What to do when insurance is expired?

Due to the busy life, lots of responsibilities and high rate of competition in the current era, many important things can slip from your mind. And the late realization of the things which you have forgotten makes you aware of the losses which you have incurred. The same goes for your insurance policy. Many people miss the date of premium payment or renewal, due to which their insurance policy expires and they lose the cover under their insurance policy till the time their policy becomes active again.

But you don’t need to worry if your insurance policy expires because there are various options available after the expiry of the insurance policy. So let’s understand what you need to do and what options do you have if your insurance is expired.

What to do when motor insurance expires?

A motor insurance policy is limited to 1 year for four-wheelers and 2-3 years for two-wheelers. After the completion of the policy term, you need to renew your policy before the expiration date. The date and time of the renewal of the policy are clearly mentioned in the policy documents, failing which your motor insurance policy will have a break. So instead of renewing your policy, you will have to buy a fresh policy after expiration. So you need to do the following things if your motor insurance policy expires

Renew online- First of all, you should check whether there is an availability of renewing your policy or not. You can check the company’s website or go through an IRDAI certified web insurance aggregator to know the detail of renewing your motor insurance policy. You can also contact your agent to know the details, but renewing your motor insurance policy online is quick and easy.

Avoid driving your car till you get a new policy – Driving your vehicle without any insurance increase your risk as even the minor damages to your vehicle will not be covered under any motor insurance plan.

Buy a new policy- If your policy has been canceled due to non-payment of premium, then you will have to buy a new motor insurance policy. You can easily search and compare different motor insurance policies and buy the best one for you. You will have to submit the required documents and go through the vehicle survey for the new policy again.

Be more careful in the future- Set a reminder for the date of your motor insurance policy renewal or mark the date of renewal in the calendar, so that you will not have to face any hassle in the future due to the expiry of your policy.

What to do when Health policy expires?

There is a particular date for paying the premium for continuing or renewing your policy, failing which you get a grace period of 15-30 days for making your plan active again. But if you miss even the grace period, then your policy will expire and you will be left with no options to revive your lapsed health insurance policy again.

In case, your health insurance policy expires, you should start searching for a new policy as soon as possible because a medical emergency can hit you at any point in your life.  You should analyze your changed need and situation and also look for some new benefits and flexibilities available in the health insurance market to avail of maximum benefit.

You should be prepared for a medical check-up and a high premium rate because the new policy will go through your medical condition and your age and, will decide the premium accordingly. You will also have to go through the waiting period again and you will also lose the accumulated benefits of your previous policy.

If you bought your previous health insurance policy through an agent then you can give it a try to online health insurance policies this time because it will be cost-effective, easy, and quicker than buying through an agent.

What to do when life policy expires?

If you don’t pay the premium before the date, you get a grace period of 30 days to renew your policy again, failing which your life insurance policy expires. In such situations, you get the following three options to choose from:-

Surrender your policy– You can surrender your policy if it has lapsed but only if you have paid premiums for a particular time period (the time period required to surrender your policy varies from company to company). You will get the surrender value of the policy which is calculated on the basis of age of the policy, total duration of the policy, premiums paid and bonus accrued. But you should know that your policy will be no longer active after the surrender.

Revive your policy – You can also revive your lapsed policy by paying the due premiums and penalty charges. But you should know that there is no guarantee that the terms and conditions of the revived policy will be the same, as your current age, medical condition, and other factors will be taken into consideration for your revived policy.

Convert your policy into a paid up– You can also convert your policy into a paid-up policy in which the sum insured decreases and is paid after the maturity of the policy term.  But you should know that you can convert your policy into a paid-up policy only after paying a premium for the specified number of years. You don’t need to pay any premium in your paid-up insurance policy as the premium payment is waived off while the coverage with a reduced sum continues

It is always better to remember the due date of the premium and pay it on time because after a policy lapse, you lose many benefits of the policy even after you successfully revive the same policy. But due to some extreme situation, if you miss the due date of premium payment and your policy lapses, then rather than panicking, you should look for the above available options and choose the best one for yourself.