Good To Know If you live in South Africa, insuring your car is an absolute necessity. Luckily, today’s car insurance policies can be customised to suit your individual requirements, such as the type of car you have and the budget you have to spend on insurance each month. By getting sufficient cover at a more affordable price, you get more value for money. So which type of car insurance should you choose? We go through the main options in detail below. Comprehensive Car Insurance Comprehensive car insurance is the ideal type of cover for new and high-priced vehicles, or high mileage vehicles. It offers complete protection for your car against theft, natural disaster and accidental damage. Accidental damage cover insures both your vehicle and any third party vehicle or property that may be involved in the accident, and provides cover for third party injury or accidental death. Particularly if you’ve financed your vehicle, your lender will probably require that you have this type of car insurance. Third Party Fire and Theft Also known as limited liability cover, this type of car insurance covers your vehicle against fire, theft and hijacking. Third party fire and theft insurance gives you the right level of coverage at an affordable price if you have an average mileage vehicle, or if your car is mostly paid off. Third party fire and theft car insurance doesn’t cover your vehicle against accidental damage. Rather, it only covers damage that you cause to a third party vehicle, and any injury or accidental death to that third party. Third Party Car Insurance Third party car insurance is a low-cost insurance option that only covers the accidental damage you may cause to another vehicle, as well as injury or death of a third party involved in the accident. Because of its limited coverage, this type of car insurance is recommended if you’re on a tight budget, if you have an older vehicle, or if you have a car that you don’t use often. The same factors that contribute to motor vehicle accidents, loss of life and personal injury also threatens the financial and insurable interest of vehicle owners and car insurance companies. We would like to focus briefly on these factors and examples of how we share informative aspects with readers on the car insurance blog. Human Factors These include: • Disregard: red traffic light / stop sign / yield sign • Fatigue / Driver fell asleep • Followed too closely • Hit-and-run • Intoxicated Driver • Intoxicated Pedestrian • Overtook when unlawful / unsafe • Pedestrian: Jay walking • Reversing • Speed too high for circumstances • Turn in front of oncoming traffic • U-turn • Vehicle owners have been advised on these human factors through examples [3] such as: • Drunk driving, how much is too much to drink? • Avoid car insurance claims from driver drowsiness accidents • Avoid car accident claims from crashing into pedestrians • Vehicle Factors• Bicycle: No head lamp • Bicycle: No rear reflectors • Brakes: Faulty • Lights: Faulty, not switched on, blinding, etc • Overloading: Cargo / Passengers • Steering: Faulty • Tyres: Burst prior to crash Vehicle owners have been advised on these vehicle factors through examples [3] such as: • Can a few shocks be beneficial to my car insurance? • Save on car insurance but not on tyres • Do not expect your car insurer to pay if you overload the vehicle! Road Factors• Animals: • Stray / Wild • Blind rise / Corner • Narrow road lane • Poor condition of road surface • Poor street lighting • Poor visibility (Rain, mist, dust, smoke, dawn, dusk) • Road surface slippery / wet • Road works • Sharp bend • Traffic light / Road sign / Road marking defective Vehicle owners have been advised on the threats presented by road factors through examples [3] such as: • Can I claim for pothole damage? • Collisions with animals…even if you win you still lose!! • Tread carefully in summer rains to avoid accident claims. Crime In South Africa the road users are threatened by the behaviour of criminals next to and on the roads. To be safe on the road, they need to be alert to the dangers of vehicle related crimes such as Hijacking, theft and smash-and –grabs. On the Car insurance blog. we create awareness of these threats through blogs posts such as: • Cross-border vehicle theft makes car insurance a necessity in South Africa • How to avoid being hijacked • Layered vehicle security needed for affordable car insurance – See more at: http://www.arrivealive.co.za/pages.aspx?i=2932#sthash.6lOmlJ0x.dpuf Make sure your vehicle inspection is done for second-hand vehicles as per insurance request. For more information contact us on info@rooksinsurance.co.za