This is the one and only question that should be uppermost in your minds when you buy an insurance product. Does not matter whether it is life insurance, health insurance or auto insurance.

Let us deal with each one of them.

Take life insurance. When I checked the premium for a 28 year old wanting a policy, he found Religare the cheapest. He found that the price difference between Religare and Aviva was not much, but Hdfc life insurance was about 30% more expensive.

So obviously all of you who have been looking for a term plan would have gone through this, right?

So the uppermost question in your mind is : “Will Religare, or Aviva pay the death claim or should I buy from Hdfc, Icici, or LiC?, correct?

Well, my take is as follows:

I am sure that if you fill up the form accurately, without a lie, and there is nothing that new comes up in your medical check up, you have a good policy. In fact if at the medical test if your policy gets ‘rated up’ it is even better – your nominee can always argue that it was not a routine acceptance.

Also what is to stop the CEO of Religare becoming the Ceo of Hdfc and vice-versa?

To say who will pay the claim and who will not – after say 14 years – is a stupid game where nobody knows the answer.

So buy from the cheapest, and rest in peace, buy TERM from the cheapest player, BUT BE TRUTHFUL ABOUT your health, parents health, smoking, etc…

EDITED ON 31 May 2013

Now I am not so sure about Religare. After reading about the pathetic things that happened in the Ranbaxy management, I am not sure I want to recommend Religare even if it is the cheapest. Please buy from a brand that YOU ARE COMFORTABLE with. If you think that the price difference is not worth bothering about buy it from a MORE trustworthy brand……Sadly India does not have a Life insurance company ranking system….so we will live with our own hunch!