As a car owner, dealing with the aftermath of an accident can be a daunting task. In today's fast-paced world, time is of the essence, and nobody wants to spend hours dealing with car repairs.

With ICICI Lombard’s car insurance, you can now avail an end-to-end doorstep service that comes to your rescue in case of an accident and you want to raise a claim, and get your car repaired.

With this service, you won't have to worry about the time and effort it takes to get your vehicle inspected, repaired, and back on the road. Our dedicated team will take care of everything from the moment you call us, to the moment your vehicle is returned to you.

Here’s how it works

• Call 18002666 instead of going to a garage. Once you call us to report an accident and ask for doorstep cashless claims service, you'll be assigned a dedicated Claim Manager.
• A well-trained field-executive, or a ‘Claim Buddy’ as we call them, will visit your location at a time that works for you, to pick up the damaged vehicle, and help you complete on-the-spot car inspection.
• The Claim Manager will reach out to you to provide an instant claim assessment and be your 'single point of contact' for all your queries related to claim and repairs.
• Once you provide approval to the Claim Assessment (Estimated repair assessment including cashless and out-of-pocket expense, if any), the Claim Buddy will take your car to the nearest partner-workshop.
• The Claim Manager will ensure that your vehicle is properly repaired on priority, nicely cleaned, and dropped off at your location at the earliest in its pre-accident state.

Some of the other highlights of this service are -

• You can contact and track your Claim Buddy during car pick-up and drop-off.
• You will also receive regular updates regarding your car repairs on WhatsApp.
• The repair work is assured for 2 years or 10000 kms, whichever is earlier.

How can you avail the doorstep cashless claims service?

This service is currently available only in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune. We are working tirelessly to expand this service to pan India.

All you need to do is call ICICI Lombard's toll-free number 1800 2666, or use our IL Take Care app (Download here), or log on to our website.

In conclusion, ICICI Lombard's new service feature is a game-changer in the car insurance industry. With AI-powered claim processing and a dedicated team of a Claim Manager and a Claim Buddy, you can be assured of quick and hassle-free cashless claim settlement and car repairs, all from the comfort of your home.

How to Renew Your Driving Licence Online

Is your driving licence going to expire soon? If yes, then the ongoing pandemic and need for social distancing is no excuse for not renewing it on time. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had announced that several of the services provided by the Regional Transport Offices (RTO) will be made available online as well. If your driving licence is due for renewal, you will be pleased to know that it is one of the 18 services provided by the RTOs that is available online now. You can do it through Aadhaar-based authentication.

In addition to licence renewal, the other services that can be availed online at the Parivahan Sewa website include change of address in driving licence, replacement of driving licence, international driving permit, change in name, change in biometrics etc. The Government has made a motor insurance mandatory while driving on the Indian roads.

Renewal rules

Application for driving licence renewal is accepted in the last 30 days of the validity of the existing licence. If the renewal is applied not more than 30 days after the expiry of the licence, the renewal is done with effect from the date of expiry. However, in case of a delay of more than 30 days between the date of expiry and date of application, the renewal is made with effect from the date of receipt of proper application. Besides, a fee of Rs 30 is also charged in such cases. An application made after five years of expiry of the driving licence requires the formalities of a fresh licence. As driving licence is compulsory while driving a car, car insurance is also compulsory.

With ICICI Lombard's voice bot service, you can register your car insurance claim instantly, right from the accident spot.

Modern advancements in terms of technology have made everything easy and digitised. More and more people are getting increasingly familiar with voice assistants such as Siri, Alexa, Google assistant etc. and are demanding such voice-enabled automated solutions to all their problems. In fact, as per Google's voice search demographics, almost 27% of the global population with internet access prefer using voice search technology.

Almost all progressive brands have begun to offer quick and personalised solutions to their customers' queries in chatbots and voice bots. Taking a step ahead in aligning with this trend, we, India's leading private sector insurance company, have launched a unique voice bot service, allowing customers to register their motor insurance claims through a voice call instantly.

Continue reading to know more about this unique facility and how you can make the best use of it.

What is ICICI Lombard's voice bot facility?

As mentioned above, our voice bot facility will allow two-wheeler insurance and car insurance policyholders to register their claim in the wake of an accident instantly. The voice bot service is a highly advanced technological solution, and it works on state-of-the-art speech recognition capabilities to recognise long narratives by the policyholders.

Customers can use this unique facility through their smartphones as well as feature phones. This facility has been tested to ensure it works well even with high ambient noise and with different voice accents.

What's unique about this facility?

A comprehensive car insurance policy protects a vehicle owner against the losses or damages suffered by his/her vehicle during an accident or mishap. However, registering a car insurance claim may seem to be a long and tedious process. A policyholder is required to contact the insurer, submit the relevant documents and wait for the surveyor to get his/her claim passed.

However, with our voice bot facility, registering motor insurance claim has become easy like never before. All the customer needs to do is make a call from the accident spot and follow the instructions. This will protect the policyholder from the hassles of visiting the insurer's office, filling up a claim form, and waiting for a prolonged period to get his/her claim registered.

This voice bot facility is currently available in English and will soon be available in Hindi, Tamil, and other regional languages. This is to provide a technology-enabled facility that helps the majority of Indians to interact with the bot in their native language.

After the launch of this unique service, our Chief of Service, Operations and Technology – Mr. Girish Nayak – said, "At ICICI Lombard, we strive to be at the forefront of harnessing technology for the benefit of our customers. In line with this approach, we are happy to have unveiled our Voice Bot activated motor insurance claim approval solution. In the new hybrid world, where contactless solutions are the norm, this service will empower our customers to register their motor claims instantly and from the safe environment of their home."

As part of the Prime Minister's vision of Digital India, the government of India launched the DigiLocker app last year. The DigiLocker app, which is an online locker facility, allows you to upload and save all your government issued documents such as PAN card, aadhar card, driving license, property documents etc. online.

With the integration of driving license and registration papers of your vehicle with the DigiLocker app, you need not to carry the original documents with you always. The government is also planning to issue these documents directly on the digital platform, thereby avoiding excessive paperwork.

A Step Towards E-Governance
The law enforcement agencies and traffic police will be equipped with apps and devices for spot verification of your online documents. This initiative is a major step towards reducing corruption and red-tapism and a major boost to e-governance and government's idea of making a Digital India.

The DigiLocker app will bring agility and increase the efficiency of the entire process of issuance of driving license and registration certificate with the involvement of Information Technology (IT). The app currently has more than 4.2 million registered users, more than 6 million uploaded documents, and more than 1.6 billion issued documents.

Registration and Set-up
DigiLocker is an easy-to-use application with a user-friendly interface. With only a few simple steps, you are ready to go. Here's the simple process that will help you keep your license and registration papers with you, anytime and anywhere on the go.

Step1: Download the DigiLocker app from Play Store or App Store on your smartphone and open it after installation.

Step2: You will get two options, Sign In and Sign Up. If you are an existing user select Sign In to login with your existing credentials and if you are a new user select Sign Up to enter your details and register.

Step3: To sign up for the first time you need to enter your 10 digit mobile number after which a One Time Password (OTP) will be sent to your mobile. Once verification is done, you can create a username and password for future login.

Step4:In the next step, you need to link your aadhar card to access the services of the app. Enter your 12-digit aadhar number and once again, an OTP will be sent for verification. Post verification you are ready to use the app to store your documents.

ICICI Lombard is proud to present the latest, updated version of our Insure app. This version has been improved keeping in mind the feedback that we have received from our esteemed customers. All the reviews and comments that are left on our various communication platforms have been taken into consideration while revamping the app.

Most of the negative feedback that we received was around storage space, accessibility, interface and the ease of use. All of these aspects have been addressed in the latest variant. For example, the previous version was considered as putting a heavy burden on user’s precious storage space. We have gone ahead and made the app lighter than ever before, now requiring just 6 MB of space on your phone.

Accessibility and navigation, which were considered as pain points before are bettered, now offering an enhanced interface that is lucid, streamlined and simple with more information packed on a single page. Talking about information, we have made the app even more comprehensive by adding offline policy details, in addition to the online policy details already present. Simplicity is taken up a notch as well. Buying and renewing policies are far easier, thanks to the reduced number of steps required to complete the process.

Be it car, bike, travel, or health insurance – everything can be taken care of from your smartphone. Need to buy or renew a policy? Want to raise a claim? Track status of claim or locate cashless garages or hospitals? All of this, and more, can be done on the go. There are many features in our new and improved Insure app that make it a must-have on your phone. Here are a few of them.

Packed to the Brim

The Insure app not only provides a wealth of information about your policy, but also allows you to perform tasks that would otherwise prove time-consuming and laborious. We have taken great care to ensure that all your online insurance requirements are catered to, in the most engaging and lucid way possible.

There are some truly outstanding features that we have incorporated in the app, and we’ll talk about them later in detail; but for now, let us talk about what else is possible. For most of you, buying or even renewing the policy is a hassle. It’s something that you would not want to spend more time on than required. The app lets you buy and renew a policy online and immediately, without any paperwork!

Before purchasing a policy you would definitely be interested in the quote. There is a facility within the app, which lets you calculate your insurance premium and get instant quotes. Lodge a car insurance or bike insurance claim, purchase add-on covers for your policy and 24x7 roadside assistance are some of the other nifty features.

Rapid Claims Process

Anyone familiar with raising a claim for car or bike insurance knows what a lengthy and time-consuming process it can be. You have to call the insurer’s customer service, fill up the claim form, wait for the surveyor to assess the damage and then take the car to the garage. It all sounds like an ordeal, but, not anymore!

ICICI Lombard’s Insure app comes with the InstaSpect feature, which makes filing a car or bike insurance claim an instantaneous and easy task. The app has live video inspection functionality that is employed for claim assessment. With this, a live video inspection can be scheduled with a claim manager, who will assess the damage and convey the extent of liability. Once the insured agrees to what is offered, the vehicle damage repair process will be initiated. As simple as that.

Mobile Self-Inspection

In line with our vision of enhancing customer satisfaction, we have brought in the mobile self-inspection feature for renewal of your motor insurance policy. Renewal of the insurance cover is critical to availing the benefits of the policy. However, due to hectic schedules, most of our customers simply forget or delay their insurance renewals. What adds to the frustration is the tedious process of renewing the policy.

Insure app provides the user with a smooth and convenient way of renewing their motor insurance policy. All the user has to do is upload a video of the vehicle taken from their phone by following a few simple guidelines through the app. This step takes care of the mandatory inspection required for renewals and also reduces the time taken for the entire process to be completed from 2-3 days to just a few hours. Cool, don’t you think?

Harnessing the Power of Telematics

IL Assist is another unique feature that is present in the Insure app. This feature relies on technology and provides the latest in vehicle tracking and monitoring. It makes use of telematics and provides 24x7 roadside support for your vehicle. Apart from that, it also gives you critical updates on the health of your car, as well as alerts on geo-fence violations and over speeding.

Insurance calculators are available for all types of policies including health, home, motor, student, travel etc.

It is very likely that someone looking for an insurance policy begins his search on the internet. Apart from authentic company websites, there are numerous websites that provide insurance policies to potential customers. The reason for this expansion of the internet in the insurance sector is the fact that it is much easier for a person to acquire an insurance policy online as against the conventional means.

Although the convenience is due to the absence of paperwork, the websites providing insurance policies also try to further simplify a potential buyer’s choice. This is done through various support tools that these websites put forth for their consumers. One of the most popular and very successful tools that almost all insurance websites employ is the insurance calculator. For every type of policy, there is a particular type of calculator. The following are examples of some tools that you could use.

The Health Insurance Calculator:

These calculators are primarily used for situations such as calculating the premium in a family floater health insurance plan that includes medical coverage for your whole family. The calculations for such a situation can be quite complicated and time consuming with numerous possibilities of errors. This is why tools such as this one are provided to help you make confident and informed comparisons between policies.

The Home Insurance Calculator:

These are calculators that are used for home insurance policies. These can be used for policies that cover your whole house as well as for policies that only provide coverage for the items in the house. With a home insurance policy, you are also required to declare the total value of belongings in the house. Apart from this, the premiums of home insurance policies also vary on the basis of the validity period which can range from anything between one year to five years and even more.

The Motor Insurance Calculator:

The Supreme Court of India has made it mandatory for all vehicles sold after March 2020 to be in compliance with Bharat Stage 6 emission norms

Introduced in the year 2000, the Bharat Stage Emission Standards (BSES) are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. These emission standards for automobiles were made mandatory by the Government of India to keep air pollutants emitted by the internal combustion engine of vehicles under control.

Based on European (EURO) emission standards, Bharat Stage (BS) emission norms were first brought into effect in 2000 under the head “India 2000”. This was followed by BS2 in 2001 and BS3 in 2005. However, the emission norms were made more stringent only with the enforcement of Bharat Stage IV (BS4). Thereafter, the Government of India skipped the implementation of BS5 in 2016 and decided to introduce Bharat Stage VI (BS6) in 2020 instead.

In the light of ever-rising air pollution in India, Bharat Stage VI (BS6) is a welcome upgrade. It is the 6th mandate for vehicular emission norms that is more restrictive and stricter. Once rolled out, it will help in boosting the country’s battle against air pollution. With the implementation of BS6 norms, India’s emission norms will become equivalent to that of the USA and Europe.

How does BS6 emission norms differ from BS4?

The following are the key differences between BS4 and BS6 emission norms:

● Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) and Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) are being introduced with the roll-out of Bharat Stage VI norms, which were not a part of Bharat Stage IV.
● Real Driving Emission (RDE) will be introduced in India for the first time with the implementation of Bharat Stage VI emission norms. It will measure a vehicle’s emission in real-time conditions against laboratory conditions.
● Another change that is being introduced with the implementation of Bharat Stage VI emission norms is that Onboard Diagnostics (OD) has been made mandatory for all vehicles.
● Change in the fuel used in vehicles is the major upgrade that is being brought about with the roll-out of Bharat Stage VI emission norms. A vehicle with BS6 compliant engine will require BS6 fuel. If a BS6 vehicle uses BS4-grade fuel, it won’t be able to adhere to the BS6 emission norms. Similarly, if a BS4 vehicle uses BS6-grade fuel, its engine will take a hit and increase emissions.
● The most crucial difference between BS6-grade fuel and BS4-grade fuel will be in terms of Sulphur and Nitrogen Oxide content. The sulphur traces in BS6 fuel is five times lower (10 ppm) as compared to sulphur traces in BS4 fuel (50 ppm). Further, nitrogen oxide level for BS6-grade diesel engines and petrol engines will be brought down by 70% and 25%, respectively.

Will BS4 vehicles be able to run on BS6-grade fuel?

If you own a Bharat Stage IV car that is powered by petrol, you can relax as you do not have to worry about Bharat Stage VI compliance. The reason being, BS6-grade petrol and BS4-grade petrol have very similar chemical composition. However, if you are an owner of a diesel-powered car of Bharat Stage IV generation, you might have to face some problems.

As discussed earlier, BS4-grade diesel has sulphur traces of 50 ppm, whereas BS6-grade diesel has only 10 ppm sulphur traces. Although this low sulphur content is forgiving for the environment, it can be harmful for BS4 engines. A diesel engine depends on its injector to ionise the fuel and make it combustible, and the sulphur in diesel acts as a lubricant for the injector.