Are you wasting your insurance premium on the wrong asset?
Many people are paying insurance premiums every month while not realising they are wasting their money as they’ll never be able to claim on the policy. Nellie was one of them.
In 2019 she took out a policy covering the excess payable on her car, which at the time was an Opel Mokka. Last year she bought a new car but unfortunately forgot to inform the insurer. A few months ago she had an accident in her new car.
“First I updated my details with the insurer and then I claimed my excess,” she said.
“They requested all the relevant documents and rejected my claim on the grounds I only put my current car on the policy after the accident.
“Is it possible to challenge this?”
Unfortunately not.
The car in question was not insured at the time of the accident.
The same applies to those who don’t update their cellphone insurance policy details when they get a new phone and end up paying useless premiums for months or years.
It’s worth taking time to make sure all your insurance policy details are up to date.
Beware the voucher purchase request
It’s a scam that usually plays on someone’s eagerness to help a colleague, usually a superior. The target receives an email purporting to come from the boss or senior colleague asking a big favour, such as buying iTunes or Amazon vouchers on their behalf as gifts.
In Grant’s case, his colleague asked him to buy an Amazon gift card for a friend’s daughter as a birthday gift.
Luckily the language was very “off” and totally unlike how his actual colleague expresses himself, which was a red flag for Grant.
“I promised to get the card for her today but I can't do this now because the store's around me are out of stock and all my effort purchasing it online proved abortive,” the imposter wrote.
“Can you get it for me at any nearest store around you?
“I'll refund you back as soon as possible. Please let me know if you can handle this so I can tell you the amount.”
Luckily Grant didn’t oblige, but I’ve heard from several people who have fallen for this scam, one of them buying R11,000 worth of iTunes vouchers for a person he thought was his new boss.
Apparently LinkedIn is the scammers’ favourite source of information. The lesson: Don’t buy gift cards on anyone’s behalf without first speaking to them on the phone or in person.
Make sure you ask this question when shopping for car insurance
Most insurers don’t require you to name additional drivers on your policy for an accident that happens with them behind the wheel to be covered.
You only need to tell them who drives the car most often, the “regular driver”, and if someone else drives your car now and then they will automatically be covered, as long as they have your permission and a valid driver’s licence.
If the regular driver of the car changes, you must inform your insurer to continue to have full cover or you will lose out at claim time.
However, some insurers require you explicitly add additional drivers to your policy to ensure your car remains covered when they are driving it.
These policies are referred to as “named driver policies” and the other drivers added to the policy are called "named drivers" or "additional drivers".
If you lend your car to an unnamed driver you will not be covered if they have an accident. The premium may be appealing but the risk of such named driver policies is fairly high.
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It pays to do all the right things with insurance policies
Image: 123RF/ pwsr01
Are you wasting your insurance premium on the wrong asset?
Many people are paying insurance premiums every month while not realising they are wasting their money as they’ll never be able to claim on the policy. Nellie was one of them.
In 2019 she took out a policy covering the excess payable on her car, which at the time was an Opel Mokka. Last year she bought a new car but unfortunately forgot to inform the insurer. A few months ago she had an accident in her new car.
“First I updated my details with the insurer and then I claimed my excess,” she said.
“They requested all the relevant documents and rejected my claim on the grounds I only put my current car on the policy after the accident.
“Is it possible to challenge this?”
Unfortunately not.
The car in question was not insured at the time of the accident.
The same applies to those who don’t update their cellphone insurance policy details when they get a new phone and end up paying useless premiums for months or years.
It’s worth taking time to make sure all your insurance policy details are up to date.
Beware the voucher purchase request
It’s a scam that usually plays on someone’s eagerness to help a colleague, usually a superior. The target receives an email purporting to come from the boss or senior colleague asking a big favour, such as buying iTunes or Amazon vouchers on their behalf as gifts.
In Grant’s case, his colleague asked him to buy an Amazon gift card for a friend’s daughter as a birthday gift.
Luckily the language was very “off” and totally unlike how his actual colleague expresses himself, which was a red flag for Grant.
“I promised to get the card for her today but I can't do this now because the store's around me are out of stock and all my effort purchasing it online proved abortive,” the imposter wrote.
“Can you get it for me at any nearest store around you?
“I'll refund you back as soon as possible. Please let me know if you can handle this so I can tell you the amount.”
Luckily Grant didn’t oblige, but I’ve heard from several people who have fallen for this scam, one of them buying R11,000 worth of iTunes vouchers for a person he thought was his new boss.
Apparently LinkedIn is the scammers’ favourite source of information. The lesson: Don’t buy gift cards on anyone’s behalf without first speaking to them on the phone or in person.
Make sure you ask this question when shopping for car insurance
Most insurers don’t require you to name additional drivers on your policy for an accident that happens with them behind the wheel to be covered.
You only need to tell them who drives the car most often, the “regular driver”, and if someone else drives your car now and then they will automatically be covered, as long as they have your permission and a valid driver’s licence.
If the regular driver of the car changes, you must inform your insurer to continue to have full cover or you will lose out at claim time.
However, some insurers require you explicitly add additional drivers to your policy to ensure your car remains covered when they are driving it.
These policies are referred to as “named driver policies” and the other drivers added to the policy are called "named drivers" or "additional drivers".
If you lend your car to an unnamed driver you will not be covered if they have an accident. The premium may be appealing but the risk of such named driver policies is fairly high.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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