An excess is the first amount payable, which is your responsibility, in the event of the submission of a claim. It is the uninsured portion of your loss and is payable regardless of whether or not it was your fault. It serves to deter clients from submitting minor claims and/or fraudulent claims, thus keeping premiums down. It is important to note that the excess covers the first portion of the loss and that it is not a pro rata sum. The practical implication of this fixed amount is that if your total claim is less than the excess amount – you will have to pay for the excess first, meaning that you pay for the entire claim amount.

The Insured is the person named in the Policy Schedule and includes his/her spouse as well as family normally living with him/her and financially dependent on him/her.

You may only insure your own personal items under the policy and not items belonging to your friends or family, unless you have a financial interest in such item. The latter must be disclosed to us and we must agree thereto in writing. For example, if you pay for a vehicle that is registered in someone else’s name, it must be disclosed to us in order for us to decide whether we are prepared to accept the risk or not.

Average means that you will be responsible for a proportional share of the loss or damage, as a consequence of not being adequately insured.

Average is only applicable to claims under the Building and Contents sections of the Policy, as claim settlements are based on replacement values, which means “new for old”.

If according to our calculations, the amount needed to replace all your private residential structures with similar or new structures at the time of any loss or damage, or the amount needed to replace all your household contents with similar or new property, is more than the insured amount, we will not pay you for the full amount.

Example:- If you are insured for R500 000, but the replacement value of the property is R1 000 000 you are only insured for half of the replacement value and you must cover the other half. If you suffer a loss in the amount of R100 000, we will only pay half of this amount, which is R50 000. This rule is applicable to all insurers.

Any form of fraud is viewed in a very serious light and criminal action will be instituted against you. We employ highly specialised investigators in this field and any such conduct will most probably be uncovered.

Fraud is rife in the Insurance Industry, which leads to increased premiums. If you claim for an item you did not own, or that was not stolen or damaged, or request a panel beater to “work” your excess into a quotation, it constitutes fraud.

If any part of a claim is fraudulent, the whole claim is deemed to be fraudulent. The claim will be repudiated and legal action will be taken against you.