There are essentially two kinds of bike insurance
:
1>Comprehensive.
2>Third Party Liability.
Comprehensive insurance covers everything, that is:
1>Damage to bike.
2>Injury to driver. In insurance language, driver is FiRST PARTY.
3>Injury to pillion. In insurance language, pillion is SECOND PARTY.
4>Injury to anybody you hit, bang-into, injure, break bones or kill. This person (or persons) are known as THiRD PARTY in insurance language.
5>Damage to any property caused by your bike.
Third Party liability insurance does not cover injury to you [=driver], injury to pillion and damage to your own bike, but it covers damage caused by you [=driver] to any THiRD PARTY=person or property.
The annual premium you have to pay for COMPREHENSiVE INSURANCE is more than double of what you have to pay for THiRD PARTY Liability. In insurance language, Comprehensive Insurance Policy is also called “Package Policy”.
Third Party policy is also called “Liability policy” or “Limited Liability” policy.
The most important thing is that you should have VALiD DRiViNG LiCENSE. If you don’t have license, then insurance company will not cover you. If have license that is expired, then also you are covered, provided your license is not “invalidated” by Polis or RTO or any sarkari dept. and license is “expired” purely because you forgot and can be valid again by paying the official fees and late fee charges.
When you buy a new bike, the dealer will give you Insurance Policy along with RC / TC papers and invoice etc. Please remember that INSURANCE is 1000 times more important than RTO Tax and other taxes. If you have not paid any tax, then if caught, you may have to pay penalty of five to ten times the amount of tax, which in case of bike will mostly be less than Rs.20,000/-.
But if you don’t have insurance, and make an accident, then you are in BiG trouble. Verri Verri BiG trubble. Supposing when driving your bike you hit Bill Gates and injure his right hand index finger. Remember, “Just injure his right hand index finger”, nothing else. And doctor [appointed by court], says “finger will be OK in one week”. Then Bill Gates Lawyer will say that Bill Gates cannot use his index finger for one week. So, for one week, Bill gates will not be able to send SMS from his mobile phone due to injured finger and lose business worth ONE BiLLiON DOLLARs. That is his loss bkoz of YOU and YOU will have to PAY One Billion Dollares
! If you have valid insurance, then insurance company will pay. If you do not have valid insurance, and you cannot pay ONE BiLLiON to BiLL GATEs, then you go to jail for many years. Think about that
!
In case of accident, you have to take your insurance policy + RC / TC certificate + PUC certificate + your valid driving license and report accident and / or damage to insurance company in their prescribed form. Then insurance company will appoint an “Assessor” who will assess the damage to bike and advise the insurance company about the validity of your claim and amount of damage (=money) to be paid by the company for repairing the bike. If the accident is something like you alone skidded and fell and you were injured and bike damaged, then insurance company will pay your medical bills as well as pay for repair of your bike [as per advice given by Assessor], subject to terms and conditions as written in your policy. If you do not agree to the amount, then you have to go to court.
In case of accident involving THiRD PARTY, in which the THiRD PARTY is making a claim against you for damage [to property or bodily injury], you have to make a police report and give copy of this police report to insurance company.
If the police report shows that you have BROKEN any LAW, then the insurance company may refuse to pay. In such a situation the matter will have to go to court, and the insurance company will do whatever the court decides.
If your bike has valid insurance and your friend [having valid license] is driving it with your permission, then your friend is also covered by insurance.
