Is Personal Accident Cover For Car Owner-Driver Compulsory in India?

In India, you have to get compulsory Personal Accident Cover for owner . However, whether you buy it with your car insurance or not is optional.

The roads in India are full of uncertainties. You can never predict when and where accidents will happen.

If you meet such an accident you could suffer dangerous results like permanent disability and critical injuries. In fact, you could lose your life as well. This is why you need to be as careful as you can when you are driving. You also need to get proper financial protection such as personal accident cover mandatory to help your loved ones deal with such emergencies. Here we would talk about such coverage in great detail. It was on 1st January 2019 that the IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) brought out these policies.

What does Personal Accident Cover Mean?

The owner-driver of the vehicle is covered by an insurance policy called a “compulsory personal accident cover” when operating the vehicle in India.

Reasons to buy compulsory personal accident cover

Now there are several reasons why you should get such coverage – with your car insurance plan or separately. It protects your family from accidental deaths as well as physical disabilities. So, if you have the kind of coverage that we are talking about over here your family would receive the sum assured payout in case you meet your demise in an accident. In these cases, the insurer would pay the total amount to the nominee according to the coverage that is offered in the policy.

PA owner driver  cover would also help you in case of physical disabilities that you may have suffered in an accident. The typical policies, in this case, provide coverage for three kinds of disabilities that may be enumerated as below:

• permanent partial disability
• temporary total disability
• permanent total disability

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In case of the first kind of injury, you lose the likes of eyesight, limbs, or the power of speech as a result of an accident. In the second case, you suffer an injury that temporarily stops you from taking part in your profession. In the third case, the policyholder is unable to meet their regular responsibilities following an accident.

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The scale of compensation in compulsory personal accident cover

Is personal accident cover mandatory? As we have said already, it indeed is. Well, let us take a look at the kind of compensation that is offered in these policies. If you die because of an accident within the policy coverage period your nominee would get the total sum insured guaranteed by the plan. The same is also applicable if you lose vision in both eyes or lose both your limbs in an accident. If you suffer any other permanent total disablement because of injuries sustained in an accident other than what we have talked about already your nominees would have the total sum assured as well.

However, if you lose vision in an eye or lose only one limb in an accident you would get half of the sum assured provided by the policy. You must know though that in owner driver PA cover the total insurance coverage would never be more than the sum assured. As such, you – the policyholder – or any claimant on your behalf could file a claim for any of the situations that we have mentioned above at any time while the policy is active.

Events that are not covered by compulsory PA cover

The compulsory PA cover for owner driver would not offer coverage for the following events:

• childbirth and pregnancy
• psychological disorders
• self-inflicted injuries and suicide
• injuries sustained while committing a crime
• accidents because of rash driving or driving while intoxicated by the likes of drugs and alcohol
• taking part in dangerous activities, adventures, and sports especially when you are not trained to do so
• pre-existing disabilities because of injuries

Factors that you must keep in mind while getting such coverage 

The premium that you pay in case of the driver cover policies is not dependent on your age. This is because emergencies do not happen more to older people and less to younger people – they can happen to anyone, at any time, and any place. No matter what, the losses suffered in these cases are the same and all the policyholders are in the same boat irrespective of their age.

In fact, your income and occupation are more important factors over here as far as determining your premium is concerned. The policy could differ depending on your income. For example, some insurers such as Tata AIG (American International Group) offer separate amounts for self-employed and salaried individuals.

Compulsory PA cover for owner driver often contains benefits that are not always necessary for the policyholder. This is why you need to be careful when you are choosing such a policy. Make sure that you require all the benefits that you are getting from such a policy.

In most cases, insurers would not sell you such a policy if you are exposed to high risk regularly. This includes people who work in highly risky jobs such as air pilots and air hostesses.

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The benefits of buying compulsory personal accident cover

There are several benefits of the owner driver PA cover policies that make investing in them such a worthwhile decision. For starters, they offer you great peace of mind. When you have such a policy you know that even if something bad happens to you your family would have some financial backup for the days ahead. Just imagine the kind of financial impact your death or disability – especially when you are the main earning member of the family – would create on the people you love.

These policies need little documentation. You can buy these policies independently or with your car insurance policy. This is in fact the easiest way to go about it as here you do not have to submit almost any paperwork at all. Also, you can do this as and when you please.

The claim process of compulsory PA cover for owner driver is simple as well. You can do it any way you like – online or offline. The most important thing over here is that once you have filed the claim most insurers would settle the same efficiently and quickly.

Read More:

• What Does a Car Insurance Cover?