PRIVATE non-life insurer ICICI Lombard General Insurance has introduced two add-on covers — Zero Depreciation and Consumable items — in its motor insurance portfolio. In case of the former, depreciation in auto parts will not be deducted from the claim amount payable to the insured. Other general insurers including Tata-AIG General and Bharti-AXA General Insurance also offer a similar cover. The other add-on promises to ensure that the claim amount is not reduced by the value of consumable items, which would be the case otherwise. This cover includes items such as nut & bolt, screw, grease, lubricant, air-conditioner gas, bearings, engine oil, oil filter, fuel filter and brake oil.
ICICI Pru LifeTime and ICICI Pru Lifestage are Unit Linked Pension Plans. Such insurance linked retirement plans are neither good investments nor do they offer sufficient insurance cover. As you can see, these have turned out to be bad deals. In the Lifetime plan, the fund value is not even equal to the total premiums that you have paid and in the Lifestage plan your return is just about 6% which is quite low. The mortality charges are as per your age which is why they have increased. Moreover, once these plans matures, you will have to compulsorily opt for annuity (regular income) and the annuity rates are generally modest. Assuming these plans mature in the next one year, it will be wise to surrender the plan now and curb your future commitments. Before you choose to buy a term plan, you have to consider a few points. You need to insure yourself, only during the time you are working and your family is financially dependent on you. At the age of 59, not all insurance companies w...
