Basic Car Insurance
Why should you care about basic car insurance?
South Africans who have recently bought cars or are contemplating making a purchase will have one big question. Can I get affordable basic car insurance? This is a valid question in light of the various factors that have been steadily edging motor insurance premiums up in the recent past. They include:
- Fall in value of the rand making it more costly to import car parts therefore increasing claim amounts.
- Rise in cost of recovery and salvage.
- Poor state of the country’s road network, leading to higher occurrences of accidents, and hence higher numbers of claims.
- General lack of respect for traffic laws among motorists leading to avoidable accidents.
- High cost of regular car maintenance means many motorists opt not to go for tune-ups regularly. This leads to more accidents caused by vehicular malfunction.
In addition to this, most car insurance companies expect clients to contribute a certain amount as excess when processing claims. Excess amounts have also been increasing of late. This is besides the normal costs of vehicle maintenance that car owners are expected to shoulder, including:
- Car loan repayments; it is a fact that most of the cars on South Africa’s roads have been financed by one of the banks.
- Ever-rising fuel prices
- Car maintenance
Basic car insurance is a reality
In light of the escalating cost of insurance premiums and the rise in the general cost of living, it’s easy to see why, many car owners have opted not to take up motor insurance. Alarmingly, a survey revealed that only seven out of every 10 motorists in South Africa has their car insured.
The insurance industry has been slow in responding to this crisis but a number of companies have come up with products that offer more than basic car insurance without exorbitant premiums.
Among them is Prime Meridian Direct, which offers cover for as little as R149 per month. Besides offering a range of products tailored for the pennywise car owner, Prime Meridian Direct has a package that guarantees fixed premiums “for life”. Their Prime Motor Grow, Prime Motor Thrift and Prime Motor Assist covers are specifically targeted at those who want basic car insurance but don’t want to foot excessively high premiums.
There are a number of other insurance providers who offer attractive packages to price-conscious drivers, but before you sign the dotted line there is a question you need to ask. Is the company offering you the product a recognised, trustworthy entity? Ask yourself if it is registered with the Financial Services Board as a financial services provider.
Other ways to get cheap car insurance
- Source for car insurance quotes and compare quotes online. There are a number of websites that allow you to do this. To send you the best quote they will require you to supply your personal details such as your age and occupation. They will need information about your car as well including the make, model and age of your car.
- Select the kind of insurance you can afford. Third party only offers basic cover with very low premiums while comprehensive covers many risks but requires high premiums.
Add your details to the form on this page.
Then submit the form to get a car insurance quote
All info was correct at time of publishing January 22, 2018
