Tisco woos car buyers with deals

Paying a premium equal to 2 per cent of the monthly instalments, customers will get loan protection, which pays off a customer's total debt in case of death from non-accident causes. If a customer's death was due to an accident, their beneficiary would also get an additional 100 per cent of the total loan on top of the loan protection amount, compared to 50 per cent provided by the previous version of the bank's auto-loan protection plan.

The new scheme announced yesterday is a modified version of the personal accident insurance plan optionally provided with its leasing products launched last year.

Since the middle of last year, Tisco Bank has been offering its auto-loan protection plan for its leasing customers. So far, 90,000 leasing customers have taken out the plan, with premiums between Bt160-Bt167 for each Bt10,000 of the loan. So far, only 50 customers have made a claim.

The bank is expanding the protection available under the plan.

Apart from the protection for repayment of any outstanding debt, and their beneficiary receiving 100 per cent of the total loan if the customer's death was due to an accident, the bank is also increasing protection for public accidents.

If death occurs on public transport or due to a fire in a cinema, they will get 200 per cent of the total loan, up from 100 per cent in the earlier version of the protection plan. For partial disability, customers who are unable to work for at least 30 days will get maximum loan protection for six months and if they suffer permanent total disability or lose any organ, they will receive compensation as per the ratios stated in the insurance policy.

Sathian Leowarin, Tisco Bank's senior vice president and head of bancassurance - life, said that the bank offered the lowest premium on the market with highest protection, which were the strong points of its credit life insurance product.

Thanachart Bank also provides its customers auto loan protection with a single premium, which depends on the age and sex of the customer and the sum insured. For example, a 30 year-old woman, who applies for a Bt530,000 loan will also be insured for the same amount and she needs to pay a single premium at Bt3,031, which covers the loan protection along with the debt payment period of four years. If she dies, the rest of the loan will be paid.