Do you always turn to your laptop or your mobile phone when you’re looking to buy something?

In today’s era, we are a connected generation that expects everything to be available online — we are thrifty, budget conscious and prefers anything that is wallet-friendly. Everything from information, resources, details, images of products. If it’s online, it’s good. If we could, we want to smell a meal online before buying too.

Why? Because it’s convenient and it’s the best way to make the fastest most educated decision before paying for something.

As with buying or renewing your car insurance, there are also ways for a tech-savvy consumer like you to buy or renew your car insurance.

In our guide, we listed 6 ways to buying car insurance by looking at comparison criteria such as price, speed & convenience, sales advice, and claims support.

But today we will look two ways we think is a good way you can buy your car insurance.

Comparison Criteria

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 from MyEG online

PRICE: NEUTRAL

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.

SPEED & CONVENIENCE: GOOD

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.

SALES ADVICE: BAD

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.

CLAIMS SUPPORT: BAD

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.

With MYEG, there’s no doubt that after you purchase your car insurance, you can renew your road tax too. You have a choice to have your road tax delivered to you. But if you’re looking for the convenience in comparing other insurance products, MYEG won’t be so good either because there is no tool on the platform for you compare.

MYEG act as an agent. So when you buy or renew your car insurance through them, you won’t get a 10% discount on your premium.

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.

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.

As you can tell buying an insurance online directly from an insurance/takaful company fits the bill if you’re a budget-conscious person. Buying directly will allow you a discount of 10% from your premium and if you buy from a takaful company, you get a 15% rebate.

In recent years, most insurance companies in Malaysia have started realizing that buying on-the-go is just as crucial as buying from a laptop or desktop. With that in mind, a lot of insurance company today made it a point to develop mobile apps so consumers can purchase while on the move.

Despite that, speed and convenience in terms of obtaining information, making a comparison and product details in one seating is not so good. There’s still a little bit of effort on your part required here.

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.

Explore other options in our 2017 Buying Guide for Motor Insurance/ Takaful and Road Tax in Malaysia.

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