In 2020, my husband renewed my car insurance online for the first time.
So, in this post, I am going to share how we renew car insurance online. And what we think based on our experience renewing car insurance online.
Table of Contents
- How we ended up renewing car insurance online?
- How to renew car insurance online?
- Pros and cons of renewing car insurance online
- Final thoughts
How we ended up renewing car insurance online?
All this while hubby is the one in charge of things related to our cars. This includes doing research when buying a new car, car servicing, road tax and car insurance renewal.
Earlier in 2020, my car insurance company sent us the renewal reminder via post. We thought it was still too early for the renewal. After all, the due date is towards the end of May. We still have plenty of time.
And then, the unexpected COVID-19 pandemic made us stay home since mid of March 2020.
By mid-May 2020, hubby started looking for alternatives to renew my car insurance, including online.
Actually, since 2018, I told hubby that I wish to try to do a car insurance renewal online. But, at that time, hubby firmly said he prefers to do the renewal over the counter.
He’s sceptical about buying insurance online. He asked:
- Can I really trust them to renew the insurance online?
- I am not familiar with the online way.
- What if something went wrong along the process?
- How are they going to send me the insurance cover?
- I just need to spend a little bit of time visiting the usual motor insurance company for renewal (We had been using this motor insurance company for the past 10 years).
This time around, due to Movement Control Order (MCO), my hubby and I spent some time gathering motor insurance quotations online.
Still, hubby is reluctant to do the renewal online. But, the difference now is hubby had learned how the online car insurance renewal works. Including the huge price difference, a saving of about RM100.
Then, hubby brought my existing car insurance cover note to his preferred motor insurance provider outlet in Kuching. Unfortunately, the insurance company is temporarily closed due to MCO.
Not someone who gives up easily, hubby went to a few more motor insurance companies. All are temporarily closed due to MCO.
Frustrated, that night hubby immediately settles my car insurance renewal online, using Etiqa.
How to renew car insurance online?
My husband is not an IT-savvy person. But, he managed to renew my car insurance online after briefly learning and studying how it works.
Here is the step-by-step on the motor insurance renewal through Etiqa:
- Visit the Etiqa car insurance & takaful website
- Choose your preferred car insurance, either motor insurance or motor takaful.
- Click ‘Apply Online & Save 10%‘.
- Key in your vehicle registration number. They show your car details (car type and model).
- Verify the details.
- Key in your NRIC and postcode for a quotation.
- When receiving the quotation, check if the details are correct and acceptable. Take note of the No Claim Discount (NCD) as well. You may edit or amend as necessary.
- Once confirm, make the payment via credit card or online banking.
- Upon payment made, the insurance policy will be directly sent to your email.
In my case, once the payment was made, I immediately received the email for both my new car insurance policy and my e-Certificate password.
That’s it. And my car insurance is renewed.
By the way, do take note of the following before you proceed with the motor insurance renewal:
- Your vehicle has to be less than 20 years old.
- Your insurance or takaful expiry date has to be less than 2 months away.
- Make sure your existing motor insurance cover note is with you. You need it to confirm some details such as the engine number.
- Compare quotations from a few car insurance providers for the best deal.
Pros and cons of renewing car insurance online
Based on our experience, I listed below the pros of renewing car insurance online.
Pros
These are positive things about online motor insurance renewal:
1. Much cheaper premium
We saved about RM100 by renewing our car insurance online. We compared a few quotations and we decided to switch to Etiqa.
One of the main reasons is its lower premium. Secondly, Etiqa provides prompt replies to our inquiries.
One thing worth taking note of, for the same coverage, the online quotations we received from all other providers are much cheaper than the ones we received via postal.
2. Convenience
Renewing car insurance online is seamlessly convenient. Especially at a time like now (COVID-19 outbreak) where:
- we want to limit contact with others.
- we have time to explore offers from different insurance and takaful provider.
- the service is available 24/7.
You can even renew your car insurance at midnight.
3. Speedy process
The digital way makes quotation gathering and comparison much faster.
Once we found the quotation we love, all we need to do is to proceed with making payment. Which only takes a few minutes.
4. Save time and money
Needless to say, the convenience and fast digital process save precious time and money.
Imagine how much time was wasted personally visiting the insurance office. One hour? Two hours? How about the petrol and the parking fees?
Cons
And these are the disadvantages of renewing car insurance online:
1. Credit card or online banking required
You need a credit card or online banking to complete the payment. Those without a credit card or online banking facility can always ask family or friends to help out.
From our experience, hubby successfully made payment for my car insurance using his credit card. This means they allow payment from a third party.
2. e-Certificate instead of hard copy
Only e-Certificate and no hard copy of insurance cover or policy details.
Of course, you can always choose to print out the e-Certificate and policy details.
3. Website inaccessible
When the website is inaccessible, you can’t do your car insurance renewal online. This would not be a big issue unless you are someone who loves to do things last minute.
Anyway, I trust the insurance company will try their best to prevent the website from an issue. And if it’s really down, they will take swift actions to get the website back up and running smoothly.
Final thoughts
This experience of renewing car insurance online totally changed my husband’s mindset about the conventional way of renewing it offline.
I foresee, after this, we are going to renew our car insurance online. No more through the troublesome and much more expensive conventional way. As for the road tax, we are planning to renew it at the local post office.
Lastly, for those curious to know how to renew car insurance online, I hope now you have an idea of what the process is like.
Image Credits
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay
Screenshot by author
