I didn’t have a choice of opting for a bike insurance policy when I purchased my bike. I was told that a bike insurance cover was mandated by the Motor Vehicles Act and would have to buy the policy. I did buy the policy, but when the policy was up for renewal after a year, I was skirting the issue. I was thinking of skipping the renewal of my bike insurance policy because I thought the policy was not essential. I believed I was a careful driver and seldom faced an accident. As such, continuing a bike insurance policy was not required and paying premiums for the same would be a waste of money.

I did not renew my plan and let it lapse. However, it was after two incidents that my mind changed. I regretted my notions and swore to renew my policy at once. Do you know what happened? Let me enlighten you:

• I met with an accident and my bike was severely damaged

I was always a careful driver, but unfortunately, someone was not. One fine day, as I was returning home, a drunk driver collided with me and I met with an accident. I was hospitalized and my bike was also severely damaged. I had a health insurance policy, which paid for my hospitalization expenses. However, my bike insurance policy had expired. As a result, I had to bear the repair costs incurred on getting my bike road-worthy. As it turned out, my hospital bills were a fraction of the cost incurred in getting my bike repaired. While my health insurance policy paid for such minor expenses, I was not lucky with my bike.

This incident made me sit up and take notice. I regretted my decision to skip renewing my bike insurance policy.

• My neighbor’s bike got stolen

If my out-of-pocket expenses on repairs were not enough to educate me on the importance of a bike insurance policy, my neighbor’s incident did. Just after my incident, my neighbor reported the theft of his bike. After searching the bike to no avail, the insurance company paid the Insured Declared Value of the bike. Since my neighbor received a lump sum payment from the insurance company, the loss he faced was greatly reduced. He easily bought a new bike to replace the one he lost.

These two incidents busted my notions. I also found out that if caught without a valid bike insurance plan, I would have to pay a hefty fine. I had experienced the financial strain of getting my bike repaired. I didn’t want to incur any more expenses. I didn’t wait and renewed by bike insurance policy immediately. To renew my bike insurance policy I followed the following steps:

• I went online and compared the available plans

The online medium helped me shortlist the best bike insurance policy for me. I consulted an online broker because of its expert technical knowledge for the comparison. I entered the details of my bike and was able to find all the plans offering me an insurance cover. I compared the coverage and the premium rates and bought a policy which gave me a comprehensive cover at the most reasonable premium rate.

• I arranged for an inspection of my bike

Since my earlier bike insurance policy had expired, an inspection was mandatory before my bike insurance policy got renewed. After comparing and selecting a plan, I arranged for my bike’s inspection. Since I was using the online medium, the inspection was arranged quickly.

• I paid my premium and renewed my bike insurance policy

The last step was paying premiums online. I paid the premium using the net banking facility and my bike insurance plan was renewed without much effort.

When I thought of skipping my bike insurance renewal I learned the importance of a bike insurance policy the hard way. After paying a hefty sum from my pocket on getting my bike repaired and being a witness to my neighbor’s incident, I took no further chances. The online broker helped me greatly in renewing my bike insurance plan.

If you too are thinking of avoiding to renew bike insurance policy, don’t make the mistake I made. Renew your policy immediately.