DirectAsia's Comprehensive car insurance plans will benefit continental car drivers who appreciate the flexibility of customising their coverage based on needs. However, risk-prone drivers and those driving older or mid-priced sedans may not find a great bargain.

Table of Contents

Summary of DirectAsia Car Insurance

DirectAsia Comprehensive Car Insurance Highlights

DirectAsia's plans offer the best value to safe drivers looking for a great deal without sacrificing features or coverage. Its comprehensive plan emphasises flexibility, giving customers a high level of control over which features they want to include in their plan and how much coverage they want.

Additionally, its cheapest comprehensive plan—the Value plan—costs 26-31% below average for continental car models like BMW, Mercedes and Audi, meaning you still have room in your budget to take advantage of their add-on options.

Additionally, DirectAsia can benefit families looking to insure young drivers as it imposes no Young/Inexperienced Driver (YIED) excess if they are named in policy, while other insurers tend to charge around S$2,500 of YIED excess. However, DirectAsia considers a driver to be "young" until they are 30 years old (which can drive up premiums) and they must be listed as a Named Driver in order for them to be covered. On the other hand, flexible plan is a fully unnamed driver plan that covers all ages and driving experiences, however, to take note YIED excess is $2,500.

While DirectAsia provides both affordability and flexibility for certain consumer categories, we noticed that DirectAsia's Value plan is neck-and-neck with other cheap plans like FWD, who already include some of DirectAsia's optional benefits as part of their core plan for free. We also found that it is not the cheapest option for mid-priced sedan drivers, who can get a cheaper deal with FWD, HLAS or Budget Direct. DirectAsia may also not work for cost-conscious young policyholders—the prices end up being quite high since it will be making up your premium for the lack of YIED excess.

DirectAsia TPFT & TPO Plans

DirectAsia's TPFT & TPO plans typically cost 5-10% below average while offering the same level of flexibility as for the Comprehensive plan. For instance, you can still add emergency assistance, NCD protection, loss of use and medical expenses for the TPFT plan. However, our study on the effect of car age on car insurance premiums found that DirectAsia actually increases premiums for each year that your car ages past the age of about 10 for TPFT and TPO plans. Most people in Singapore shopping for third party policies own older vehicles, so the possibility of your car insurance premium increasing each year is something to be aware of, especially since other car insurers do not necessarily follow the same pricing pattern.

Customisations & Other Policies

One of DirectAsia's strengths is that it lets you customise your coverage so you only pay for what you need. These add-ons include everything from medical coverage to car accessory protection and you have the option of choosing any excess amount between S$0 and S$2,500. The adjustable excess can be a great feature since it lets you decide how you want to pay for car-related expenses (if you don't mind paying more for your premium but want zero excess, or if you don't mind paying out of pocket when the time comes but want to pay as little as possible for your plan). You will also be protected from natural disasters, flood, fire, vandalism and theft.

DirectAsia also has three driver plans to choose from: Value, Value Plus and Flexible. Value is the cheapest option and lets you name 4 additional drivers, 2 of which can be young/inexperienced. Flexible is the most expensive but anyone who drives your car will be insured without your needing to name them. Value Plus is mid-priced out of the 3 and lets you insure anyone to drive your car if they are over 30 with at least 2 years of driving experience as well as 2 named young/inexperienced drivers.

Direct Asia's Car Insurance Exclusions

Like other motor insurance companies, DirectAsia will prevent a successful claim if the damage or loss was caused by an uninsured event. For example, you will not be able to claim damages that are caused by someone who is uninsured or without a proper license, anything. Other general exclusions include:

Be sure to read the exclusions carefully when choosing any car insurance so you can be prepared in the event of an accident or theft.

Claims & Contact Information

To file a claim with DirectAsia, you should call them at their claims number (listed below). If you've just been in an accident, you must report the accident to your insurer within 24 hours regardless of whether or not there is damage or if you are going to claim it on the insurance. DirectAsia has a list of documents that you'll need to process your claim on their website and you can fax, email or post the copies of the documents.

Summary of Features & Benefits

It is vital to make sure your car insurance will adequately protect you in any event. Below, we've compiled a summary of DirectAsia's core benefits, as well as any additional costs or excesses. If you would like to see how it compares to other car insurance plans, we've prepared a guide to the best car insurance policies in Singapore.

Read Also: