Insurance policy: Try the e-route

Now you can buy an insurance policy covering your home, vehicle or a journey, sitting in the cosy confines of your home, at the click of a mouse.

Tech-savvy insurers such as Bajaj Allianz General, ICICI Lombard and Birla Sun Life now offer their policy holders the option of buying insurance policies online. General insurer Tata AIG has an e-marine policy that helps an exporter secure an insurance document online.

Primarily, you need to read the brochure available online and determine features covered and those that are excluded.

For instance, a travel insurance policy does not provide coverage for loss of passport and loss not reported to the appropriate police authority within 24 hours of the discovery of the loss.

What you need to check prior to applying for a health insurance policy is the list of hospitals wherein you could avail of the policy benefits.

Since there is no physical transaction involved and the entire procedure is conducted online, it is imperative that you maintain a code of caution when it comes to your personal login and password.

Another area of concern is the mode of making payments. Although all companies offering these facilities give you the option of making payments via credit cards, you need to check on the authentication of the policy before paying the premium.

Private sector insurer ICICI Lombard offers customers the facility to log on to the company's website www.icicilombard.com and buy all retail products online. These include motor insurance, health insurance, travel insurance (individual and student travel insurance) and home insurance.

The entire process, right from registration, getting a quote, filling and confirming the proposal form to making payment is online.

The multiple payment options include online credit card payment and internet banking. In case you are an ICICI Bank credit card holder, you can also avail of interest-free equated monthly installments (EMIs) for three, six, or twelve months.

Policy-holders are given the facility of password protected protection on their portfolios. This allows you and print their digitally signed policies.

Under the same packlage, policyholders can track their health claims online and sign up for renewal reminders.

Lombard's counterpart, Bajaj Allianz General allows customers to purchase policies covering motor, local and overseas travel, home and unit gain plans online.

Life insurer Birla Sun Life offers you the option of a three-way mechanism wherein you could login on the website, enter your credentials and know which policy would be appropriate for you.

This would give you a list of options from which you could choose the policy you want by applying for it online. The third step would entail making the required payments towards the policy premium and accessing it online.

Tata AIG in this context has a web-based product named eMarine for specific clientele classes like manufacturers, exporters, importers, logistics operators, et al.

Through this online facility, these business communities can generate marine policies, manage them online and speed up documentation procedures in case of an emergency.

As a user, you are given a 'user name' and 'password'. There are no registration access charges. To ensure security of your data, use industry standard encryption technology is deployed, so that all documents have safe passage over the internet.