What Is Commercial Vehicle Insurance?
Commercial insurance is an insurance plan that offers coverage for the damage by a commercial vehicle or to the commercial vehicle. Commercial vehicles include vehicles like auto-rickshaw, lorries, school buses, cabs, taxis, trucks, tractors, trailers, etc.
Commercial vehicles are mainly used by business owners to transport goods within the city and other localities from one place to another, sometimes to different states in India. All business owners, be it small or big must cover their commercial vehicles with this insurance policy. This is very important for the smooth functioning of your business.
Types of Commercial Vehicle Insurance
There are two types of commercial vehicle policies in India, and they are :
- Comprehensive Commercial Vehicle Insurance
This cover offers full protection to the commercial vehicle in any circumstances. Some events might lead to huge expenses. The plan provides coverage for damages caused due to fire, robbery, flood, theft, etc. it also provides cover to the damage caused by the commercial vehicle to the third-party property or people/who got damaged or injured during an unfortunate incident.
- Third-Party Liability Insurance for Commercial Vehicles
Just like how mandatory it is for private cars and two-wheelers as per law to have a third-party liability insurance cover, commercial vehicles also need the same cover to protect from damage to any third party or their vehicle.
Commercial vehicles are of different types, some may carry huge loads of goods and those are called heavy-duty vehicles that might cause huge damage to others if anything unfortunate happens while on duty or parked. Under these circumstances, third-party insurance should be the priority.
Get Commercial Vehicle Insurance Online
Like all other types of insurance policies, commercial vehicle insurance is also available online, so that people can purchase it in their comfort within a matter of minutes. Online commercial vehicle insurance is more convenient to buy and renew, instead of visiting insurance companies manually and filling in paperwork, which takes a lot of your time.
Not only that, online commercial vehicle insurance can be compared with one another quickly and you can get all the information in the comfort of your own house. You can choose the one that your business needs and purchase it.
What Is Covered Under The Commercial Vehicle Policy?
There are a lot of commercial vehicle companies in India that provide cashless settlements for repairs in the network garages that are registered with the particular insurance company. The insurance policy protects the business owners from personal losses, financial losses and medical losses that arise from damage resulting from natural disasters, theft, fire and other accidents.
Some of the coverage offered is due to damages incurred from:
- Riots and local strikes
- Theft or Burglary
- Fire, explosion or lightning
- Landslide or rockslide
- Earthquakes
- Terror activities
- Accidents from other sources
- Cyclone
- Personal accident claims
- Third-party liability cover
What Is Not Covered Under The Commercial Vehicle Insurance Policy?
The policy also has some exclusions like:
- Loss due to a consequence
- Damage or loss incurred from a civil war
- Liabilities occurred due to contractual basis
- Accidents occurred without a valid driving licence
- Mechanical breakdown or failure
- If the policy papers are not in place or not active when the accidents occurred.
What Does Commercial Vehicle Insurance Cost?
Commercial vehicle insurance cost in India is decided based on the depreciation value of the vehicle. There is something called IDV or Insured Declared Value that is fixed at the start of the insurance policy. This is decided based on the manufacturer’s selling price and the type or brand of the vehicle.
But depreciation is a very important factor the insurance company will consider as the vehicle depreciates with age. The depreciation rate keeps increasing based on the age of the vehicle hence the IDV will be decided too. Only with these, the policy will be issued.
Listed below are the major factors that decide the commercial vehicle insurance cost:
- Age Of The Commercial Vehicle
- Zone Of Registration Of The Commercial Vehicle
- Model And Type Of The Commercial Vehicle
- IDV Of The Commercial Vehicle
- Fuel Type Of The Commercial Vehicle
Commercial Vehicle Insurance Company List (India)
Many insurance companies in India offer Commercial Vehicle insurance policies to both Goods carrying vehicles and Passenger carrying vehicles. Some of the best commercial vehicle insurance companies in India are listed below
Let us look at the top 10 best commercial vehicle insurance companies in India
| Commercial Vehicle Insurance Company | Network Garages in India | Claim settlement Ratio |
| Bajaj Allianz Commercial Vehicle Insurance | 4375 plus | 88.35% |
| United India Commercial Vehicle Insurance | 700 plus authorised Garages | 79.72% |
| ICICI Lombard Commercial Vehicle Insurance | 4655 plus | 93.14% |
| IFFCO TOKIO Commercial Vehicle Insurance | 3400 plus | 91.92% |
| Oriental Commercial Vehicle Insurance | 258 Authorised Garages | 91.78% |
| Acko Commercial Vehicle Insurance | Data Available only with Company as it is City specific | 97% |
| Reliance Commercial Vehicle Insurance | 5000 plus | 98% |
| Shriram Commercial Vehicle Insurance | 2200 plus | 93.75% |
| TATA AIG Commercial Vehicle Insurance | 5100 plus | 90.49% |
| HDFC Ergo Commercial Vehicle Insurance | 6800 Plus | 91.23% |
How To Use Commercial Vehicle Insurance Premium Calculator
Commercial vehicle insurance premium calculators are available online to help you calculate insurance premiums for commercial vehicles before you buy them. The premium will be estimated before buying the commercial vehicle policy which will make the job easier to choose the plan according to your needs within your budget. This is useful for both new and old commercial vehicles.
They are free to use online and are very useful to decide on the correct kind of plan needed for you because you can check premiums offered by different companies across India. You may compare the plans online and choose yours. You would need to enter the correct details on the premium calculator page to get an approximate estimation of your insurance policy.
Some basic steps to follow while using the premium calculator are:
- Enter the vehicle details, such as make, model, year of registration, fuel type, etc.
- Fill in the showroom price for your vehicle.
- Enter the city from where it was purchased.
- Mention if you have claimed in the previous year or not.
- Click on calculate premium once you enter all required details.
Benefits of Commercial Vehicle Premium Calculators
Here are the benefits while using the Commercial Vehicle Premium Calculators:
- You can compare premiums across multiple plans and different insurance companies
- You get to know the right IDV for your commercial vehicle
- You get to understand the Premium-variable Relationship
- No other people or agents involved
What To Know About Commercial Vehicle Insurance Renewal
Commercial vehicles can be goods-carrying or passenger-carrying vehicles and it is very important to renew the insurance policies for the same to continue with the benefits and to obey the law. You would need to visit the insurance company and fill up the details which might have changed or updated and get your new premium. After paying the same the policy will be renewed. The agent will be able to help the policyholder.
The renewal also can be done online too and that is the most preferred method by most of the policyholders.
For example, the commercial vehicle insurance policy offered by United India Commercial Vehicle Insurance renewal is done through the following steps.
- You would need to log in to the official website of the insurance company and enter all the details online.
- Go to the renewal section.
- Enter all required details on the website.
- Choose the mode of payment according to your convenience and the policy is instantly renewed.
- You will get the renewed policy on your registered email id. Commercial vehicle insurance online is a very easy and instant way to renew the policy plans.
Bajaj Allianz Commercial Vehicle Insurance and also most of the other insurance companies follow similar procedures.
Common FAQs
- Which is the cheapest commercial vehicle insurance available in India?
The top companies mentioned here always offer the best affordable premiums and are cheap commercial vehicle insurance policies that any business owner can afford.
- Does a person get covered for his commercial vehicle insurance if he is using his vehicle in his job?
No, this cover won’t be available if the policyholder is using his private vehicle in his job. He won’t get any cover under the commercial vehicle policy.
- What is a Cashless or Non-Cashless claim under Commercial Vehicle Insurance?
Cashless claims settlement is something that offers claim settlement by the insurance company where the policyholder will not be involved in any mode of cash payment as the network garages are already in the company’s list of network garages. The non-cashless network is where the policyholder will be settling a claim for his commercial vehicle insurance by paying physical cash and it won’t be in one of the network garages on the company’s list.