You will surely have heard of NTUC motor insurance or Chartis car insurance from the first day you bought your car. However, amateurs and seasoned drivers alike are often confused as to which car insurance is better.
This article sheds some light on the good, bad and ugly sides of each insurer.
NTUC Income, is a co-operative insurance society formed in 1970. It carries a wide range of personal and general insurance products that cater to the needs of many Singaporeans. Chartis was formally known as AIG. It has over 90 years of experience in customer service with a global reach in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. These 2 companies are major players and has one of the largest market share in terms of car insurance in Singapore.
Whether you sign up for Chartis or NTUC, you will be sure to enjoy good stability that you won’t with insurers that are setup only a few years ago.
Car Insurance Plans
For comprehensive car insurance, both Chartis and NTUC offer Authorized Workshop as well as Any Workshop scheme. Other than comprehensive coverage, both companies have Third Party Fire and Theft as well as Third Party Only insurance. Compared to smaller companies, the range of products offered cater to many different drivers’ needs. Also, they are willing to underwrite some sports and high-performance cars, setting themselves apart from smaller players in the market.
Network of Affiliated Workshops
If you want to go for an Authorised Workshop plan, you can compare their network of authorized workshops by clicking on the links below.
For NTUC: NTUC-AuthorisedWorkshops.pdf
For Chartis: Chartis-AutoplanWorkshop.pdf
Distributor Workshop Scheme
Under Chartis Authorised Workshop Plan, if your car is under 3 years of age and is still under warranty, you can bring it back to your car dealer’s authorized workshop for accident repair. This, however, does not apply to parallel import cars. NTUC, on the other hand, does not have this benefit. Under their Authorised Workshop Plan, you have to bring your car to any of their authorized workshops whether or not your car is still under warranty.
Loss of Use Benefit (Courtesy Car or Reimbursement)
Chartis has a very interesting way to set your heart at ease if your car requires more time for repair. They send you a replacement car to you. What convenience. Like many insurers, there is a limit to this benefit…you can use their car for up to 10 days.
For NTUC, this benefit is also available if you are willing to pay an additional premium of $100 (+ GST) to upgrade your policy from the Classic Plan to the Classic PLUS plan.
With NTUC Classic Plus plan, you can get a transport allowance of up to 7 days if your repair exceeds 3 days. However this does not apply for windscreen repairs/replacements, theft, total loss claims, or delays due to spare parts unavailability.
NCD Protector
Both insurers (NTUC and Chartis) offers NCD protection for 50% NCD holders. This additional benefit is priced at 10% of your car insurance premiums.
This benefit has its pros and cons, like any other features. If you protect your NCD, you can still retain it even after you claim from the insurance company. However the NCD protection can only be applied to your existing insurer. This means if you want to switch to another insurer, they will calculate the premiums with the reduced (lower) NCD.
Waiver of Excess
Chartis rewards policy holders with a Waiver of Excess benefit. If your NCD is at 50%, you enjoy $600 waiver of excess. If your NCD is below 40% and below, you can enjoy $300 waiver of excess. Nevertheless this does not apply to buy up excess, if any.
For NTUC, this benefit is also applicable with an additional premium of $100 (+ GST). Similar to the loss of use benefit, you enjoy a Waiver of Excess when you insure your car under the Classic PLUS plan rather than the Classic Plan.
Windscreen Repair
You can repair or replace your windscreen in case it is damaged. This feature is included into your policy free. There is an excess of $100 (+ GST) for both NTUC and Chartis before the insurance payout, though.
Personal Accident
Your car insurance covers your personal accident costs too. This is provided the injury is sustained during the course of a car accident. NTUC insures $20,000 for personal accident while Chartis insures $50,000.
Towing
After an accident, you can choose to tow your car back to the workshop. There are good reasons why you may need this feature. First, your car may be badly damaged and could be dangerous to handle. Secondly, you may be in a state of shock. Under such circumstances, it is not advisable to handle any machinery, including a car.
NTUC provides free towing up to $200. This is more than sufficient to get your car from one point to another. Chartis offers the same. On top of that, under Chartis, you can call for their towing assistance even for mechanical breakdowns.
Medical Benefits
Many car insurance policies offer medical benefits along with a plethora of other benefits. For both NTUC and Chartis, they pay up to $300 for medical claims incurred as a result of a car accident.
Payment Method
Big insurance companies make it easy for you to pay. They accept Cash, Cheque or Credit Card. On top of this, you can opt for either 6-month or 12-month installment plan under credit cards issued by banks such as DBS, POSB or UOB.
To conclude, it may seem like one car insurance policy has more benefits than the other. In actual fact, you have to know how much each insurer is charging you before you can come to a useful conclusion when deciding which insurance policy to take up. This is true for any insurer in the market.
If you want to get as many as 12 car insurance quotes from every established and reputable insurance company in Singapore (and compare their benefits), use the tool at www.motorinsurancesingapore.com