Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some of the common questions:
- Can my car insurance be transfer? What happen if I'm not driving anymore?
- Can the car insurance be purchased under another person rather than the car owner?
- Can a person who does not have a license own a car in Singapore?
- For expatriate working in Singapore. Does my previous driving experience in the country of origin or last country of embankment are taken in account for driving experience in Singapore?
- Can I claim the items that is being stolen from my car? What if the items are car parts eg. rims, big brake kit (BBK), exhaust, etc?
- Who can buy Third Party Fire and Theft (TPFT) or Third Party Only (TP) insurance?
- What happen if i accidentally provided wrong information to the insurer?
- What happens if i failed to report to my insurer after an accident?
- Can i claim from the insurer of a guy who damaged my car while driving and later being charge for drunk driving? What happens if the insurer does not cover him while he's drunk?
| 1. Can my car insurance be transfer? What happen if i'm not driving anymore? |
No. The purpose of the car insurance is to protect the finance company and the owner of the car in the event when there's a damage. In the case which you are no longer driving you can choose to cancel the policy and get any refunds if there's any.
| 2. Can the car insurance be purchased under another person rather than the car owner? |
No. As mention car insurance is to protect finance company and the owner of the car.
| 3. Can a person who does not have a license own a car in Singapore? |
Yes. For example, the mother who do not have any driving license can buy a car for her child. The owner of the car is therefore under the mother's name. However, the cost of the car insurance will be based on the child's particulars such as driving experience, age, sex etc (please see factors affecting the premium under importan info).
| 4. For expatriate working in Singapore. Does my previous driving experience in the country of origin or last country of embankment are taken into account when purchasing car insurance in Singapore? |
No. The driving experience for car insurance in Singapore is based on the day the driving license is being issued. For example, if you were to convert your license to Singapore license then from the day the license converted is consider as first day.
| 5. Can I claim the items that is being stolen from my car? What if the items are car parts eg. rims, big brake kit (BBK), exhaust, etc? |
No. Car Insurance primary function is to transfer the risk of financial loss in case of a claim evolving from an accident. As for car parts (namely car accesorries), the items are not cover unless you have specifically listed these items to the insurance company. In the event if the car accesorries are stolen, the insurer will only pay or replace for the stock parts that originally comes with the car.
| 6. Who can buy Third Party Fire and Theft (TPFT) or Third Party Only (TP) insurance? |
Any car that has clear the outstanding loan from the finance company are able to purchase TPFT and TP insurance. For example, a car owner who has recently got a cash incentive decided to pay off his outstanding loan with his finance company can choose to purchase a TPFT or TP insurance on his coming renewal. On the hand, a COE (after 10 years car) car owner who is still having a loan from finance company are required to purchase a comprehensive insurance.
If the information pertaining to factor the insurance premium is wrong, you will have to payback any differences of the premium or any loss incur by you. Failure to do so will result in termination of the policy. And in my experience normally other insurance company would not accept such cases after the policy is being terminated but largely depends on the case. In some serious case it is consider cheating case which is liable for common law.
| 8. What happens if i failed to report to my insurer after an accident? |
Under the Motor Claims Framework (MCF), failure to report the accident to insurer will affect your No Claims Discount (NCD) upon renewal of your motor insurance and will prejudice your claim. Always report all accidents to your insurer no matter how minor the accident may be, even if there is no visual damage or even if you have made a private settlement with other driver. This is because you cannot be fully certain that the other party won't file a claim against you later. You will find yourself in a position of having your claim prejudiced or declined later by insurers.
| 9. Can i claim from the insurer of a guy who damaged my car while driving and later being charge for drunk driving? What happens if the insurer does not cover him while he's drunk? |
Case to case basis, in serious accident the insurer can choose not to pay. This scenario was taken from one of the car forum. The insurer representing drunk driver will not cover him as he is being charged of drunk driving. Therefore the victim can try to claim thru his insurer for the damage of his car. If the insurer chooses not to pay the victim can only sort it out thru legal means to claim back his damage.
We welcome any question that you might have regarding Car Insurance. Please feel free to drop us a mail with regards to you question. Hope that the information above has been useful to you.