2017 Buying Guide for Motor Insurance/Takaful and Road Tax in Malaysia

When you buy your insurance from MyEG, you do not get a 10% discount. MyEG acts as an agent, so you are not buying directly from the insurance companies. MyEG currently (June 2017) offers insurance from the following insurance companies: AIG, Zurich Takaful, Etiqa Takaful, RHB Insurance, Berjaya Sompo Insurance and Takaful Malaysia.

MyEG is very convenient because besides buying motor insurance, you can benefit from other useful services like check your summons and purchase your road tax. This saves you a lot of time and trouble, especially since you can have both the insurance and road tax delivered to your doorstep.

The disadvantage of buying direct is that you need to have some background knowledge on insurance to select the right insurance company and policy. With MyEG you can choose from different insurance companies, but you will not know what the differences are. With the start of the Motor Detariffication this July, you will want to compare prices among the various insurance companies to find the cheapest insurance. You will need to do that on your own for each of the companies.

When you have a claim, MyEG offers a hotline that you can call. But when you call the line, MyEG will refer you to the insurance company hotline or website. There is no support in filling out the insurance claims form. Without knowledge and experience, you may find it difficult to go about the claim process on your own.

Pos Malaysia does not offer the 10% direct discount because you are not buying the insurance directly. If there is an insurance branch near you, it is better for you to buy your insurance directly from the branch office, because you will receive a 10% discount. At Pos Malaysia, you get the same service  as offered by the branch office, but without any discount.

The biggest advantage of Pos Malaysia is that they can be found almost anywhere. Pos Malaysia has over 700 locations nationwide where you can buy your motor insurance. A big plus is that when you buy insurance you can also purchase the road tax simultaneously. Also, Pos Malaysia offers insurance from many different insurance companies.

When you buy insurance from the Pos Malaysia counter, your buying experience will depend on the clerk behind the window. If the clerk is experienced and knowledgable, he/she will be able to guide you to an insurance company and product that is best for you. If you are unlucky, you will get a clerk that will try to sell you an insurance that is best for Pos Malaysia, because they get better incentives from the insurance companies.

Pos Malaysia does not have a claims department. When you need to file a claim, you will have to find out from your documents from which insurance company you bought the policy from. Then you need to contact the insurance company to inform you what forms you need to fill out. There is no support in filling out the claims form. Without knowledge and experience, you may find it difficult to go about the claim process on your own.

If you buy your insurance directly from the insurance company, you get 10% discount on your premium. This is great because it offers the lowest possible price for you from that particular insurance company.  If you buy the insurance from a Takaful company, you might even be entitled to a 15% rebate when you renew your motor insurance. This means next year, you can save up to 25% on your motor insurance.

The disadvantage of buying from the insurance branch is that you need to have some knowledge on insurance to know which insurance company you want to buy from. So in advance you need to know how good the insurance company is. Also you need to know if the insurance company that you want to go, offers the right price for you. If you want to compare the insurance from different companies, you will need to go to each one of them to find out the price. With MyEG and Pos Malaysia you can choose from different insurance companies at one location. When you go to the insurance branch, you can only choose from that insurance company.

If you want to research about the quality of the insurance company, you can read our article 2016 Malaysia Motor Insurance Award to find our ranking.

If you buy insurance at the insurance branch, you also need to check beforehand if they offer road tax renewal on the spot, as not all branches have the capability to issue road tax immediately.

When you are involved in an accident, you can walk into the same insurance branch you purchased your insurance from to file a claim. You can speak with the person in charge face-to-face, so you can get help in making the claim. This is much better than having to wait on the line with the call center or waiting for an email response. Here you can just walk into the branch and find a person responsible for claims.

If you buy your insurance online direct from the insurance company, you get 10% discount on your premium. This is great because it offers the lowest possible price for you from that particular insurance company.  If you buy the insurance from a Takaful company, then you might even be entitled to 15% rebate, when you renew your motor insurance. This means next year, you can save up to 25% on your motor insurance.

You can find a list of insurance companies that offer insurance online in our article Advantages and Disadvantages of Buying Motor Insurance Online in Malaysia.

Similar to buying directly from the branch, the disadvantage of buying online direct is that you need to have some knowledge on insurance. You need to know which insurance company is the best for you and what insurance product to select.

If you buy insurance online, you will need to buy the road tax separately on your own. Most insurance companies do not combine the purchase of insurance with road tax like MyEG does.

The quality of sales advice you get is similar to buying insurance from MyEG. You need to have some knowledge of insurance and know from which company you want to buy online from. Compared to insurance branches buying online is good and bad at the same time. It is good, because if you want to compare prices among companies, you do not need to go to each one of them physically instead you can do so online. It is bad however because you do not have a person that you can ask questions. You need to find the information on your own on the internet.

Unlike buying your motor insurance online through MyEG, you still have insurance branches that you can go to. You can then speak to someone in person to get help with your insurance claim. We ranked it as NEUTRAL because in case the insurance company denies you the claim, you are on your own to figure things out. Insurance staff make mistakes, so you want to have someone you can consult with.

We have ranked buying from an insurance agent as neutral, because it really depends on how efficient your insurance agent is and how well you know him. If your insurance agent is a family member, then there might even be a chance that you will receive part of the commission back. On the other hand, it is not BAD like Pos Malaysia, because you pay for the extra service that a good agent is providing you.

Buying from an insurance agent offers the best possible service you can get, especially if you choose a reliable agent. Picking the right agent is critical as they not only put your needs before theirs, but can also help you in picking the right insurance product. Buying through an insurance agents also is the most convenient way of purchasing your insurance, because filling out all the necessary forms, payment, collection and delivery of road tax are all done through the agent.

When it comes to speed, not all insurance agents will be able to give you the road tax together with the insurance on the spot like Pos Malaysia or an insurance branch. However, some agents have their own Road Tax device from MyEG that allows them to issue the road tax. You can identify them by their MyEG sign at their office. Often times, the places are labeled as MyEG Kiosk.

Large agencies can represent more than one insurance company. These agents  can help you compare prices among insurance companies to find the cheapest. This is important, because with the motor detariffication starting July 1^st, each insurance company will offer a different price for you. Read more about the Motor Detariffication in our article Malaysian Motor Detariffication.

Insurance agents play an important role during accidents. When you are involved in a road accident or if your car is stolen, a good insurance agent will be able to guide you what to do and what not to do. The agent will be able to advise what the insurance company will cover and pay for. A great agent will even fill out the claims form for you and collect all the necessary documents to file the claim with the insurance company.

When you buy your car or motorcycle from the dealership, you most likely will have also bought the insurance at the same time. You will not get a 10% discount, because the dealers are insurance agents. This way they can earn extra money through insurance.

However, if the dealer or car manufacturer offers extra benefits for you, then it may be a good deal to renew your policy with the dealer. For example, Perodua offers their car owners a 10 year extra coverage if you renew with them.

We categorized dealers as BAD for speed and convenience because they are not knowledgeable in insurance and not interested to handle claims. Usually they will help you the first year to get your insurance, but subsequently the service offered deteriorates. In most cases, you will also need to walk into the dealership to make payment and collect the insurance as they do not offer delivery service. 

Since we are only covering car/ motorcycle dealers that do not have a dedicate insurance person on site, therefore we categorized the SALES ADVICE as bad. Similar to SPEED & CONVENIENCE, the lack of a full-time professional insurance person helping you to make the right choices are important. To emphasize, not all car / motorcycle dealers provide BAD SALES ADVICE. There are dealerships out there that provide excellent service. But those are the exception. Most of them, we believe cannot compare to the professional sales advice of an insurance agent.

Franchise dealers are mostly focused on selling cars or motorcycles.This makes sense, because when a sales person sells a car, he/she can make more money than handling an insurance question or claim. Also, handling an insurance claim can be very time consuming and complex. This is why we categorize dealerships with no insurance staff as BAD.