When did the compulsory personal accident cover become ₹15 lakhs?

The amount was raised to ₹15 lakhs in September 2018, following a Madras High Court ruling, up from a lower fixed sum that applied before that. The annual premium for this cover is also fixed, currently ₹750, regardless of which insurer you choose.

Does personal accident cover pay for medical bills?

No. Personal accident cover pays out for accidental death or permanent disability, not for medical bills or hospital stays. Those costs are usually covered separately through health insurance, or in some cases through specific optional covers on your motor policy.

How is personal accident cover different from health insurance?

Health insurance pays for the cost of treatment itself, regardless of what caused the injury. Personal accident cover under your motor policy pays nothing towards treatment, only a fixed lump sum for death or permanent disability specifically from a road accident involving your own insured car.

Does the compulsory cover extend to my passengers?

No, not by default. The compulsory personal accident cover applies only to the owner-driver named on your policy. If you regularly carry passengers, you can usually add cover for them separately as an optional cover, so it is worth checking before you assume they are protected.

Do I need a separate ₹15 lakh cover for each vehicle I own?

Not necessarily. Since January 2019, you can hold a standalone personal accident cover that applies to you as the owner-driver across all your vehicles, rather than buying a fresh ₹15 lakh cover bundled into every single policy you hold.

Is the ₹15 lakh amount the same across all insurers?

Yes. The compulsory personal accident cover amount of up to ₹15 lakhs for the owner-driver is set by regulation, not by individual insurers. Every insurer offers the same fixed amount for this compulsory cover, regardless of your car's price or IDV.

Does personal accident cover apply if someone else is driving my car?

Not under the compulsory owner-driver cover. That cover applies specifically to you as the owner-driver, while you are behind the wheel of your own insured car. If someone else drives your car and is hurt, a separate cover would need to apply to them.

Does this cover apply if I am a passenger in someone else's car?

No. Your car's compulsory personal accident cover applies only while you are driving or travelling in your own insured vehicle. If you are a passenger in someone else's car, that vehicle's own insurance and cover terms would apply instead.

What counts as being covered under personal accident cover?

The cover applies while you are driving your own insured car, or getting in or out of it, and the injury results from a road accident. It generally does not apply to injuries unrelated to your car, such as an accident at home.

Can I increase my personal accident cover beyond ₹15 lakhs?

In some cases, yes. Certain insurers let you add a higher personal accident cover as an optional extra, on top of the compulsory ₹15 lakh amount, rather than raising the compulsory amount itself. This is worth asking about if you feel ₹15 lakhs is not enough for your situation.

Does a personal accident claim affect my No Claim Bonus?

No. A personal accident claim is settled separately from your Own Damage claims, so it does not affect your No Claim Bonus. Your No Claim Bonus is tied to claims made against the own damage part of your policy, not the personal accident section.

Personal accident cover in motor insurance: what owners must know

Written by

Reuben SolomonLead Content Writer

Reviewed by

Rupinderjit SinghHead - Tech Product & Digital Business

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Introduction

If you are ever seriously injured while driving your own car, your car's Own Damage cover does nothing for you. That protection comes from personal accident cover, a compulsory part of every car insurance policy that pays out for the owner-driver, separately from any damage to the car itself.

Keep in mind

Personal accident cover for the owner-driver is compulsory on every motor policy
Pays out for accidental death or permanent disability, not for car damage
Cover amount is fixed at up to ₹15 lakhs by the regulator, raised to this level in September 2018
Applies only while you are driving or travelling in your own insured car

Why personal accident cover is compulsory

Third-Party cover protects other people, and Own Damage cover protects your car, but neither pays you anything if you are hurt while driving. Personal Accident cover fills that gap, and every private car policy in India must include it for the owner-driver.

This cover became compulsory at its current level in September 2018, when the regulator raised the mandatory amount from a lower fixed sum to ₹15 lakhs, following a Madras High Court ruling that owner-drivers deserved the same financial protection the law already gave to third parties. The annual premium for this cover is fixed too, currently ₹750, regardless of which insurer you buy from.

This is different from the rest of your motor insurance policy, where cover amounts often depend on your car's value. Personal accident cover for the owner-driver stays the same fixed amount, whether your car is brand new or several years old.

What owner driver cover actually protects

Owner driver cover applies only to the person named as the owner on the policy, and only while they are driving their own insured car, or getting in or out of it. It does not automatically extend to other passengers travelling in the same car.

The payout is for accidental death or permanent disability arising from a road accident, not for medical bills, hospital stays, or damage to the car. Those are handled separately, through health cover or your Own Damage cover.

If the car is registered in your name and you hold a valid driving licence, you are generally treated as the owner-driver for this cover. A family member who sometimes drives the same car is not automatically covered under this section, even if they are insured to drive it.

How the ₹15 lakh cover amount works

Unlike your car's IDV, the personal accident cover amount does not depend on your car's price or age. It stays fixed at up to ₹15 lakhs for the owner-driver, whether you drive a new hatchback or an older sedan, for a fixed annual premium of ₹750.

For example, if the owner-driver suffers a permanent disability in a road accident, the insurer settles the claim against this fixed amount, separately from whatever the Own Damage or Third-Party sections of the policy pay out for the vehicle or other parties.

This also means a personal accident payout does not reduce what your insurer pays under the Own Damage or Third-Party sections of the same claim. Each part of the policy is assessed and settled on its own terms.

How personal accident cover differs from health and life insurance

Personal Accident cover is often confused with health insurance or life insurance, since all three can end up paying out after a serious accident. The differences come down to what triggers the payout and how much it pays. Here’s a simple comparison of the three.

Feature	Personal Accident cover with motor insurance	Health insurance	Life insurance
What triggers the cover?	Death or permanent disability caused by a road accident while driving the insured car	Medical treatment due to illness or injury	Death, regardless of the cause
What does it pay for?	A fixed lump-sum payout	Treatment and medical expenses covered by the policy	A lump-sum death benefit
Does it cover accidents?	Yes, subject to the policy terms	Yes	Yes, but it also covers death from other causes
Typical cover amount	₹15 lakh	Depends on the policy	Depends on the policy
Purpose	Financial support after an accident-related death or permanent disability	Paying for healthcare and treatment	Providing financial support to dependants after the policyholder's death

Your motor insurance's Personal Accident cover is therefore not a replacement for health or life insurance. It gives you a specific benefit for certain accident-related situations, while health and life insurance provide broader protection for medical expenses and financial security.

Can you extend personal accident cover beyond the owner-driver

The compulsory amount covers only the owner-driver. If you want protection for other people who regularly travel in the car, you can usually add a personal accident cover for named passengers or unnamed occupants as an optional cover.

If you own more than one vehicle, you do not need to buy this compulsory cover fresh with every single policy either. Since January 2019, insurers can also issue a standalone personal accident cover that applies to you as the owner-driver regardless of which of your own vehicles you are driving at the time, so one ₹15 lakh cover can apply across multiple vehicles instead of a separate one bundled into each policy.

Reviewing both of these options at renewal, alongside your other optional covers, keeps your protection matched to how you actually use the car, and how many of them you own.

Why this is easier with Kiwi

A personal accident claim usually comes at one of the hardest times for a family, right after a serious accident involving the owner-driver. Kiwi assigns a personal Claims Specialist once the claim is registered, so you, or your family, deal with one person throughout, not a different one at each step.

You get one personal Claims Specialist for the entire claim, not a different person at each step
The specialist explains what the ₹15 lakh cover pays for, and what it does not, in plain language
You are told what to expect at each stage, so there is no back-and-forth guesswork

Conclusion

The compulsory Personal Accident cover protects you, as the owner-driver, up to ₹15 lakh. It does not automatically cover passengers, replace health or life insurance, or need to be duplicated across every vehicle you own if you already have eligible standalone cover.

Before your next renewal, check whether you need additional cover for passengers and whether ₹15 lakh is enough for your needs.