Did you know? Your Personal Policy can be fine-tuned to meet your individual requirements.
Because everybody has different circumstances, there is no “one size fits all” personal policy and you need to discuss your policy with your broker to make sure that you are covered where we you need cover, and that you are not paying for insurance that you don’t need or want.
Some of the most common optional or paid extensions that you can take on your personal policy include the following;
- Car Hire
- Clothing and Personal Effects / All Risk Cover
- Mechanical / Electrical Breakdown Cover
- Accidental Damage Cover
- Power Surge
Car Hire
In the event of you having an accident or some other insured event that puts your car out of action, the car hire extension on your policy provides you with car hire.
Car hire cover is generally limited to 30 days. This is an essential component of insurance for many vehicle owners. Policy Holders without this cover usually regret not having it, particularly if their vehicles require accident repairs around the holiday season where panel beaters close and repairs can take weeks to complete.
The car hire company will request a deposit payable by you, which will be refunded if the vehicle is returned with a full tank of fuel and has not been damaged.
Clothing and Personal Effects
This is a very useful optional extension under the All Risk section of the policy, which will give you blanket cover for your clothing and personal effects that you would normally wear or carry away from your home. This is global cover and includes cover for some sporting equipment, glasses, sunglasses and jewellery.
This section will not cover laptops, cell phones, remote controls, GPS navigators etc. These items would need to be specified under the All Risk section.
Mechanical / Electrical Breakdown
The House Contents and Building sections of your policy can be extended to include cover for Mechanical & Electrical breakdown, which covers you for loss or damage caused by accidental and unexpected mechanical, electrical or electronic breakdown of electronics and appliances.
Accidental Damage
The House Contents and Building sections of your policy can be extended to include cover for Accidental Damage to your contents or building on your premises. Most insurers exclude cover for any portable electronic equipment or cellular devices, so we strongly recommend specifying these items under the All Risk section of the policy.
Power Surge
The House Contents and Building sections of your policy automatically includes cover for lightning damage to your belongings, but if the cause of the damage is power surge you will not be covered unless you have the correct extensions on your policy. Damage to expensive electronics following power surge is an ever-increasing problem in South Africa. When power cables are damaged or stolen, there is often a surge of power when they are re-connected, and this can cause damage to many of your electronic appliances simultaneously.
It is important to take note of the “Electricity Grid Failure or Interruption” exclusion that has been applied to most insurance policies, due to the instability of the national electricity grid and the impact thereof to generate or distribute electricity.