The South African Government has categorised essential services that are deemed necessary during the Covid19 lockdown period. Short-Term insurance is designated as an essential service. Should you be involved in an accident during the lockdown period, for example your car gets damaged whilst going to get some groceries or your geyser bursts at home, your insurer should be able to respond to your need to claim and fix the damage.
All this is well and good from a potential accident damage point of view, but in the absence of an accident or claims during Covid19 lockdown period, how can insurance help you? Insurance can help you save time and money as I will explain below.
Short-Term insurers renew an average 8% of all their policies every month. It is no different during the Covid19 lockdown period; consumers will receive renewal notices of premium-increases that are on average higher than consumer inflation. Many consumers just accept these renewal terms grudgingly because of the time and effort it takes compare insurance premiums. A phone call with a call-centre agent can last up to 30-40 minutes.
Given the digital wave on InsurTech in South Africa, getting competitive quotes has never been easier. InsurTech refers to the use of technology innovations designed to squeeze out savings and efficiency from the current insurance industry model. InsurTech is a word combination of “insurance” and “technology,”
By simply going onto an InsurTech’s website, you can get a comparative quote for car insurance in less than three minutes. Not only does it save you 45 minutes you would have spent per call to an insurer, but you can potentially save on your renewal insurance premiums should you get a lower quote, thus saving you money.
The ability for insurance to save you time and potentially some money, is not only limited to policy anniversaries and renewals. You can also take initiative and get your free online quotes from InsurTechs.
Taking control over your insurance is now in the palm of your hands through your smart phone or desktop. It is possible for insurance to save you time and money. Visit an InsurTech’s website and take three minutes to and see if you can potentially save time and insurance premiums during the Covid19 lockdown period.
Mutoda Mahamba is the founder and CEO of Solvency – a short-term insurance InsurTech. The Solvency solution is the pioneer of the Insurance Savings Account (ISA), which are savings that are funded through your car and household premium, without paying more. Mutoda has over 12 years insurance experience. Before founding Solvency, he was the Head of Products at Momentum Metropolitan Holding: Africa, a role that led innovation and product development across 8 countries in Southern, West and East Africa. To contact Mutoda, go onto the Solvency website www.solvency.co.za