Vehicle Insurance: Choosing The Right Road

S outh Africa has the ominous title of being one of the most dangerous places to drive in the world. With some headlines dubbing our national road deaths a national crisis [www.iol.co.za]. Over the past 10 years over 135 000 people have died on our roads, making us amongst the highest in death rate in the world. Costing the economy 135 billion rand and loss of income of over 100 billion rand. Just over Easter weekend alone over 200 crashes and 200 fatalities are recorded [www.arrivealive.co.za].

This gloomy statistic that we have to deal with is part of a wider socio -economic problem in South Africa, but largely due to poor vehicle maintenance, town planning and human error. This is unfortunately having a direct impact on premiums, as this factor is compounded by a large portion of the population not having insurance. And this compounding effect results in increased premiums. However, it does raise the question can you really afford not to be insured? With the following extremely important factors to consider:

• Poor Road Conditions
• Human Error
• Lack of Insurance
• Poorly maintained road vehicles
• One of the highest accident and road fatalities in the world, in particular over our “danger periods” such as Easter and the festive season.

We see a particularly vulnerable age group that contribute to our economy, and as breadwinners of households here at risk between the ages of 20-34 making up a large portion of this statistic [www.saferspaces.org]. With males 4 times more likely to be involved in an accident, (the fact that unfortunately males get a higher insurance premium although prejudiced,) is data driven.

In a country with over 750000 road KM and over 11.2 million vehicles, the unfortunate statistic is not really if, but when we are likely to be involved in some sort of accident, and with a fatality risk 20 times higher than those of other countries it is imperative we insure not only our cars but our lives, because the sad truth is that we can repair or replace a car to its original form, we cannot replace our body to its original form.

*The information in article does not, and is not intended to, constitute financial advice and materials on this site are for general informational purposes only.