Lowering the IDV of my car to save on insurance premium: Yay or nay?

This will reduce my premium and as I understand, the only thing IDV is used is in case of car being totalled or stolen.

BHPian shadkhan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I am thinking of setting the IDV of my Hector Plus 2023 to 15 lakh instead of the default of 19 lakh for an upcoming insurance renewal. This will reduce my premium and as I understand, the only thing IDV is used is in case of car being totalled or stolen. I am OK with the reduced amount of 15 lakh in these cases.

Is there something else I should be worried about?

I want no hassles in claims.

Here's what BHPian Roadie09 had to say on the matter:

If you have a Return to Invoice cover then I see no issue in reducing your IDV. RTI will save you from a major loss due to theft or car getting totalled. At least for the first 3 years of ownership I would suggest to safeguard against such possibilities. An RTI cover will save you 8-10 lacs (on road price minus the low IDV) for a premium of 3-4 k additional, while you can keep your IDV low to compensate for this extra cover charge.

Here's what BHPian MT_Hyderabad had to say on the matter:

Yes, you can, if it is allowed. There is a minimum IDV, beyond which it cannot be lowered further.

I would suggest you also check voluntary deductible. With just 2500 or 5000, it reduces premium quite significantly. I have used 15K voluntary deductible also. This means for any expense less than 30k, I will not claim any damages.

Here's what BHPian dhanushs had to say on the matter:

You are allowed to, but, I would strongly recommend against it. After this step down, you will further face yearly depreciations on the IDV and even if you want to bring it up someday, it can never go up.

Atleast for insurance, I would like to get the max coverage. You never know when it comes handy.

Here's what BHPian condor had to say on the matter:

I have mostly seen people asking to increase the IDV of their cars so that they have higher coverage in case of any eventuality. This is the first time I see someone asking to reduce the IDV.

What is the difference in premium between the two IDV values ? Remember, most of the premium we pay is on Third Party damage and other covers if one has. Third party component is increasing steadily, while Own Damage component keeps reducing every year. And if you have good NCB, then difference in Own Damage component will reduce even further.

Here's what BHPian ghodlur had to say on the matter:

I would not suggest lowering the IDV just to save on the premium. It is unfair to underinsure your car, there is a specific reason why the depreciation table for the IDV is mentioned in the Policy document.

Also RTI add on cover does have its own Terms and conditions which must be read to understand the applicability. The cover is generally available for the first three years of ownership at sole discretion of the Insurance co. Once the cover is unavailable and the IDV is already depreciated more than the table, it will be very difficult to justify any increase in IDV which will come at a higher premium then. So it is suggested to calculate the IDV either by the table or by thumb rule of 10% less than previous year IDV.

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