Insurance Guide

In September 2023, Hong Kong experienced a once-in-500-years catastrophic event resembling scenes from a disaster movie. Severe flooding occurred in many areas, with some roads, shopping malls, and parking lots completely flooded. Many vehicles were damaged to varying degrees by the floodwaters. Concerns arose about these flood-damaged cars entering the used car market after repairs, potentially compromising road safety. For many used car buyers, telling whether a vehicle has been previously flooded based solely on its appearance is no easy task. Kwiksure here shares 10 tips for identifying flood-damaged used cars and offers ways to self-rescue and repair vehicles that have been flooded to varying degrees.

Hong Kong parking lots suffer from lack of regulation. To maximize profits, many have narrow lanes, and some are located in old commercial buildings from the 60s and 70s, making them especially dilapidated. Not only new drivers, but even experienced ones often get scratches. No wonder many drivers prefer street parking despite the risk of fines! Here, Fast & Safe lists the worst and most hellish parking lots in Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories, highlighting signature trap spots and precautions!

The Transport Department (TD) has announced that HKeToll, a tolling-without-stopping service, will be gradually implemented at all government tolled tunnels this year to replace the manual and automatic toll booths. Drivers can then pay tunnel tolls with ease using toll tags, without having to stop or queue at toll booths. All that they need to do is to attach a “vehicle tag” to the windscreen. But what if you are already using Autotoll? Will you need to switch to HKeToll? And how does one apply for a vehicle tag? In this Kwiksure article, we will give a primer on HKeToll, answer the commonly asked questions, and more.

Car theft rates are not high in Hong Kong compared to many other cities, but that doesn’t mean you won’t feel very frustrated if your private car or motorcycle is stolen. What are the actual car theft figures in Hong Kong? What should you do if your car is stolen? If you cannot find your car in the end, will your insurer compensate you for your loss? Are personal belongings in your car covered by insurance? The car insurance experts at Kwiksure are here to answer these questions for you.

With a serious shortage of parking spaces in Hong Kong, and the sharp rise in oil prices in recent years, the cost of car ownership has become very high. If you no longer plan to keep your car, and are eager to cash out and leave Hong Kong, or your car is no longer roadworthy and cannot be repaired, you can elect to have it scrapped. That way, at least you can get back the scrap price of your car. However, the Hong Kong car scrapping industry is rather shrouded in mystery, and most drivers know very little and even have some misunderstandings about it. For example, some worry that their car will be used by criminals for unlawful purposes, and the car owner will end up a victim. In today’s article, Kwiksure will present a useful summary of the procedures and precautions to take when having your car recycled/scrapped in Hong Kong.

With the Continuing Education Fund (CEF) now covering driving courses offered by driving schools, more people are considering getting their driver's license. After all, Hong Kong's road tests are famously stringent, with only about a 20% pass rate for both automatic and manual transmissions. The Transport Department's (TD) driving test guidelines recommend a minimum of 30 hours of driving training for beginners. Assuming each lesson is 45 minutes long, that means at least 40 sessions are needed to meet the requirements, and the tuition for 40 sessions can be quite significant. So, should you opt for a private instructor or a driving school? Some believe that the driving school's test routes are easier to pass, but is that really true? Today, we at Kwiksure will compare private instructors and driving schools for you. All money sums in this article are in Hong Kong Dollars (HKD) unless otherwise stated.

In the past year, very few people in Hong Kong could travel abroad. Besides having staycations in Hong Kong, many people chose to head to the rural areas for activities like camping and hiking, and one of the most popular activities these days is car picnicking. Today, our experts at Kwiksure will present to you a list of car picnicking sites in Hong Kong, along with their fees. Many of these sites have a long list of facilities for borrowing, which makes them very suitable for novice car picnickers! The term 'car picnicking' originated in Japan, and means accommodation in the car. This practice has been popular in Japan for many years. The car owner would transform the car's interior into a living space, possibly adding TVs, beds, folding tables, etc. These owners would live, cook, play, and sleep in the car, and also have self-driving trips when they find the time. This is similar to the car travel life (Vanlife) that foreigners love, though most foreigners will use large camper vans instead of private cars or goods vans and park their cars at the campsite before setting up tents and cooking. As for the "car picnicking" that has recently gained popularity in Hong Kong, many people will drive to outdoor campsites to set up tents, so the practice is closer to what people do in the West.

A vehicle breakdown incident is unfortunate enough without it happening on a highway or in a tunnel. Theoretically, routine repairs and maintenance can help reduce the risk of breakdowns. Drivers should nevertheless learn the right way to deal with various breakdowns as early as possible so that they will not fret in case of an emergency. Kwiksure is here to offer expert advice on how you can be fully prepared and safeguard yourself.

Congratulations on passing your driving test! But let’s get back to reality for a moment, and the reality is you still have to wait a year before you can get your full driving license. So how do you apply for your probationary driving license (P license) now? What restrictions apply when you hold a P license? What are the procedures for eventually applying for a full license? In this Kwiksure “P license FAQs” series, we will answer all these questions and more for you.

The shortage of parking spaces in Hong Kong has drivers parking their vehicles illegally. According to a traffic report, Hong Kong police have issued 3.3 million parking tickets in one year (2021). In addition, the fees collected under the violation of parking rules added up to HKD $1 billion. Hong Kong police have invested in intelligent parking ticket robots to tackle the problem of illegal parking. The robots will be able to issue parking tickets efficiently and reduce the need for human resources. Read on to learn more about intelligent parking robots and their duties.

Hong Kong is not exactly a city with a ton of space, this is especially evident when you have a car in the city and are looking for parking. In many areas of the city there is a chronic shortage of parking, so much so that many people usually end up double parking on the street. In fact, walk around an area like Central during the week and it's common to see vans and cars lined up with drivers sitting in the vehicle waiting for their employer to finish work, shopping, or even meetings with clients. While this is perfectly fine, the fact that many of these vehicles are illegally parked makes many other drivers incensed. If you drive in Hong Kong regularly, there is a good chance that you have parked illegally before, likely because you had no other option. In recent months the police have been cracking down on this, but did you know that illegal parking might have an impact on your car insurance?

A rare car accident occurred in Kowloon Bay last week. A potential buyer met up with the car owner for a test drive. At first, the driving was nothing out of the ordinary. Then, the driver (i.e. buyer) suddenly lost control of the car when turning and crashed into road signs, railings, and five motorcycles parked on the side of the road. The vehicle turned over completely at the end. Fortunately, both the driver and the owner climbed out of the car uninjured. However, the total compensation for the five damaged motorcycles exceeded HK$100,000.