Riders are added covers, available on an optional basis with most of the insurance products, which protect you against risks. They help you to buy additional cover at a nominal cost. Generally, this cost is low because relatively little underwriting is required. Based on your eligibility and need for protection, they can be mixed and matched.
When you avail of a simple insurance policy and then add a rider to it, you get additional benefits attached to your policy. Riders help you increase your insurance cover quality and quantity wise. A rider is generally like a mini-insurance policy that is added to your insurance policy because there are chances your original insurance policy might not cover everything, and therefore, you may need additional protection.
Sometimes the basic life insurance policy is not enough to protect you from unexpected expenses like accident and illness. In that case you have to prepare yourself by adding riders. The most common life insurance riders are money back, critical illness, accident benefits, disability riders, waiver of Premium, child Term and terminal illness benefits.
With health insurance riders flooding the market, it is important to choose the right one for essential benefits. Say, hospital cash, patient care, new born baby care, critical illness benefit, E-opinion rider, etc. The health insurance riders may also act as special exceptions to coverage in health insurance plans put in by insurance co.s. Let's say you injured your knee once and had surgery. The underwriters at the insurance company in this case may decide to place a rider on the knee meaning they will cover you for everything EXCEPT for your knee, because they believe they could lose money due to your knee problem. These riders/waivers are sometimes permanent, while other times it may be issued as a two-year, three-year or five-year rider. If the condition does not deteriorate or recur over a period of time, often the insurer will "lift" the rider and give you full coverage.
Home Insurance riders provide better protection and maximum coverage for all your belongings, covering even those items which aren't ideally covered under a home insurance policy. For e.g. for covering your personal possessions, electronic equipments, any additional property that you might have, to cover damage due to a backed up sewer or drain and even a business based home insurance rider.
Auto Insurance Rider, an endorsement, change, or addendum to adjust your car insurance policy by actually deleting potentially unneeded coverage and adding the required ones, will help increase coverage protection and decrease your yearly premium for insurance. For e.g. Waiver of Depreciation rider, Loss of Use rider, Accident Forgiveness rider, Family Protection Coverage rider, etc.
The option of using "riders" is good for the insurance companies as well as for the general public because it enables the companies to insure people/products whom/which they would otherwise decline to cover. When a claim for the benefits of a rider is made, it can result in the termination of the rider, while the original policy continues to insure you as usual. Note that the insurance coverage, premium rates, terms and conditions of riders differ from one insurer to another. Since riders empower you with much-needed control over your ever-changing life situations, it is imperative that you sit down with your insurance broker to evaluate the benefits of the rider and buy the one that is best-fitted for you and your family before taking out an insurance policy.
