car insurance is a major expenditure on vehicles owned by you: let us see what are the differences between a liability policy and Kasko .
The car liability policy
The acronym RC stands for Civil Liability and consists of a policy that you are obliged to stipulate from the moment you come into possession of any motor vehicle; it is a contract between private individuals by which an insurance company guarantees coverage for any damage you may cause to third parties while driving your car. The signing of the contract is mandatory precisely because in the case of an accident with fault, you would hardly be able to pay the damages caused to third parties and even if not, it would undoubtedly be improper to settle the bill rather than pay the annual insurance premium, much more modest.
The RC insurance mandatory car is a guarantee for the protection of every driver, including you; in this way you can drive safely knowing that if another road user causes an accident by involving you, the insurance with which the latter has taken out the RC policy will pay you the damages, both material and physical and moral. Currently, in order to streamline the compensation procedures, your own insurance company will settle the account using money that it will subsequently request from the company that covers the counterparty.
Given the unequivocal importance of the motor liability insurance policy, the Ministry of Transport has tightened the sanctions and disciplinary and criminal measures against those people who drive their vehicle without having signed it. As for the costs related to Civil Liability contracts, you should know that they are regulated by authoritarian bodies that oblige insurance companies to respect certain parameters, to avoid that some companies may force you to pay expensive amounts; in practice, the RC policy has a cost that varies little between one contract and another, regardless of the company you choose to insure your car.
The premium of the RC policy is sensitive to the class of merit to which it belongs, a numerical parameter that varies from 1 to 18 and which demonstrates your inclination to cause accidents. From the moment you enter into a new contract you should start from class 14, which is quite expensive, to progressively decrease by one point each year and deserve a depreciation of the premium; clearly if you cause an accident, the class of merit would go from the one you are in at the time of the accident report to the higher one by at least two steps (with only one accident).
The Kasko policy
Unlike Civil Liability , the Kasko policy is not mandatory under any circumstances and consists of a form of contract that protects you and your vehicle whatever happens on the road. By taking out a policy of this type you not only protect yourself from any damage suffered in an accident with reason, but also from those caused by yourself; in this way you can be sure of being able to drive your car without losing money or finding yourself in the unfortunate situation of not being able to pay expensive damages or even give up the vehicle for economic reasons.
Furthermore, the Kasko policy includes a long series of products which generally consist of separate items that can complement any RC contract; an example are the “theft” item, which covers you in case your car is stolen up to a good percentage of the value of your vehicle at the time of reporting, and the “natural events” item, which covers any damage caused by bad weather in the same way as for theft (there is often a deductible, that is a minimum amount up to which you pay with your money).
The Kasko policy in practice protects you in any aspect and it is a valid opportunity, especially if you have a new car or if you realize for various reasons that you are often involved in accidents; even if you live in geographic areas where traffic is high or destructive climatic events often occur, this formula can be more than convenient. Regarding the Kasko, the glass policy is very interesting and useful, which allows you to replace the expensive glass of your car by spending a very low annual amount, often just over 20 euros when combined with the RC policy.
Undoubtedly, the cost of the Kasko policy is much higher than just Civil Liability and the surcharge corresponds to about 20-30% more (considering a small car; if your car is very expensive, the premium related to the “theft” does not it is certainly cheap); keep in mind that until not too many years ago a Kasko policy also cost three times as much as Civil Liability, but it was a matter of other times; RC was cheaper, there were fewer accidents, the climate was more stable and much more. In this historical moment, for those who do not have too many economic problems, you can easily see that the Kasko policy is worthwhile.
What the Kasko policy includes in detail
Currently the Kasko policy is a particularly versatile product, in the sense that you can “build it” as you wish and decide whether to complete it, provide deductibles, add theft and vandalism to the car liability insurance, or only natural events; this to give a quick example. Based on the above, you have the convenience to take out a Kasko policy if you plan to add products such as protection against fire, theft, vandalism, natural events and glass replacement to the RC, applying the variable value in the time of the vehicle with the minimum deductibles provided by the company; otherwise you may have to pay a very expensive premium.
Obviously, everyone is free in this case to choose what they prefer.
The most requested products to combine with the RC car and compose your customized Kasko policy are the following:
- theft;
- fire;
- vandalism;
- natural events;
- damages deriving from riots or socio-political events;
- breakage and replacement of crystals;
- supply of the courtesy car to the dealer or the body shop to which you may contact;
- payment of damages when you go off the street without involving third parties;
- payment of damages when you have an accident with wrongdoing and involve third parties.
The latter option can be combined with the car liability policy and compose what is called a mini-Kasko policy , an extra protection that should not be underestimated; it is a formula dedicated exclusively to collisions, whatever the type and the way they occur. Even in this case, in order not to go too high with the expense you should give up all the other options.
