Car Insurance While Relocating

• Protect yourself with third party or comprehensive cover
• Use bumper to bumper policies to reduce your liability
• Enjoy facilities like zero depreciation and roadside assistance covers

A new business or a job transfer may prompt you to relocate to another state. Whatever may be the reason, relocating your vehicle to another state means that you have to re-register your car in the new state as per the law.

For any vehicle that you may own, changing its registration number as per that state and city’s regulations and updating the details of new registration in the car insurance policy is necessary. This will help you to communicate with the same insurer in that city for any claims and clarifications.

Below mentioned are few tips that will be useful for car insurance changes for relocation:

Change the registration number: Only if you are moving to another place temporarily, the re-registration of the vehicle is not necessary as per the law. If you are moving to a different state permanently or for more than 12 months, re-registration is important. For re-registration of the vehicle at the relocated city RTO, submit the following documents:

• Original RC
• NOC obtained from the RTO where the vehicle was initially registered
• Pollution Under Control (PUC) Certificate
• Form 29 and 30 duly filled by you (for re-registration process)
• Copy of active car insurance policy
• Chassis imprint of the car
• New address proof
• ID proof like DL, Voter ID, etc.
• Attested PAN or Aadhaar copy
• Applicable process fee

Inform the insurance company about relocating: Inform the insurer prior to the relocation as it will be easy for them to intimate the insurance company branch at the new location, if they have any. Once you change the registration number of the vehicle, then submit the same to your insurer so that they can update the details in the policy for future convenience. If the registration number of the vehicle is not updated in the car insurance policy, then any claim that you make will not be valid or in simple words your claims will be rejected due to a technical error. Therefore, it is important to intimate the insurer about the new address and registration number.

Know the network of garages: It may be possible that the number of network of garages of the insurer in the new city may be less or more. If the network of garages are less and in distant places from your location, it will become difficult for you to avail cashless claim facility. Although you can pay for the expenses for the repair by yourself and get the reimbursement later, it is more convenient if you get the vehicle repaired at a network garage of the insurer and enjoy cashless claim facility.

Impact on premium amount: As you may already know, the renewal premium amount depends on various factors like age of the vehicle, city of residence, age of the owner, IDV, NCB, depreciation, etc. The city that you have relocated to may have higher number of road accidents, be flood prone, nearer to sea, or may be a small city with less number of accidents, etc. Hence, the city you have moved to will also be considered for premium calculation. This may impact the overall benefits and facilities of the plan as well.

No Claim Bonus transfer: No Claim Bonus is a discount that the insurer offers to the insured for a claim-free policy year and as an appreciation for driving quality of the policyholder. NCB is a discount given to the policyholder and not on the vehicle. Therefore, it can be transferred to new insurer (if you are changing the insurance provider) and not from one person to another. NCB can be availed up to 50% depending upon the number of policy years. So do not forget to check for NCB while you relocate.

Browse for insurance plans: It is not necessary that you stick with the same insurer when you relocate. If a company in that city is offering you better benefits and facilities with a higher number of network of garages at a reasonable premium, you can opt to switch the insurance provider. Compare different insurance providers online to learn about better offers in the new city/state.

Be insured at all times: If you want to cancel the policy with the current insurance provider, then make sure that there is no coverage gap in the policy. First, buy a new policy while you cancel the old one. So inform the new car insurance provider to initiate the insurance from the date it was cancelled with the old insurer. Make sure that the old policy is cancelled and obtain the copy of the same.

Relocating might be stressful but making sure that all the documents concerning the car insurance are in place is very important. Driving without a car insurance is an offence and you can be penalised for the same.