Five things to know about 'riders' on insurance policies

1. Riders are options that allow a person to enhance the insurance cover, qualitatively and quantitatively.

2. Riders are basically additional benefits that one may buy and add to an existing insurance policy.

3. Riders get terminated once they are used or when the main policy itself terminates. They can be mixed and matched based on one's preference, at a small additional cost.

4. Riders are usually taken at the time of buying an insurance policy. However, they can also be bought during the course of the policy term.

5. Some of the common riders taken are accident and disability benefit, critical illness, hospital cash benefit, and waiver of premium riders.
(The content on this page is courtesy Centre for Investment Education and Learning (CIEL). Contributions by Girija Gadre, Arti Bhargava and Labdhi Mehta.)