Vehicle Insurance

Vehicle insurance refers to insurance taken out against theft, damage and third party claims on your vehicle, be that a car, motorcycle, caravan, truck or scooter. In many countries, such as the United States, it is illegal to drive a motor vehicle without insurance, but this is not the case in South Africa, unfortunately. This often results in a third party being unable to pay repair bills for damage caused to your vehicle when it is in an accident, with the result that you end up having to foot the bill yourself, or get your own insurance company to pay.

Vehicle insurance companies typically charge what is called an “excess” on car insurance claims. This is a portion of the repair cost which you are liable for. It is structured in such a way that it is always the first amount that is taken into consideration – so in other words, if the repairs cost R10 000, the first R2 000 of this is deemed to be the excess. Where this really comes into play is on smaller claims – if the claim amount is less than the excess, the insurer will not pay for the repairs as it is deemed to be within the excess amount. Now if you were in a cynical frame of mind you might feel that this is just a devious way of getting out of paying out claims, but insurance companies will certainly present a myriad reasons why this is not the case.

Vehicle insurance usually only covers the vehicle itself, excluding any fittings like CD players. You can, however, specify that these items be covered by the insurance policy, at the cost of a slightly higher premium. Make completely sure that this is indeed done upfront, as many unwitting clients have only realized when it is too late that these items were actually not included in their insurance cover.

Vehicle Insurance Companies In South Africa