While our cars have been sitting pretty in our garages or on curbside throughout community quarantine, updating your car insurance is something you can’t sit on. The wide-open roads have been a more inviting scene to more lethal car crashes in some parts of the world that are under lockdown or quarantine.

Why is car insurance important?

Even though car usage has dipped nowadays, it’s important to have car insurance coverage at all times. It’s a safety blanket for your investment when the time for claims arrives.

Instead of reaching into your wallet for payments due to roadside accidents or theft, you have your insurance policy to cover those, at least for the next 12 months. Accidents can and still do happen on the road–even in a pandemic.

In addition, cars acquired via auto loans need to have their insurance information updated via a letter of confirmation to fulfill the requirements once the car is ready to be turned over after loan completion.

So if you’re looking to renew your car insurance this pandemic, here’s what you need to know.

Business-as-usual

Despite the current quarantine restrictions, car insurance companies are still operating in full swing. Although some outfits are on skeleton staffing, this will have minimal effect on applying for car insurance claims or renewal since most transactions are done digitally–via emails or through phone calls. Websites like eCompareMo offer assistance to the fullest extent to make sure your car insurance needs are handled.

However, do take note that since quarantine restrictions are being reviewed regularly, some changes might occur. 

Safer, more convenient process for everyone

Aside from digital availability and renewal of car insurance alongside claims, payment options are being handled with safety and convenience as the utmost priorities.

Documents and payment for your car insurance policy can be sent online via the following channels:

• For payment via post-dated checks, you can send a scanned copy of your vehicle’s OR/CR and previous insurance policy together with the post-dated checks through email as a sign of goodwill. The post-dated checks can then be delivered through a courier of your choice. Once receipt of documents and payment is confirmed, an e-policy will be sent to your email within 24 hours. You can print this policy and store in your glovebox for safekeeping, to be used whenever the need arises.

• For straight payments, we highly encourage you to take advantage of your bank’s mobile/online facilities. At the moment, online interbank deposits can be coursed through PesoNET, which offers a free, within-the-day service transaction, or InstaPay, which offers instant service transactions at a cost. Once the documents and deposit/transaction slip have been received and confirmed, an e-policy will be sent to your email within 24 hours.

• For payment via monthly installment, you will be offered a fixed schedule matrix of payments that can be paid via cash deposit. This can also be done through online channels or your bank’s mobile app. Once the documents are received and the first installment has been paid, your car insurance e-policy will be sent via email within 24 hours.

Here’s a very helpful tip: you can schedule automatic transactions on your bank’s mobile app so you don’t miss your monthly installments.

• For credit card payments, some car insurance providers offer this but in a limited capacity. Credit card payments require terminals to swipe your card in. However, some car insurance companies have elected to temporarily shut down their offices in compliance to quarantine measures. You can confirm the availability of this option with our helpful agents.

A tip for car owners under auto financing

Here’s another helpful tip for those who own a car under auto financing. You might be familiar with a requirement by your bank or auto loan provider called Letter of Confirmation (LoC). This is a requirement confirming your vehicle is comprehensively insured during its encumbrance.

In other words, this lets your bank or financing company know that you’re able to keep up with the insurance requirements in owning a vehicle. 

To make sure that you comply with this so you don’t have any problems during turnover down the line, send an email address of your auto loan provider, preferably the account manager’s, to eCompareMo alongside your payment confirmation and pertinent documents. That way, we could forward this information to your car insurance provider of choice and they will coordinate closely with your account manager once the LoC is available.

This article is written in collaboration with eCompareMo.com. Compare car insurance rates and deals for free at www.ecomparemo.com/vehicle-insurance.