Painful experience renewing insurance of my 25-year-old Honda City

Many denied insuring the car since it was over 25 years old while others refused to offer third-party coverage.

BHPian AnInternetUser recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello, BHPians! It’s been a while since my last update. These eleven months of ownership have helped me understand the car and the “scene” much better. Until April, I had clocked just around 900 km.

Now for the updates:

When I bought a 25-year-old car, I expected niggles, difficulty in finding parts, and some inconvenient “quirks and features”. But what completely caught me off-guard was the painful process of renewing insurance.

As many of you know, new cars are straightforward to insure - submit details and select coverage. Cross-shopping is quite simple, too, since IDVs are comparable and most insurers offer similar riders and add-ons for new cars. Things get slightly tricky after the 5-year mark since insurers typically do not provide zero-dep coverage. In many cases, this is also when there is a divergence between IDVs and market values. These factors make cross-shopping less straightforward: one must compare quotes, IDVs, and add-ons, and then pull the trigger. This process remains largely similar for cars until they are 15 years old, after which the process gets trickier. From what I could understand, many car owners (especially second/third owners on the RC) switch to third-party insurance at this stage since they deem first-party insurance “too expensive”.

Regardless of the car, I always prefer comprehensive coverage, so I began researching. I checked online portals, digital insurers, traditional insurers, multiple agents, and everything in between. Many agents and insurers denied insuring the car since it was over 25 years old and refused to offer third-party coverage, let alone a comprehensive plan.

Finally, after many calls and research, my agent secured a few quotes from traditional insurers. The difference between third-party and comprehensive coverage was a mere 2,000-3,000 rupees. This was a no-brainer since I could get the added peace of mind of comprehensive coverage for less than the cost of a full tank of fuel. The previous owner had insured the car with 1 insurer, but I opted for another since they gave me the best deal. My insurance premium doubled, but I was happy to pay the higher premium for (potentially) better coverage.

Some points:

1. New-age insurers seem to offer coverage to older cars depending on location - Acko and Digit have insured a few Honda SX8s from Karnataka and Kerala but refused to insure my car.
2. Quotes and IDVs across insurers vary greatly. For those looking to insure their modern classic, please start researching a few weeks before your insurance expires.
3. While I’m not a part of organizations like WIAA, I wonder how their insurance discounts work. I might look into this more before my next renewal.

I will share some updates about the mechanical repairs and servicing in the next update… See you!

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