5 essential insurance checks to save money in the new year

January is a great time to get ahead of your personal admin – and one area that deserves your attention is your car and home insurance. A few simple actions could reduce the risk of delays, surprises, and out-of-pocket costs if you ever need to claim. 

5 step checklist that you can do from your smartphone. 

1 – Ensure your details are correct and up to date  

A good starting point is to make sure that your policy details are up to date with your latest personal information:

• Are your contact details correct and current, including your phone numbers and email address?
• Is your physical address correct, especially for where the car is usually kept overnight and the insured address for your home?
• Are the financing and ownership details correct?

2 – Know your excess amounts 

Do you know what excesses you would pay if you claimed your car or home insurance? Verify the numbers to ensure they align with your current situation. A higher excess means a lower premium (and vice versa) – but you should be sure you will have enough money on hand to pay the excess if necessary. 

Remember that excesses across different insurance providers don’t work in the same way. Some providers offer a flat excess. This means you’ll pay the same amount, no matter whether the damage costs R10,000 or R100,000 to fix. However, many insurers also apply additional excesses. For example, you might need to pay an additional excess if the accident happened after 10 pm, the driver is younger than 25, or your policy is less than a couple of months old. Carefully compare the excess terms and conditions to understand exactly what you are getting for your premium.

3 – Check your car insurance info 

Here are a few things worth checking when it comes to your car cover:

• Is your policy up-to-date with the latest regular drivers? If you have an adult child or a partner making more frequent use of your car, ensure they are listed correctly as a regular driver. This matters when you claim.
• Do you know what your policy offers in terms of windscreen cover, roadside assistance, or rented cars while yours is getting repaired? Update the policy if it doesn’t fit your needs.
• Are you happy with your premium? You can get a few quotes to check that what you are paying is fair.

4 – Make home claims easier

There are some simple steps you can take to make your life easier if you need to claim against your building and contents insurance:

• Review your cover to make sure it is realistic for the cost of repairing or replacing your stuff. Many people make the mistake of insuring their furniture or electronics for what they initially paid, rather than for replacement value after years of inflation.  
• Document your valuables in a folder on your computer or the cloud. Include electronic copies of receipts and invoices, as well as photos of each room in your house, high-value items, and numbers and model stickers. 

• Update your buildings policy to account for changes such as renovations or solar installations.

5 – Check your portable valuables are covered

Many people assume that if something is covered at home, it’s automatically covered when you take it out with them. But your home insurance policy might not cover the replacement of your smartphone, notebook, or jewellery if they are lost or stolen outside the insured address. Check your policy for the details – you might need to specify these items separately on your policy for them to be covered away from home.  

* North is the co-founder of digital insurance platform Naked.

PERSONAL FINANCE