Across the country, there has been a mad rush to renew lapsed insurance policies by motorists, thanks to the new Motor Vehicles Act that has imposed heftier fines for those driving uninsured vehicles. Apart from the fine, there are other reasons why you should renew your lapsed motor insurance policy.

One, if you hit a third-party vehicle and the vehicle is damaged or the person driving it suffers bodily injury or dies and there is a legal proceeding on you, you will have to settle it personally. Note that the liability is unlimited. Further, if you do not renew your policy on time and it has lapsed for more than 90 days, you will be losing the no-claim bonus.

Buying motor insurance online is very simple today. You can either go to the same insurer’s website, login with the policy number and renew it or look for a new insurer and take a fresh policy. You can login to the websites of online aggregators such as Policybazaar.com, Coverfox Insurance and Renewbuy.com, and compare the premium rates offered by different insurers.

After you select your bike’s manufacturer, model and variant, and the year of registration, and specify the RTO where it was registered, the site will throw up premium rates offered by different insurance companies. With the new-age insurers — Digit and Acko — buying online motor insurance is even simpler, involving just three or four steps. But that said, with traditional players, there is the comfort of a good track record in settlement. If you want to save some money, you can buy just the third-party cover, which is mandatory under the law, instead of a comprehensive cover that includes own damage insurance. A third-party insurance will cover only the legal liability arising out of damage to the property of a third-party or bodily injury/death of the third party.

Another way to save on premium is to take a lower insured declared value or IDV. This is the market value of a vehicle, less depreciation (depending on the age of the vehicle). Your bike/car will be insured for this value. Note that, on damage to the vehicle, this is the maximum amount the insurer will pay you. The insurance aggregator sites also will give you the option of to go for a lower IDV.

While you will be saving on premium by going for a lower IDV, you may end up paying from your pocket for repair in case of damage to the vehicle if it is under-insured.