How car insurance works in South Africa

We’re so car crazy that sometimes we forget that not everyone knows how car insurance works in South Africa. But then we remember that every year there are new people getting their driver’s licences, buying their first cars, or just generally realising how risky it is to be without cover and doing their best to figure out what the deal is with car insurance.

Because car insurance isn’t compulsory in South Africa, it’s something you’ll need to explore on your own terms. What we mean is, people aren’t really taught about insurance at a younger age in order to prep them for something that they need to get if they own a car.

Luckily, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got loads of info about how car insurance works in South Africa. And then we took all that info and whittled it down so that you’re presented with a handy guide that you can refer back to at any time.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

The point of car insurance.
The car insurance options available.
How to get cover.

The point of car insurance

It’s simple. In South Africa, you’ll pay a monthly fee (called a premium) for a car insurance policy. This policy provides some financial protection against the costs of an incident involving your car. Costs that you would be responsible for out of your own pocket if you don’t have car insurance and are involved in an accident.

Just how much financial protection you get depends on the type of insurance you choose to pay for. If you choose to pay a bit more for a comprehensive policy, you’ll be covered for lots of risks. If you choose to buy the cheapest policy, you’ll be covered for a limited number of things that could go wrong.

Example time:

Let’s say you opt for the king’s third party only car insurance. This will cover damage caused to other people’s property that you’re responsible for after an accident. Simply, if you have a little bumpaccino with the car in front of you, we’ll be there for you and will pay for the other person’s damage.

But we won’t pay to fix up your car because you didn’t choose that type of cover.

The car insurance options available

This leads us quite neatly into the different types of car insurance available. There are generally 3 standard types of car insurance in South Africa. But because at King Price we like to do things a little differently, you’ll find that we’ve added on another level of cover for you to choose from, aaaaand our comprehensive option is the actual best policy in the country.

Yes, we know it’s not good to brag… But we’re super proud of it, and you’ll see why now.

The king’s car insurance options:

Comprehensive car insurance. Our policy is perfect for cars that are financed, new cars and cars that are valuable and expensive to repair or replace. (Which is pretty much most cars in SA.) It covers accident damage to your car (and ‘oopsies’ that you cause to other people’s cars or property), theft and hi-jacking.

Theft and write-off. Man, we’re low-key obsessed with this 1. It’s so different. Basically, you can choose to just get cover for theft and write-offs by selecting our theft and write-off cover. If you didn’t know, a car is written off when it’s too badly damaged to be repaired at a reasonable cost.

Third party, fire and theft. A classic policy that proves time and time again that some cover is better than no cover. If you get this policy, you’ll be covered for loss or damage to your car due to fire, and theft and hi-jacking of your own car, as well as for damage you cause to other people’s property in an accident.

Third party only. Ever wondered what kind of cover you should get for the 16-year-old skedonk that you only use for short trips every now and then? This. This is the policy for those cars. It’s the cheapest and really just covers you against the financially disastrous situation of being involved in an incident with another car, where you’re responsible for all the damage.

How to get cover

We’ve made it ridiculously easy to get cover with the king. Visit us online (on any device) using our website or our app (we have an app, it’s awesome) and click the bright, shiny red buttons that point you in the direction of getting a quote.

Next, select what type of cover you want, fill in a few details, and we’ll take care of the rest.

How to get car insurance, in a nutshell:

Fill in your details online.
We’ll call you to dot a few i’s and give you a simple cheap insurance quote.
Wipe away joyful tears as you accept the quote for the best, cheapest cover.
We agree on a few details, like when you want to be debited.
Ta-da! You’ve got car insurance.

From that point on, you just need to make sure that your monthly payments are in order and make sure that you stick to a few rules laid out in your policy documents. These rules aren’t hectic… They’re just about not doing anything illegal and making sure that you let us know if any details change, like your home address. That sort of thing.

By keeping up your end of the bargain, we’ll keep on giving you cover for all of those nasty things that could go wrong. Because really, accidents do just happen and criminals really are out there and they really *really* like stealing cars.

Want to see how easy it is?

Go on, click here to get a commitment-free quote!