Next time you make an impromptu road trip to Goa with friends, you might get to pack a road travel insurance with the clothes and other ware.
Next time you make an impromptu road trip to Goa with friends, you might get to pack a road travel insurance with the clothes and other ware.
Currently, domestic travel insurance is limited to trips taken via flights or rail.
But now, some insurers are looking at travel insurance exclusively for road trips.
“We have seen that a lot of people take road trips and the concept of weekend getaways is gaining momentum in India,” said an official of one such company, requesting anonymity. “Therefore, we will soon be coming up with a travel insurance policy that will provide cover for calamities that can occur on these road trips.”
The official added that the cover will offer a mix of benefits provided on motor insurance and personal accident covers.
But the product is likely to cover only personal vehicles to start with, said sources.
This leads some to believe it is little more than a marketing ploy.
“When a person is taking a road trip, there are individual policies that can take care of whatever mishap occurs on the way. Therefore, a road travel policy will be nothing more than a gimmick,” said a senior industry official.
But such a cover could work if it was also made available on travel by hired cabs and taxis. It would help avoid any chance of an overlap with add-on auto insurance covers and come in handy when you are stranded on the road or – God forbid – something more unpleasant befalls you on the trip.
The companies are undecided on this aspect, though.
To be sure, the last two years have seen a flurry of activity in the auto insurance space, with several innovative add-on covers such as emergency transport, key replacement, zero depreciation, hotel expenses and so on being introduced. But there have been few takers for these.
The proposed road trip cover could well spark the next leg of innovation in motor insurance and boost domestic travel insurance.
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