Premiums for your Type 1 car insurance can be more expensive than you would expect.
Fortunately, there are many things you can do to decrease the premiums. Let’s take a look at how to do it.
Insurance Company
Bangkok Insurance and Viriyah are among the most well-known car insurance companies in Thailand. They have a lot of partnered garages in their network and are known for their quick results when making a claim.
At the same time, they are often among the more expensive companies on the market.
You might get similar coverage but much cheaper plans from other companies. For example, Bangkok Insurance might charge you THB24,000 per year for Type 1 insurance while another company may only charge you THB17,000.
If you are not sure which insurance company to choose, read this article first.
Official or Individual Garage
If you are okay with having your car fixed at a garage not associated with your vehicle’s brand, you can significantly decrease your premiums by 20% – 30%.
However, the quality of individual garages can vary greatly. If you want to go with this option, you might want to do a quality check by visiting an individual garage that’s partnered with the insurance company you are planning to go with first.
On the other hand, official garages often have more standardized procedures than individual garages. If parts are broken, they also tend to replace them rather than fix them.
You can make sure that your car is in good hands if it needs fixing or replacing parts.
However, this is not always true for paint. Some official garages are unable to fix car paint and need to outsource it to individual garages instead.
There are also some individual garages that do the repairs on behalf of official garages as well.
Again, visiting the garage you are planning to have your car fixed at is a good way to help you decide whether or not you want to go with an individual garage or official garage.
Please note that many insurers will not offer official-garage coverage if your car is older than 5 years or 7 years, depending on the insurance company.
The only exception is if you have a really good claim history record or have no claims at all.
Specify Driver
If you are the only driver of your car, you can ask an insurance broker to specify you as a sole driver of your car.
Doing so can decrease your car insurance premiums by 5% to 20% depending on your age. The older you are, the more likely you are to get a higher discount.
Many insurance companies allow you to specify up to two drivers on their plans.
The disadvantage of this option is that, if someone else is driving your car and has a road accident, you may need to pay an additional excess or deductible even if the policy still covers the claim.
If there’s an option to choose a driver’s age during the application, choose it since it may further decrease your insurance premium.
Deductibles
If you rarely have road accidents, it’s a good idea to choose a deductible on your plan.
Many insurance companies have deductible options starting from THB3,000 to THB10,000. Normally, the amount of the deductible is around the same as the discount you will get on your premiums.
For example, if your normal Type 1 insurance is THB20,000, the premiums for the same plan with a THB5,000 deductible can be THB15,000.
If you have a road accident and it’s your fault, you need to pay the deductible first before the insurance company pays. On the other hand, if you are not the cause of the accident, you won’t need to pay the deductible.
Please note that a deductible option might not be available for a car that is less than 3 years old.
Claim History
When you renew your current plan, many car insurance companies provide additional discounts if you haven’t made any claims that year. It can be 20% to 50% depending on how many years you have a no-claim record.
However, the no-claim record bonus isn’t always guaranteed. It can be reduced or removed if you make at-fault claims or if the insurer’s renewal terms change.
On the other hand, if you make a claim, your insurance premiums can significantly increase as well. This is why many people choose to just change insurance companies after they make a claim.
Buy a Package
If you purchase many products from the same insurance company, you might be able to ask for an additional discount.
This doesn’t mean only insurance products. For example, Lotus’s Money has its own brokerage company . If you buy insurance from them using an eligible Lotus’s credit card, you might be able to get another discount depending on their promotion at that time.
In addition, your credit card might also give you cash back, increasing your total discount.
Ask for a Lower Limit
In general, Type 1 coverage is 70% to 80% of your car’s market price. For example, if the market price of your car is THB800,000, the coverage limit should be around THB560,000 to THB640,000.
To decrease your premiums, you can negotiate with the car insurance company for a lower limit. However, this method isn’t always recommended since a higher limit is always better.
Compare Different Brokers
The car insurance market in Thailand is very competitive with many freelance brokers. A certain broker may give you a better price than other brokers even for the same plan with the same conditions and coverage.
They can do this by cutting off their own commission and use it as a discount. Some people even ask for a quote from a certain broker and show it to other brokers and ask whether or not that broker can give a better price.
You can find freelance brokers easily on Facebook groups for your car.
However, it’s still a good idea to use a broker that you personally know. Some brokers might give you a good price, but they might add a condition such as deductible or decrease certain coverage without you realizing it.
Other
There are other ways you can get additional discounts on your car insurance plan such as recommending new customers to your broker.
Or you can install a dash camera in your car. Thai insurers may offer a voluntary motor insurance premium discount for cars with a dash camera, though the exact discount depends on the insurer and policy.
Deutsch:
Français:
Español: