Why Are Add-On Covers in Commercial Vehicle Insurance Required?

There are two types of commercial vehicle insurance available in India:

• Third-Party Insurance
• Comprehensive Insurance

While third-party insurance for your commercial vehicle is mandatory, the comprehensive insurance cover is optional that provides coverage for your vehicle, and third-party both against accident, damage, etc.

Despite the comprehensive cover, there are some optional covers or add-ons available for commercial vehicles, which are for providing extensive coverage. You can use these add-ons as additional coverage over the base commercial insurance plan by paying an extra premium. Some of the highly recommended add-ons for commercial vehicles are:

No Claim Bonus Protector

No Claim Bonus Protector or NCB Protector is an add-on cover that protects your no claim bonus. Let us understand this by an example, suppose you have acquired No Claim Bonus for your commercial vehicle by not claiming insurance cover against your commercial vehicle. However, your commercial vehicle gets involved in some accident and gets damaged though you are not at fault. So, in such a situation, should you lose all your accrued bonuses?

Well, no, if you have no claim protector add-on. The NCB protector ensures that if you are not at fault and the accident occurred because of the fault of another party or someone else was driving your car when the accident incurred, then your NCB remains at its place. So, in general, we can say that an NCB protector has the following features:

• This add-on protects your no claim bonus
• If you are at fault, then you have to forgo your no claim bonus
• This add-on ensures that your no-claim bonus remains intact for the initial two claims that you have made in one year. This will be added to the reimbursed claim amount.
• This additional cover is recommended for the people who live in an accident-prone area and who tend to lend their commercial vehicles to others to drive.

Roadside Accident Cover

This cover is providing help when you are stuck in the middle of a highway without any help in hand. If you purchase this add-on cover, all you need to do is to make a phone call. This cover ensures that you get emergency help like towing of your commercial vehicle from the highway or middle of some road, medical help, fuel arrangement, battery jumpstart, alternative transport, minor repairing, and sometimes even accommodation.

Zero Depreciation

This add-on helps you to recover the cost of replacement or repair of the depreciated part of your commercial vehicle. It is one of the most popular add-ons, especially for commercial vehicles that run within the city and encounter bumper-to-bumper traffic daily. With this cover, you can make sure that you recover the full cost of the parts of your vehicle without applying depreciation.

Protection of Invoice Add-On

This additional cover makes sure that your insurance claim gets settled in a way that you recover your entire loss amount (the on-road cost of your commercial vehicle at the time of its purchase) without any deduction. This situation might have occurred because you have lost your vehicle. This add-on cover bridges the gap between the Insured Declared Value of the vehicle and its value on the invoice.

The Insured Declared Value represents the value of the vehicle after depreciation is deducted from its original sale price. However, it is necessary to note that the protection of invoice cover is not available for vehicles that are older than 3 years.

Consumable Cover

Some parts of your commercial vehicle are known as consumables. These parts are:

• Screws
• Bolts
• Washers
• Brake Fluid

Regular commercial vehicle insurance may not cover the consumable parts of your vehicle. So, you can opt for this cover for your high-end commercial vehicle. However, even this cover is not available for older vehicles.

Cover for Accessories
This is again a common add-on for a commercial vehicle wherein the expensive accessories are covered against damage and theft because of untoward situations. Mentioned below is the list of some of the accessories that are covered under this add-on:

• Bus flooring
• GPS station announcer
• Curtains
• Laminated windscreen
• For cargo trailers – the dog grabs handle
• Waterproof front-view camera for commercial vehicles like bus

Engine Protection Cover
This add-on cover is to protect the heart of your commercial vehicle which is its engine. The normal comprehensive commercial vehicle insurance policy does not provide coverage for the damages incurred to your vehicle’s engine. Therefore, this cover amplifies your commercial vehicle insurance policy. This is one of the important add-ons for those who have to drive their commercial vehicle in areas where waterlogging is the major issue.

The reason for the same is the vehicle's engine damage due to waterlogging. However, this add-on does not cover the damage to your vehicle’s engine that is caused by some accident. Most commercial vehicle insurance providers offer this cover at a very affordable price.

Summing It Up!

Having an add-on cover for your commercial vehicle is like providing additional safety to your vehicle from unwanted events like damage, accident, or theft. However, if you are thinking to purchase an add-on cover just because a friend of yours has bought one, then do not do this. You should understand your requirements very carefully and then only select an add-on that best suits you and fulfills your unique and specific needs.