Your personal accident renewal notice has arrived. The easy move is to pay it and forget about it for another year. That works only if the plan still fits the life you lead now. This guide is for anyone whose personal accident policy is due for renewal.
By the end, you will know what to re-check and when keeping your plan fits. You will also know how switching works, what a gap in cover means and what to have ready before you compare again.
Re-check what has changed since you bought
A year is long enough for your life to drift away from what your policy assumes. Personal accident cover is priced on what you do, so start with yourself, not the plan.
- Your job. Insurers group jobs into four occupation classes by accident risk. Office work is class 1. Heavy manual work is class 4, which most insurers do not cover online. Maybe you moved from a desk to field work, or started delivery riding on weekends. If so, your class may have changed. Tell the insurer if your job changes, or a claim may be cut.
- Your age. The prices shown on this site are for adults aged 18 to 59. Most insurers cover adults up to age 65, and some charge more from 60. If you are close to either age, check your renewal terms.
- Your household. A new spouse or child may mean you want to look at family cover. You can see how one family plan is priced on the family with two children page.
- Your income. Many people choose a sum insured worth a few years of income. If your pay has gone up, the old figure may look thin.
- Your travel. Most plans cover you worldwide, 24 hours a day. Some limit trips abroad, for example to 90 or 180 days per trip. A long overseas posting is worth a check.
Write down each change before you open the renewal notice.
Read the renewal notice line by line
Renewal notices tend to be short, which makes it easy to miss what moved. Put last year's policy schedule next to this year's. Here's what to check.
- The premium. Has it gone up? Is there a reason, such as a change in age band?
- The sum insured. Is the lump sum for accidental death or permanent disability the same?
- The medical bills limit. Medical bills after an accident are paid up to a separate, smaller limit. Check that TCM and physiotherapy are still included.
- The daily hospital cash. Is the amount the same, and are the conditions the same?
- Infectious diseases. Some plans cover illnesses such as dengue and HFMD. If yours did, confirm it still does.
- Your details. Make sure your occupation, date of birth and any named family members are correct.
If anything is unclear, ask the insurer in writing before you pay.
Decide whether the plan is worth keeping
Staying put has two sides. Neither one is right for everyone.
The case for renewing:
- Less admin. No new forms and no new start date to line up.
- Familiar wording. You have already read the exclusions and know how the plan works.
- A claim in progress. If you have an open claim, ask how it would be handled if you changed insurer.
The case for looking around:
- Price spread. Premiums for similar cover vary widely. Today, 21 insurers price cover for an accountant with a S$200,000 sum insured. Their premiums run from about S$174 to about S$1,201. These are today's examples, not what you will pay. See the accountant price page.
- Cover that no longer fits. Your plan may leave out TCM, physiotherapy or dengue cover that you now want.
- A mismatched class. Your plan may still be priced on a job you no longer do.
A plan is worth keeping when the cover still matches your life and the premium sits within the range others charge. Check both before you decide.
Switch without leaving a gap
A gap in cover is the days between your old policy ending and your new one starting. Say you slip on a wet floor at a hawker centre in that window. There is no policy to claim on.
- Line up the new plan first. Get confirmation of the new policy before you let the old one lapse or cancel it.
- Match the dates. Set the new start date to the day the old policy ends.
- Check how cancellation works. If you switch mid-term, refund rules differ between plans. Read your policy wording or ask.
- Answer honestly. Give your real job and age on the new application. The insurer confirms your age when you apply.
- Know what does not change. Personal accident pays for accidents only. Illness not caused by an accident is not covered unless the plan names it. Hospital bills from illness need a health plan such as an Integrated Shield Plan.
When you pick a plan here, you finish buying on the insurer's own site, with your answers already filled in. Read those answers once more before you pay.
Have these in hand before you compare
Comparing takes a few minutes if you have the basics ready.
- Your current policy schedule. It shows your sum insured, medical limit and hospital cash.
- Your age and job. Be precise about the work you actually do, including side jobs.
- The sum insured you want. Decide this before you see prices, not after.
- A short must-have list. Think TCM, physiotherapy, hospital cash, dengue and HFMD, and overseas trip length.
- Your renewal date. This is the date your new cover needs to start.
- Claims paperwork. If you have an open claim, keep the documents together. The Claims page explains how claims work.
Then compare personal accident plans. You give your age, the kind of work you do and how much cover you want. Plans from each insurer on our panel are listed from the lowest premium up. There are also pages by job type, such as class 2 outdoor and light-duty jobs.
What is not worth worrying about
Some renewal worries take up more time than they deserve.
- A notice that matches last year's. If nothing in your life changed and the schedule reads the same, your check is done.
- Losing worldwide cover by switching. Most plans cover you worldwide, 24 hours a day. Trip limits matter mainly if you travel for long stretches.
- Knowing all the jargon. The comparison asks for three things: your age, your job and the cover you want.
Spend your time on the job, age and date checks instead.
The bottom line
Renewal is a good moment to check that your job, age, family and income still match your policy. If they do and the premium sits within the range others charge, keeping the plan is simple. If they do not, line up new cover before the old one ends so there is no gap.