Car & Bike Insurance Claim Calculator (India): Depreciation

About the Car & Bike Insurance Claim Calculator (India): Depreciation

An own-damage claim on a car or two-wheeler seldom pays the whole garage bill. Replaced parts lose depreciation — half the cost of plastic, rubber, tyres and batteries, a share of metal parts that grows with the vehicle’s age — painting loses part of its material, consumables such as oil and coolant are not paid, and a compulsory deductible comes off every claim. A claim also costs you the No Claim Bonus at the next renewal.

Enter the vehicle’s age, its IDV, your deductibles and add-ons, and the garage estimate line by line. The calculator applies the depreciation schedule of the India Motor Tariff, which standard policies still use unless their wording says otherwise, no depreciation on non-OEM parts, the 75%-of-IDV test for a constructive total loss, and shows the payout, your share and the NCB you lose over the next five renewals. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

Common uses

• Check a garage estimate before you file a claim, and decide whether claiming is worth the lost NCB.
• Understand why the surveyor’s assessment pays less than the bill.
• See what a nil-depreciation or consumables add-on would have saved on a real repair.
• Tell whether a badly damaged car may be settled as a total loss.

Depreciation on parts (India Motor Tariff, GR.9)

The India Motor Tariff sets the depreciation on parts replaced in a partial-loss claim, and the standard policy forms repeat it:

• 50%: rubber, nylon and plastic parts, tyres and tubes, batteries and air bags;
• 30%: fibreglass components;
• Nil: parts made of glass;
• Other parts, wooden parts included, by age: not more than 6 months nil; up to 1 year 5%; 1–2 years 10%; 2–3 years 15%; 3–4 years 25%; 4–5 years 35%; 5–10 years 40%; over 10 years 50%.

Labour has no depreciation. The standard form of the private car package policy adds the painting rule: 50% depreciation “only on the material cost of total painting charges”, and with a consolidated bill “the material component shall be considered as 25% of total painting charges” — 12.5% of the painting.

Deductibles, towing and what the policy does not pay

• Compulsory deductible on every own-damage claim (GR.40), as the standard policies’ Customer Information Sheets give it: private cars up to 1500 cc and electric cars ₹1,000, above 1500 cc ₹2,000 (car CIS); two-wheelers ₹100 (two-wheeler CIS). A voluntary deductible you chose for a discount is added to it.
• Towing to the nearest repairer: up to ₹1,500 for any one accident for a car, ₹300 for a two-wheeler (the standard policy forms).
• Not paid: consequential loss, wear and tear, mechanical or electrical breakdown — so engine damage from driving through water needs engine protection — and consumables without the consumables add-on. Tyres and tubes are paid only when the vehicle is damaged at the same time, then at 50%.
• Non-OEM parts: IRDAI’s Master Circular on General Insurance Business says the insurer “will not apply depreciation on Non-OEM/ Non-OES parts that are used in repairs”.

Add-ons

As the Customer Information Sheets describe them:

• Nil depreciation: no depreciation on replaced parts — tyres, tubes, rubber and plastic included — for the number of claims in your schedule.
• Consumables: nuts, bolts, screws, washers, grease, lubricants, clips, AC gas, bearings, distilled water, engine oil, filters and brake oil needed after an accident (not fuel).
• Engine protection: consequential damage to the engine, gearbox and differential from water getting in or oil and coolant leaking.
• Return to invoice: the on-road price (ex-showroom price, registration, road tax and first-year premium) for a total loss or theft, instead of the IDV.
• NCB protection: you keep moving to the next NCB slab after an own-damage claim (up to two claims).

Total loss

Under the tariff (GR.8), a vehicle is a constructive total loss “where the aggregate cost of retrieval and / or repair of the vehicle subject to terms and conditions of the policy exceeds 75% of the IDV”, and a total-loss claim pays at most the IDV less the value of the wreck. IRDAI now lets each insurer set its total-loss criteria (stated in the Customer Information Sheet) and lets you keep the wreck and take a cash-loss settlement: the IDV less the assessed salvage value (Master Circular on General Insurance Business). The calculator flags a repair above 75% of the IDV and shows both settlements.

What a claim costs your No Claim Bonus

The NCB is a discount on the own-damage premium: 20% after one claim-free year, 25% after two, 35% after three, 45% after four and 50% after five (GR.27). An own-damage claim takes it back to nil at the next renewal, and it then takes five claim-free years to reach 50% again. The calculator compares both paths over the next five renewals, at next year’s own-damage premium: for a small repair, paying it yourself can cost less than the bonus you would lose.

Limitations

• An estimate under the standard tariff rules and the terms you enter: the surveyor’s assessment and your policy wording decide. Insurers may file their own products with other terms.
• Commercial vehicles, third-party claims, theft and fire are not covered; the total-loss figures are a guide only.
• The garage’s amounts are taken as entered, GST included: the surveyor may allow less for a part or for labour.
• Add-ons often carry their own conditions (claims a year, the vehicle’s age, a separate deductible): check your schedule.

Privacy

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