Comprehensive Car Insurance

What Is Comprehensive Car Insurance?

A comprehensive car insurance policy gives you cover for a wide range of risks, from fire to accidental damage.

Imagine your garage catches alight and your car gets burnt to a crisp. Or you’re driving home from work and you get involved in a fender bender. Or maybe someone's disgruntled ex mistakes your vehicle for their former lover’s and spray paints some choice words on the doors.

Comprehensive insurance would allow you to claim to repair all of the damages caused—or perhaps even replace your vehicle—in these scenarios.

Do You Really Need Comprehensive Car Insurance?

The comprehensive option gives you the most extensive protection. This is especially important in South Africa where nearly 60 cars are stolen every day and the roads are littered with vehicle-mangling obstructions like potholes.

Benefits of Comprehensive Car Insurance

• All-inclusive coverage: You’re able to claim for damage caused to your car as a result of accidents, fire, natural disasters, vandalism, theft, and more.
• Financial protection: Comprehensive car insurance pays out for a variety of damages, so it can help protect your finances in a big way.
• Complete peace of mind: There are enough things to be stressed about on the road; being able to repair your car needn’t be one of them when you have comprehensive cover.

What Does Comprehensive Car Insurance Cost?

Car insurance companies work out your monthly car insurance premiums based on a couple of different factors, from how old you are to what vehicle you drive. Which makes it difficult to say what comprehensive car insurance will cost in your particular case.

That said, comprehensive is the most expensive of the three car insurance options. It can set you back way more monthly than third party only cover.

The best way to find out what comprehensive cover will cost you is to gather and compare quotes from multiple car insurance companies.

How Do Car Insurance Companies Calculate Premiums?

Insurers use a car insurance calculator to work out what premium to offer you. This nifty tool looks at your risk profile and tells providers how likely you are to make a claim. 

You can learn more about this in our extensive artcile on how insurance companies calculate car insurance premiums.

How To Choose the Right Comprehensive Car Insurance

• Monthly premiums: Affordability is a big factor. You don’t want to end the month with an empty skaftin because the cost of your coverage is sky high. All insurers have their own formula to calculate premiums, so you can shop around to find the best one.
• Excess: The last thing you want when you have an accident is being unable to repair your car because you can’t pay your excess. Be sure that your ‘cheap’ comprehensive car insurance doesn’t require an excess payment that will leave your wallet empty.
• Inclusions and exclusions: Review what the policies you’re considering cover, and what they don’t. Sometimes it may be better to pay a little extra every month for the peace of mind that you won’t have to haggle to get a pay-out if you do have to claim.
• Claims process and customer service: Look at the claims process and customer reviews to understand how much hassle you’ll need to go through to get your vehicle replaced or repaired.

Of course, the best way to know that you’re making the right choice is to compare comprehensive car insurance quotes from multiple companies. Fortunately, that’s easy to do with hippo.co.za.

Value Adds

Extras and Add-ons	Although comprehensive car insurance covers a lot, there are some specific exclusions. Some car insurance companies offer extras that you can add to your policy to safeguard everything, from your vehicle’s mechanical components to its paint job.
Motor Warranty	Protect your vehicle’s components against mechanical or electrical failure.
Service Plans	Give your car the love it deserves and keep it in top running condition.
Tyre & Rim Guard	Protect your tyres and rims from potholes and other forms of road degradation.
Scratch & Dent Cover	Fix minor scratches, dings, and dents to keep your car looking brand new.
Vehicle Tracking	Up your chances of recovering your vehicle if it gets stolen.

 

Know more, save more

Visit our resource hub to find out more about how car insurance is calculated and the different factors that affect your premiums.