Beema: car insurance that makes sense, finally

A few days ago, my calendar reminded me my car insurance was due for renewal, so I sat down to see if I could find a better insurance policy for my Ford Fusion. Not necessarily something super-cheap: I still wanted to have a good cover for my wheels, but saving a bit on insurance wouldn’t hurt. Especially given the current situation around the pandemic, I knew I’d be driving much less this year. And then, I came across these guys: Beema.ae.

Who is Beema?

Beema is a young startup that has come to disrupt the car insurance market in the UAE. They are fully digital, which means you can get a personalized quote and an insurance policy online, in less than five minutes—no chasing papers or queueing.

But what I loved about it most is the fact that they do pay-per-kilometer car insurance. I’ve heard about this type of insurance before, but this was the first time I saw somebody offering it in the UAE.

 

Beema’s pay-per-kilometer car insurance

The idea behind Beema’s pay-per-kilometer insurance is simple:

The less you drive, the less you pay.

You can get your car insurance on their website, in a few clicks. Once you have your policy, you send Beema a simple photo of your car mileage reading via SMS. That’s how they know when to start counting your insurance mileage, without asking you to install a black box and tracking your whereabouts.

You drive as much as you like: there are no daily or monthly limits. And if you cover 20,000 km or less yearly, you get up to 25% cashback straight on your bank account at the end of the year. You got that right: you get back up to a quarter of the initial price. For me, it means over AED 400 back in my pocket.

 

But hey, I must drive much more than 20,000 km, right?

I also believed that just because I spend a lot of time in my car means I must drive a lot. But in reality,  a big part of that time is spent waiting at traffic lights or struggling to get home during rush-hour.

So I made a quick test. I regularly drive from Sharjah to Downtown Dubai, and I spend well over 1.5 hours a day in my car. That’s a lot of time. But when I checked the distance on Google Maps, I realized I cover only about 55 km a day. It means in a year, I make only around 12,000 km. Mind-boggling.

 

Wrapping it up

Traditional car insurers in the UAE do not consider the distance you drive in the premium they offer. In simple terms, guys like me don’t get cheaper car insurance than someone driving daily from Dubai to Abu Dhabi, covering over 60,000 km in a year.

The reason why I recommend Beema is because it’s really easy to get a policy on their website. Their comprehensive car cover is impressive: from roadside assistance and replacement car to off-road driving – everything is there. They even give you a taxi pick up or drop off at the airport once a year, completely free of charge (that’s another AED 200 saved, already).

Most importantly, their pay-per-kilometer insurance is definitely a fairer way to price customers. So instead of saving up on insurance by getting a policy with a limited cover, with Beema, I got super-full insurance and will be saving based on how much I drive. It’s a win-win, really.

Although these guys are new on the market, they mean business: they are backed by ENOC, and their policies are underwritten by AXA – the No. 1 insurance brand in the world.

 

Want to check it out for yourself? Head over to www.beema.ae to get a free quote in just a few clicks.