Let's face it - all car insurance is something of a grudge purchase. And in South Africa insurance of all kinds has become pretty much a necessity, given the levels of theft in the country. For this reason it's almost unthinkable to own a car and to not have insurance on it.
Not only that, but it is also a legal requirement to have insurance if your car is financed - in other words, if you buy it using a hire purchase agreement
with a bank or some other financial institution.
With car insurance being such a ubiquitous part of owning a car, especially a new one, and given that South Africans have a long-standing love affair with automobiles, you'd probably expect that we'd know more than a little about car insurance. This isn't necessarily the case though. Because it's such an automatic part of owning a car, it has become almost an automatic function. We often tend to treat all insurance as being equal (give or take a few rand on the premiums) and we also tend to take the insurance policy that is recommended by either the financial institution or a broker.
We tend to judge insurance policies by the size of the premiums or the excess, and we also tend to try and find the cheapest insurance that we can. The
reasoning is that seeing as this is a necessary expense that we can't avoid, and with premiums generally being so high because of the high levels of theft, that the best thing to do is to find the cheapest possible option.
We also don't shop around a lot - there are a few highly visible players in the market, and most people tend to gravitate towards these, rather than
investigating other options.
It's also not all about the lowest premiums either. The insurance industry is highly statistically driven, with premiums and risks finely calculated. So you
can be pretty certain that if you're paying ultra low premiums, there is somewhere that this is being made up. It might be that the excesses are higher, or that certain things are covered as standard. Whatever the case may be, it's crucial that you find out all this information about the various options before
you make your decision.
This is where our guide comes in, as well as all the reviews we have for you. Our guide will help you understand how car insurance works, what to look out
for, and how to get the best value for money. We've also evaluated and reviewed all the car insurance suppliers that are in the South African market. This gives you a complete all-in-one resource right here on this website.
It's about so much more than just getting the lowest premiums. It's also about good service, optimal support, value-added services and ease of claiming.
There are tips on how to find the lowest premiums while retaining solid cover and good value for money, and how to go about making sure your insurance keeps
pace with inflation and with your lifestyle needs. There's also advice on how to make a claim.
Naturally, we can't do everything for you. What we can do is give you enough knowledge know how to go about getting the best insurance deal, to compare the various products out there, and to make an informed decision. Using this site will take so much of the hassle and legwork out of it for you.
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