Save responsibly on your insurance premium without compromising on your cover

As many South Africans are taking note of their spending habits and looking for the best ways to save money. We understand you may want to cut back on a few things, but one thing you should never cut back on is quality insurance.

Cheaper insurance options could save you some cash in the short-term, but will usually end up costing more in the long run, especially if you aren’t properly covered.

You can still get affordable cover without compromising on quality. Here are some savings tips to ensure you enjoy affordable car insurance, house insurance and building insurance.

Tip: the easiest way to save is to combine your car, home and buildings insurance with one insurer.

Get the best car insurance premiums:

• Tracking device: Recently had one fitted? Then your motor insurance premium could be discounted.
• Lower powered, lower value, low theft risk? If this sounds like your vehicle, these are factors that could mean a lower premium.
• Raise your excess payment: The greater your excess is, the lower your premium. When getting vehicle insurance quotes, you will be asked to select the amount of voluntary excess you will be prepared to pay in the event of a claim. Although there is a compulsory excess amount, you can always choose to increase this. This would mean paying more out of your pocket, so make sure you can afford the higher excess amount.
• Pay for smaller damages yourself: Keep a rainy-day fund for smaller nicks and dents, and you will manage to stay claim-free for longer and get a big reduction on your premium.
• Regular driver: Make sure the correct person is noted on your policy as your risk factor is determined by the person who most often drives the car. This includes the person’s age, gender, marital status and licence information.
• Consider 3rd-party insurance only: This is the minimum amount of cover you can give your vehicle, making it the cheapest there is.

More affordable home insurance

• Beef up on security: Add additional measures such as burglar bars and an alarm system or consider living in a security complex. These things could lower your premium considerably.
• Do a home inventory: The insured amount of your house contents should represent the new replacement value. If overly inflated, it would mean a higher premium - without any benefit at claims stage. Rather do it accurately: item by item, room by room, instead of guessing an amount.
• Higher excess always equals a lower premium: This is another way to save if you can put some money away for the event of a claim
• Ensure that the address and the construction of the roof and walls are correctly noted on the policy as it is used as rating factors.

Budget building insurance cover

• Total value insured amount: Be sure to establish the current building replacement cost of all the structures on the premises to see if you might be over-insured and paying higher premiums than necessary.
• Note the address and construction of the roof and walls on the policy - these are used as risk rating factors.
• Choosing to pay a higher excess in the event of a claim would result in a lower premium.

Check in regularly on your insurance cover

It’s very important to do a regular run-through of your lifestyle, profile and assets as these are the factors that determine how much you are charged every month. Things change all the time – for example, you may have installed extra security measures around your home and not told us, changed jobs, gotten married or had a child move to university. Simply by updating your profile, you may find that your premium decreases or that your risk profile has changed.

Remember that a car depreciates in value every year. Ensure that the insured amount reflects the reasonable market value of your vehicle as you will only be paid the insured amount or reasonable market value (whichever is the lesser of the two).

If you have any questions about your home or car insurance, speak to your intermediary or call 0860 444 444.