Loss of Personal Belongings Add-on in Car Insurance

Car insurance is simple. You need a Third-party Policy as per the law, and a Comprehensive cover offers the mandatory coverage as well as Own Damage cover. However, things can seem challenging when you dig deep. When it comes to the loss of personal belongings in car insurance, you need more details. For instance, Comprehensive Car Insurance policy covers damage to the car. But does it cover the damage to your laptop kept in the car? What if your mobile phone gets stolen from your car? Read ahead for the answers.

There may be instances where your personal belongings might be unsupervised in your car. They can get stolen or damaged from the insured car resulting in you facing a loss. This is the meaning of ‘loss of personal Belongings’ in car insurance.

While insuring your vehicle, you might wonder, does car insurance cover theft of items in the car? If not, then is there a dedicated theft cover in car insurance? And what if the personal Belongings get damaged in the car? The answer to these questions is that a basic Third-party car insurance certainly does not offer such a cover. A Comprehensive Policy might offer it if you have additional coverage. This extra coverage can be availed by purchasing a Personal Belongings Cover Add-on with your Comprehensive Policy.

You can buy this add-on by paying extra premium. With this cover in place, your insurer will cover losses arising due to damage or theft of your personal Belongings from the insured car as per the terms and conditions of the policy.

Some insurers might offer separate add-ons when it comes to this cover. Here are the different dedicated policies that might be on offer:

Note that some insurance companies might adopt a mix and match approach or offer the above policies as a bundle. Some might not offer such a cover at all. In a few cases, the add-on might be available but the list of exclusions can be lengthy.

Therefore, it is of utmost importance to read the fine print when it comes to purchasing such add-ons. The details will be mentioned in the respective policy’s Policy Wordings. If you have any doubts whatsoever, get them resolved from the insurer’s customer support team before purchasing the add-on.

Let’s understand the benefit of Personal Belongings Cover through an example:

After a long day at work, Priya parked her car outside a mall. When she returned, the window was shattered and her laptop bag was gone. Thankfully, she had opted for Personal Belongings Cover in her Comprehensive car insurance. She filed a police report and contacted her insurer. With the right documents, she received reimbursement for her stolen laptop and other items.

This example highlights the importance of Personal Belongings Cover which will help you if you lose your personal belongings in unforeseen events. 

Exclusions are those situations where the insurance company will NOT cover you. These exclusions are clearly stated in the Policy Wordings of the cover. Different insurers might have different exclusions in place. It is advisable to go through them before buying and claiming against the policy. If you have raised a claim for a situation that is mentioned in the list of exclusions in the respective policy, then the insurer will not approve your claim.

Here’s a list of generic exclusions of a Personal Belongings Cover Add-on in car insurance.

Typically, the following items are included in Personal Belongings Cover:

Here’s the claim procedure to be followed while claiming against the Personal Belongings Cover Add-on in car insurance.

Note that the amount received in claim settlement will factor the depreciation cost of the damaged/lost asset in question. For example, if a laptop was completely damaged while it was in the car due to an accident, then the insurer will offer the depreciated amount of the laptop and not the invoice value. This calculation is done as per the following table.

Nowadays, digital-first insurance companies are moving away from the old-school paper-based claim settlement process. To make the claim process simple and convenient, they do not ask for a long list of documents to be submitted. However, companies have their own ways of going about this process.

Usually, you will be asked for the following documents in case of a claim raised against a Personal Belongings Cover. Note that the exact list of documents might be based on the respective claim and the insurer’s claim settlement policy.

You can buy a Personal Belongings Add-on with your Comprehensive Car Insurance Policy from ACKO. You have the option of purchasing three types of this car insurance add-on from ACKO.

Thus, Loss of Personal Belongings Cover which is an add-on to a Comprehensive Car Insurance Policy is helpful if you have to raise a claim for loss of personal items. However, make it a point to read the exclusions of the policy before purchasing, renewing, and claiming against this cover.