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Car Insurance in the Philippines for 2012

The start of the year is a reminder to a new set of expenses. Car insurance belongs to this category for my case. I have had mixed feelings about car insurance from the start. I felt that it was a necessary expense but I also thought that I could have used the money for something else.

But when decision time comes such as when my current policy is about to expire, my mixed feelings give way to rational thinking to decide in favor of getting a car insurance policy. 

Insurance History
For the past 3 years since I bought my car in 2008, I have always bought a comprehensive insurance policy for my Toyota Vios. On the first year, I got a relatively cheaper policy from Mapfre Insular due to the fact that it was taken as a group insurance with all the other employees of my previous company (Intel) who bought the insurance. On top of that, the policy started in March which was two months short for a whole-year coverage.

For the next two years, I opted for People’s General because they gave me cheaper rates than what Mapfre was offering. I have made claims on my insurance policies from both companies and I can honestly say that both services were satisfactory. I have read from several forums, though, that some people were having trouble claiming from People’s General. One guy, whose car was stolen, told that his claim was taking forever and cautioned everybody else from considering People’s General in the future. 

Price Comparison 2012
I do not have anything bad to say about People’s General other than when I compared their price with Mapfre for this year’s (2012) insurance policy, their offer was considerably more expensive. See the details of my comparison on the table below.


If you’ve noticed, “acts of nature” or “acts of god” is not included in the policies. I have simply refused from getting it covered due to additional premiums. On my first policy in 2008, acts of god was covered without any additional premium. But after Typhoon Ondoy struck in 2009 which resulted to huge amounts of claims, the insurance companies decided to ask for additional premium for coverage. Taking on this risk, I have decided against this coverage because I believe that the premium is overestimated to recoup what the insurance companies lost during Ondoy. 

Surely, there may be other companies which offer car insurance policies. I do not have experience with them and do not think that it’s worth my time to talk to everyone of them just to know which would give me the cheapest policy. I would like to opt for a reasonable price range with added emphasis on the quality of service as reflected when claims are made. Having these criteria in mind, I would say that Mapfre has a slight edge over People’s General because of its apparent structure and organized business process. This can readily be observed by going to their respective websites. 

For Mapfre Insular click here: http://www.mapfreinsular.com/

For People’s General click here: http://www.peoplesgen.com.ph/