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Buying a car? Your dealer will choose your auto insurer. Going on a holiday? The price includes the cost of travel insurance.
For several years now, Indians have been sold insurance bundled with other products or services. Even home loan customers are sometimes forced to take a loan protection term cover. But the insurance regulator is not happy with this combo selling.
In a discussion paper released this month, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) has expressed concerns that this bundling forces consumers to buy products they don't want and allows dealers to push policies that earn them better commissions even though they might not suit the buyer.
"The lack of transparency in such products has got Irda worried about these policies," says Akshay Mehrotra, chief marketing officer, Policybazaar.com. When the insurance cover is clubbed with another good or service, the buyer doesn't get to know how much he has paid for the insurance.
Be it the charges of the cover or understanding the features of the policy, it is difficult for a buyer to know if he's getting his money's worth. Deepak Yohannan, CEO of MyInsuranceClub.com gives the example of car insurance that comes with a new car. "Many dealers offer the first year's insurance for free or for just one rupee.
But this is not true and the cost of the insurance is actually built into the car price. So, you don't come to know if you are paying the correct price or not," he says.
Does the customer know? The transparency of charges is not the only thing that has Irda frowning over these bundled covers. "The regulator is also concerned that when one cover is bundled with another good or service, people may not understand the policy that they have bought," says Sanjay Datta, head of underwriting and claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance.
Take the health covers that come bundled with credit cards. "Though people think that they are covered for hospitalisation, most such covers are only protection against loss of income due to hospitalisation. So while you would pay almost as much as any proper health cover, you get only a fraction of the protection," says Mehrotra Forced selling Forced selling is another concern raised by the insurance regulator.