Understanding Insurance: Motor Insurance – Additional Coverage

In our previous blog article, we spoke about the different types of motor insurance policies and their coverage. You may find that even with a Comprehensive Cover, it is still not enough to insure you against some things that matter to you or that it is not enough to give you a peace of mind. The good news is that there are additional covers that you can purchase on top of your Comprehensive Plan. The bad news is that you will have to pay extra to purchase these cover. They are however, charged separately, so you are free to pick and choose whichever you like, for that extra protection.

This article will look at most of the additional covers that are available in the market. You may find that some insurance companies may offer more options than others. So it is important that you know exactly which covers you want and find the right insurance company that offers them. Additionally, you may check out the car insurance comparison we carried out recently.

Additional Coverage/ Extensions in Motor Insurance Policy

We listed the covers according to what we feel is most important to Malaysian road users.

1) Windscreen Cover

Windscreen cover insures you against damage on your windscreen. The benefit of having this plan is that when there is a claim against your broken windscreen, the insurance company will pay in for the repair/ replacement of your windscreen.

Another advantage is that you will not lose your NCD when you claim against this cover, which is a big deal as NCD represents a big saving for you especially in the long run. In our article on NCD, you can read an example on how having a windscreen cover can be most beneficial to you.

The additional premium can be between 10-15% of the amount insured for windscreen. The amount insured is usually based on the price of the windscreen for your car type/ model. This also means that when there is a claim, the insurance company will pay you up to this ‘insured’ amount.

However, do take note that windscreen cover only protects you for 1 time claim, after you have made a claim the protection is over and you will need to purchase another cover if you want to continue to be insured for windscreen damage. Windscreen cover is linked to your comprehensive plan, so when your comprehensive cover expires, so will your windscreen cover.

We at iBanding highly recommends consumers to take up windscreen cover because windscreens are susceptible to damage and are expensive to replace. Read our article on the steps you need to take when making a windscreen claim and also find out more on NCD.

2) Named Driver

A “Named Driver” is someone who can drive the insured car or motorcycle with the owner’s permission and be covered by the insurance with the same privileges as the owner. In Malaysia, you can put two drivers into your motor policy for free. Any additional driver will cost additional RM 10.

It is important to put in regular users of your motor vehicle in the insurance, because if an unnamed driver gets into an accident, insurance companies will pay out less on the claim. For example, when an accident happens with an unnamed driver behind the wheel, the insurance company reduces the pay-out by RM 300. Paying additional RM 10 for a named driver is small compared to that.

3) All Driver Coverage

This extension is useful for private vehicles registered under a company or an organization (not considered commercial vehicles). This extra coverage will allow any authorized personnel to drive your vehicle and have the same insurance protection extended to them.

The additional premium for this extension is RM 50 per vehicle.

4) Special Perils

This plan insures you against damages due to natural disasters such as flood, earthquakes, landslide, landslip, sinkhole etc. The additional cost for this cover is around 0.5% of your sum insured. This may vary according to insurers.

Fortunately for us, other than floods, Malaysia is not known to have many other natural disasters. Therefore most of us do not even consider to purchase this additional coverage for our vehicles. However, for people who live in flood-prone area, such as in the east coast of Malaysia, you might want to consider this plan if you have the extra money for the additional cost. And we do recommend this especially now with the erratic weather patterns.

5) Legal Liability

There are two types of Legal Liability Cover for Car Insurance in Malaysia. Both policies are not mandatory in Malaysia, but when you plan to travel with your car into Singapore, it is mandatory to have those two covers in your motor policy. Also, if you are earning extra money as an UBER driver, we highly recommend taking up this extra cover to protect yourself against your UBER passengers.

(i) Legal Liability of Passenger or short LLP-A, LLNP, LLOP

Imagine you are driving your car, suddenly one of your friends sitting in the car wound down his window and threw an empty glass bottle out. The bottle accidentally hit a motorist at the back causing him to lose control of his bike and hit a pavement, causing injury to himself and damaging his motorbike. Hopefully we don’t have reckless friends like this, but if this did happen, you could be sued for causing injury to others. Legal Liability of Passenger protects you from such legal liability, i.e. financial damages if there is such a legal action against you.

The additional premium for this cover is RM 7.50 per car.

(ii) Legal Liability to Passenger or short LLP, LLNP, LLTP

This cover will compensate you in the event that you (or your named drivers) are being sued by your passengers for negligence. For instance, if there has been an accident while you, or your named driver was driving, and this caused injury to your passenger(s). If they proved that the accident was due to your negligence, they could sue you. This plan will compensate you for the financial losses in such events.

The premium for this cover is 25% of Third Party premium.

6) Compensation for Assessed Repair Time (CART)

This plan will pay you for the estimated number of days required to have your car repaired. The number of days is determined by the adjuster’s recommendation of the time required for repair. And NOT the number of days the car is stuck in the workshop. This compensation allows you to pay for a rental car during the time when your car is being repaired. This cover could lessen your inconvenience and burden during such a time. To claim for this you must rent cars only from licensed car rental agency with proof of receipt.

The additional premium cost for CART varies according to insurers. Therefore it really depends on which insurance company you purchase your motor policy from. Some insurers such as Allianz for instance, offers free car for 5-9 days under their Enhanced Road Warrior plan.

7) Car Accessories Cover

If you’ve spent a lot of money accessorizing your car with expensive stereo system, this is the plan for you. Under this plan, you will receive compensation if your accessories get stolen. This plan also covers you if your car accessories are damaged during an accident or an attempted burglary. Stolen tires are not covered under this plan.

The additional premium for this coverage is about 15% of the value of the accessories.

8) Strike, Riot & Civil Commotion

This insurance plan protects you from damages to your vehicle due to various kinds of strike, riot or civil commotions. So naturally it is not a popular plan in Malaysia. The premium for this coverage is about 0.3% of the sum insured of your vehicle.

This is perhaps the most comprehensive and detailed list of additional covers for motor policy that you can find offered by Malaysian insurance companies. We hope that it has been useful to you in understanding better the additional coverage that is available to help you protect yourself further as a consumer and a road user.