Online Vs Offline Term
Insurance Plan

When we talk about Life Insurance plans, the market in India offers many options. Of the various life insurance options available for buyers, Term Insurance Plans are considered the best for two reasons.

• Low Premiums
• High Risk Coverage

If you are in the preliminary stage of financial planning, then you must be aware that there are two ways of buying term insurance - Offline and Online. With online buying still considerably new in India, people generally tend to buy term plans in the traditional offline way (face to face sale) through an agent. However, buying insurance online has many benefits. In this article, we do a step by step comparison of various factors affecting online and offline mode of buying to give a perspective of how both work.

Cost

Online term insurance plans are cheaper as compared to the offline options as a customer deals directly with the company without the mediation of any intermediary or agent. Offline insurance, on the other hand, is sold by agents and their commission leads to an increase in premiums for the customer.

Disclosure of facts

When it comes to filling the form of online policies, the buyer has to fill all the details himself, whereas in offline plans customers can rely upon the agents to fill up the forms. If the agent makes a mistake while filling up the form, the insurance company can reject your claim in the future. This is a risk you should not be willing to take. Alternatively while filling up the form in an online sale, you should make sure that you give accurate and complete information. Be transparent with the Insurance Company

Sum assured

Online plans offer sum assured of 5 lakh to 5 crores and above at low premium costs. Offline plans also offer the same, but due to the high cost of premiums, people generally opt for low sum assured. An Online term plan with low sum assured works well for the individual since there are multiple options to choose from.

Claim settlement ratio

While buying online life insurance plans, you can easily research about the claim settlement ratio of various providers and then select the company which has the best claim settlement ratio. In an offline buying you are however solely relying on the insurance agent.

Flexibility

All it takes for you to buy a policy online is a computer with internet connection and a credit/debit card. Just go online, evaluate the policies available, choose the best available option, pay the premium and you are done with the purchase process. . On the other hand, buying an offline insurance policy will necessitate multiple meetings with the agent which might not be necessary at all in an online process. All these factors favour an online purchase as it is cheaper, negate the probability of fraud, offers high sum assured at low premiums and is a more convenient procedure.