It’s that time of the year again. The time to renew your car insurance is just around the corner. While it may seem easy to leave your insurance hunting to the good hands of a trusted agent, you can’t help but trust yourself way more than you do others.

For you, settling with a car insurance price based on someone else’s advice gives you an unsettling inkling that you can do a better job —with just a little patience, you might find an even cheaper car insurance than an agent can.

Last week we looked at how a couch potato can buy car insurance without leaving the comforts of the couch. Today we look at how you as a proud cost savvy individual can find the most bargain worthy car insurance in Malaysia.   
 

But first, the factors to consider:

PRICE

Looks at how good the price will be on average when you buy the insurance. An example of GOOD is when you can get your insurance at the best price.

SPEED & CONVENIENCE

Looks at how easy and fast you can get your insurance and road tax. An example of GOOD is when you can get your insurance and road tax on the same day without leaving your house.

SALES ADVICE

Looks at how much assistance you get when buying your insurance. An example of GOOD is when you have someone explaining to you the different insurance terms and helps you make the right choices.

CLAIMS SUPPORT

Looks at how much assistance you get when you have an accident. An example of GOOD is when someone is available to guide you on the steps to take, assists you when making a police report and helps with claims against the insurance company.

Buying insurance DIRECT from the insurance or takaful branch

PRICE: GOOD

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.

SPEED & CONVENIENCE: BAD

To buy insurance from the insurance company directly, you need to find out where the nearest insurance branch is. This is less convenient than buying from Pos Malaysia, because Pos Malaysia has more than 700 locations. Allianz Malaysia, one of the largest motor insurer has only 35 branches. You need to be careful, when choosing a branch, because some branches only sell Life insurance and not Motor Insurance. Also, you have to go out and buy yourself the insurance from the counter to get the 10% discount, because you need to show your IC. If you want to buy the road tax at the same time, you will also need to check fi the branch offers road tax renewal on the spot. Only a few branches have the machine to print out the road tax. We categorized the SPEED & CONVENIENCE BAD, because of those inconveniences.

SALES ADVICE: BAD

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.

CLAIMS SUPPORT: NEUTRAL

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.

Buying insurance ONLINE DIRECT from the insurance/takaful branch

PRICE: GOOD

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.

SPEED & CONVENIENCE: BAD

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.

SALES ADVICE: BAD

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.

CLAIMS SUPPORT: NEUTRAL

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.

Overview table of buying insurance/takaful motor insurance and road tax in Malaysia

WAY OF BUYING
INSURANCE

PRICE

SPEED & CONVENIENCE

SALES ADVICE

CLAIMS SUPPORT

MYEG

NEUTRAL
GOOD
BAD
BAD

Pos Malaysia

BAD
GOOD
NEUTRAL
BAD

DIRECT Insurance/
Takaful Branch

GOOD
BAD
BAD
NEUTRAL

ONLINE DIRECT

GOOD
BAD
NEUTRAL
NEUTRAL

Good Insurance/
Takaful Agent

NEUTRAL
GOOD
GOOD
GOOD

Car / Motorcycle Dealer
without insurance
staff

NEUTRAL
BAD
BAD
BAD