A decent size family in the UAE usually has multiple cars in the house and all of them are used regularly by different drivers and maintaining multiple cars cost you a lot. Add the cost of insurance to that and you may have a long list of expenses coming your way in the annual budget calculation. Insurance providers in the UAE offer multi-car insurance plans to save you from paying a fortune on ensuring every car individually. Let’s get into the details to understand this type of car insurance better.
A multi-car insurance policy is a single policy that covers more than one vehicle in a singular coverage. The number of vehicles covered by a multi-car insurance plan can differ as per the provider policies. Just like bundle insurance plans, a multi-car insurance policy earns you a hefty discount on the premium since you will be insuring multiple cars with the same car insurance company. Discount is often offered for each car that you add to the policy. The role of a multi-car insurance policy is exactly the same as that of a standard single car insurance plan.
You may get two coverage options when it comes to finding the best multi-car insurance plans in the UAE:
It is easy to understand how a multi-car insurance policy works. There is one plan that you choose for the cars – third-party or comprehensive – and register vehicles under it. These cars that you register can all be owned by you or your family members, either of the two works. All the included cars receive the same level of benefits. The premium of a multi-car insurance policy is decided as per the driving history and claim records of all the included drivers as well as the condition of the cars. This means that a good driving record from even one of all the registered drivers can bring the premium amount lower for all the registered cars and vice versa. The same goes with the car’s history of insurance claims and the condition. So, your multi-car insurance plan gets influenced by every car included in the set. If available with the providers, there is another multi-car insurance arrangement you can go for – the linked policy.
The general idea is that a multi-car insurance plan is a single plan that covers all your registered cars under a single coverage. But that means that all the cars included in the plan would have the exact same insurance benefits – whether comprehensive or third-party liability. A linked policy allows you to choose different plans for each car that you want to insurance and different renewal dates if you like. This arrangement is still categorised as a multi-car insurance policy since all cars are linked and insured by the same provider. A linked policy gives you much greater freedom of choosing insurance coverage for your cars however the discounts may vary from the single policy multi-car insurance.
Cars added on a multi-car insurance plan share a few benefits and have a few others as independent coverages. Given below is a complete breakdown of the inclusions and how they are divided among all the vehicles added:
Different insurance providers have a different set of rules to decide who can get a multi-car insurance policy. As a general rule, family members with the same registered address can get multi-car insurance for their vehicles that are bought using the same address. Apart from that, some providers also allow people living within the same accommodation to buy a multi-car insurance plan even if they are not family. This includes folks living with their friends in a shared apartment or home.
Several factors affect multi-car insurance quotes and prices in the UAE. Apart from the generally applicable factors, there are a few different ways your multi-car insurance prices can get affected as well. Given below are the top ones:
As a basic comparison, yes, multi-car insurance plans are cheaper when it comes to buying car insurance for multiple cars. Since you get a discount when buying a multi-car insurance policy, it ends up being lower than the total cost of insuring every car you or your family own individually. However, the factors that influence car insurance prices can dramatically change this scenario. The overall premium of the plan, which is the same for every car insured in the policy, can increase several folds even if one of the drivers has a bad driving history, one of the cars is in poor condition, is an expensive model or has aesthetic modifications.
The renewal process for multi-car insurance plans is pretty much the same as individual car insurance plans. You can renew the policy online by visiting an aggregators’ websites or simply by logging on to a providers’ portal. You can also renew your insurance offline by visiting one of the branches. The renewal date for each car included in the policy can either be the same or different. It probably will be the same in case you have a single plan arrangement for all cars and all of them were insured on the exact same day. Linked policy arrangements can go ahead and get different dates for each car included in the policy. Some providers offer their policyholders to choose different renewal dates for each car even in a single plan multi-car insurance arrangement.
No claim bonus is carried out by the policyholder instead of the vehicle itself. This means that if one of the policyholders of the multi-car insurance policy crashes their car and submit a claim, your NCB will still be safe. However, if a named driver makes a claim, the policyholder’s NCB will get affected. For example, you have two cars in a multi-car insurance plan. You are the policyholder for one car and your spouse is the policyholder for the other one. Your son is a named driver for both these cars. If he crashed your spouse’s car, their NCB will get affected while yours will stay intact. It is best to get a crystal-clear idea of this particular condition before you invest in the multi-car insurance plan.
The process of adding new cars is quite straightforward. You will need a duly filled application form for adding new cars to the policy. Following is the information you will need to add a new car:
Let’s understand the process of adding vehicles with different renewal dates using an example. A, B, C and D are four members of a family and they all drive separate cars with individual insurance plans. A’s car insurance plan is due for renewal soon and she decides to switch to a multi-car insurance plan for the whole family. A fills out the form for the plan with the details of all four cars to be added. The car insurance plan for A will start as soon as her previous plan expires. The renewal date for B, C and D’s car insurance plans are different with a gap of two months in each of them. They join the multi-car insurance plan when their respective plan ends and get a pro-rated premium depending on the time they spend on the new policy. For example, B joins 2 months after A and pays the premium for only 10 months.
A single plan multi-car insurance policy works well for if there are only one or two registered drivers for all the insured cars. The risk of getting a high premium is very low in this situation. It also works well if you need the same kind of coverage for all the cars. If you want different levels of coverage for each car, it is best to get a linked multi-car insurance policy. You can choose different coverage levels for each car and get different renewal dates as well.
Ans: No, the claim process for multi-car insurance policies is the same as individual car insurance plans. Since each driver is listed and treated as a separate entity, claims can be made individually as well.