Dogs, coconuts and monkeys: Insure your vehicles from their mayhem right now!

What is the right time to make a motor insurance claim? While there are no right answers, you generally make a claim if your car or bike has suffered serious damages in an accident, which will cost a bomb to repair! But did you know that you could also make a claim if your car or bike was damaged by, well, a coconut? Surprised?

Digit Insurance, which is backed by ace Indian cricketer Virat Kohli, recently released some interesting data in this regard. Per the company, by the end of FY24, it had paid out almost Rs 1.68 crore in claims related to over 1,500 cases where the damage was caused by an innocuous coconut!
Monkeys go coconuts!
Well, if you don't believe a coconut can wreak this kind of havoc, think again. The company reported receiving more than 350 cases of vehicle damage in just 2023, where the good old coconut was the culprit! The maximum claims stemmed from Maharashtra. The average claim amount was around Rs 10,000.

If you’re away from the coast, you’ll have to battle your neighborhood's dogs and monkeys! Monkey’s seem to have a special liking for motorcycles, given that Digit reported setting over 1,200 claims worth Rs 40 lakh towards damage to 2-wheelers caused by monkeys in FY 2023-24. The cases saw a 40% jump on a YoY basis.

Since Digit’s inception in 2017, the company has seen more than 85,000 claims where the primary cause of vehicle damage was an animal. Out of these, dogs were the main reason behind 7% of such claims in FY 2023-24, triggering payouts of over Rs 30 crore.
The mayhem of dogs and goats
As per the company’s internal claims data, Indira Nagar in Lucknow seems to be the epicentre of dogs unleashing damage on vehicles. The company reported paying more than Rs 6.7 lakh towards 110 claims received from this location.

If, on an unfortunate day, your bike ever gets in an accident, how much do you imagine the damage payout would be? Well, in some cases, like of a luxury bike, which was damaged upon accident with a goat, the accidental damage payout went as high as Rs 6.75 lakh.
Motor Insurance on the rise
As per data from the annual report of insurance regulator IRDA, the motor segment saw a YoY growth of about 15.4% in premium collection, from Rs 70,433 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 81,280 crore in 2022-23. The average claim settlement ratio of India’s motor insurance industry has also been on a steady rise, going from 81.3% in 2021-22 to 84.48% in 2022-23.

Additionally, the incurred claims ratio, or the proportion of claims paid as against premium received also noted a marginal rise, from 81.30% in 2021-22 to 84.48% in 2022-23.

All in all, save your precious cars or bikes from the terror of monkeys, dogs, coconuts and more. If you are yet to get a comprehensive vehicle insurance for your two or four wheeler, do so at the earliest!