 "Insurers now offer value-added services, assistance")
Reliance General Insurance is now offering specialised services to the home insurance customers apart from the road-side assistance services for motor insurance. Rakesh Jain, CEO, Reliance General said that they took a decision to go on retail with assistance service, and in motor cars, assistance is embedded within the product. We extended it to home insurance post Chennai floods."
Here, their idea was that the insurer will have to be the first port of call. The company has tied up with people for electricians, concierge services, tax filing among others to take care of day-to-day contingencies.
Road-side assistance services is one of the most common value-added service that is provided by several general insurance companies. This includes spot assistance if the vehicle has an accident. Some even have alternate cars being arranged for female drivers on highways. Also, mechanics from nearby garages are also sent for emergencies.
For instance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance also gives value-added services in car insurance like accommodation benefits. Here, if your car meets with an accident / breakdown taking place beyond 100 km from your city and repairs for which will take more than 12 hrs, they will provide hotel accommodation for the occupants of the car for a maximum of two days and two nights limited to Rs 2000 per person per day and maximum total of Rs 16,000 through out the policy period
Similarly, others like ICICI Lombard General Insurance have already built in value-added services which could provide assistance to family at home when one is abroad as part of travel insurance scheme. Further, you can also use their services to send gifts to family in India when you are travelling abroad.
Even forums are being created to simplify insurance. HDFC ERGO General Insurance has announced the launch of a community portal to provide a peer-to-peer channel where users can get advice, discuss their experiences and share information about anything & everything under the umbrella of non-life insurance.
This initiative by HDFC ERGO brings together insurance experts, existing and potential customers of non-life insurance and knowledge seekers on a single platform as a community to discuss experiences, share information and opinions on insurance products and services.