You can be dumped by your insurer, even if you play nice

Having a policy cancelled by an insurer is usually catastrophic if you find yourself suddenly and involuntarily uninsured.

That's what happened to Samantha Lapan who received this notice from Frontline Insurance: “We hereby advise that we give you 30 days’ notice to cancel this policy with effect from September 7, due to a unsatisfactory claims history. We trust you find this to be in order …”

Lapan took out the policy in December 2014, paying a monthly premium of about R2,000 to cover two cars and household contents.

In the next two years, she claimed for three cracked windscreens, costing the insurer under R10,000, while she paid in the region of R48,000 in premiums. Then came a rash of claims, none of them major: in June last year, broken glasses (R3,500); the following month, a burst geyser (R10,600); and the month after that, another geyser claim (R10,250).

The next 11 months were claim free, but last month she put in a car accident claim of just under R30,000, and that’s what prompted the “unsatisfactory claims history” label, and the curt cancellation.

“Life happens, which is why we pay insurance premiums,” she told In Your Corner.

Frontline COO James Bonner now says the company is reconsidering its position. 

Most people who’ve been dumped by their insurers battle to find alternative cover. So what can you do?

Read the full story on Times Select to find out.