, while others want to keep it as low as possible in case of minor accidents, which results in higher premiums.

4. Other named drivers

compareFIRST Review - Singapore's first industry-backed life insurance web aggregator

compareFIRST - Singapore's first industry-backed life insurance web aggregator has been "live" coming close to six months now. 

If you need a refresher on what it is: compareFIRST - What you need to know

You can check out the website here. 

compareFIRST

To test its user-friendliness, and usefulness, we got someone young and out of school not too long ago, who hasn't been working for too long, and does not know much about insurance to test the site and do a review.

And here's the feedback:

Insurance direct purchase and web aggregator set to launch early April

As revealed in "Buying Life Insurance Products Directly from Insurance Companies without Commissions", the launch of a direct purchase insurance products (DPI) or a insurance direct channel will not be launched in time in the first quarter of 2015. 

The good news: Mr Ong Chong Tee, Deputy Managing Director, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has announced at a recent Life Insurance Association of Singapore luncheon that they will be ready by early April.

Here's what he said:

There are three key initiatives under FAIR (or Financial Advisory Industry Review) of particular relevance to the life insurance industry. These are the web aggregator, direct purchase insurance products and the balanced scorecard framework.

Web aggregator

First, the web aggregator. Life insurers offer a wide range of life insurance products to cater to the varied financial needs of consumers. However, it can often be a daunting task for consumers to be sufficiently informed of what’s available to meet his needs and to have some easy way to compare life insurance products.

I am pleased to note that a web aggregator will be launched in early April as a collaborative effort between MAS, CASE and the life insurance industry. This will provide a single information portal that will enable consumers to easily look up available life insurance products and compare indicative quotes based on specified parameters in a user-friendly and interactive manner.

Direct Purchase Insurance

Second, direct purchase insurance products, or DPI. This is a new class of life insurance products for basic needs that is “retail-access friendly”. 

Comprehensive Car Insurance Policy Promotion

Get a $108* FlashPay Card when you buy a new comprehensive car insurance policy with DirectAsia.com.

Offer ends 5 March 2015.

Some of the conditions:

The main driver of the car is aged 70 and below and has a valid driving licence of at least 2 years.

The car is not used for commercial purposes or for hire/reward.

No driver has had any class of licence suspended or cancelled in the last 5 years. 

The car is registered in Singapore and any modifications it may have are LTA compliant.

Privacy Statement Please note the policyholder must be the registered owner of the vehicle.For details and terms and conditions:https://secure.directasia.com/online-insurance/car/q-start.aspx Disclaimer

An insurance company that rewards customers for keeping healthy? Great Eastern Life

Great Eastern Life, the largest life insurance company in Singapore and Malaysia, is helping its customers in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia keep healthy.

It has raised its Live Great Programme, an integrated health and wellness programme for its insurance policyholders, to the next level with the launch of a series of product initiative that reward customers with lower insurance premiums or increased insurance coverage upon them attaining better health.

In Singapore, Great Eastern Life launched "Live Great Healthy Rewards"

where customers with a good Live Great Health Assessment score will be rewarded with cash rewards of up to 15% for the first two years and if they continue to keep healthy, they will enjoy a one-time 30% cash rewards on the third year. For a start, all Great Eastern Life Supreme Term policyholders as well as customers who purchase a Supreme Term policy by 31 December 2013 can enjoy this. Great Eastern Life has partnered Parkway Shenton for the health assessments.

For policyholders who do not score well in their health assessment,

Great Eastern Life will pay for the cost of the follow-up consultation. 

Purchase auto insurance online in Singapore

Get free automobile insurance quotes online, if you would like to compare the car insurance premiums and rates. Also know as car insurance or motor insurance.


Want to buy car insurance online in Singapore? Probably the most well-known websites for online auto insurance quotes are from Aviva, Direct Asia and CompareXpress.


Trying both Aviva and CompareXpress..


The main difference is that Aviva offers car insurance quotes from its own company while CompareXpress offers motor insurance quotes from a few insurance companies and banks including Etiqa Insurance, Liberty Insurance, China Taiping and CIMB Bank.


Having tried out both with the same information, Aviva's online insurance website to "Get Quick Quote" seems more user-friendly. It could also give me a quote straightaway while CompareXpress had "no matching online

Online car insurance in Singapore - Aviva

Aviva's online insurance model has made an impact in just 16 months since its launch. Aviva's share of the private car insurance market it has insured is at about 4%.In terms of premiums, Aviva's market share was 1.4% in 2010.


As Singapore's vehicle population recorded a high of 945,829 units at the end of 2010 with passenger cars at 597,746 units, the motor insurance industry reported $1.2 billion of earned gross premiums.


Aviva was the first insurer to go direct when it re-entered the general insurance market in Singapore. Two months later DirectAsia.com also started offering car insurance online. 

What is the easiest way to save money on my insurance?

The simplest way to save money on insurance?


The simplest way you can save money on your insurance policies is to change the frequency of your insurance premium payment. 


Instead of paying for your policies monthly, you should opt to pay for your insurance policies on a yearly basis if possible. 
For most insurance plans, there are usually cost savings if you choose to pay annual premiums. 

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