There are many insurance companies in South Africa and it is often difficult to know who offers the best deals when choosing the right insurance products for your needs. However, it can be argued that the level of competition within the insurance market is a good thing for the consumer as it offers greater choice, whilst the companies themselves fight to provide better deals than their competitors.
Life Insurance
The list of companies providing long term insurance in South Africa is pretty big with the following life insurance policies generally on offer:
- Term Life – cover for a specified period of time
- Whole Life – remains in force until death or when the policy holder decides to withdraw from the policy
- Universal Life – the most complex of the three that features an investment component.
The main players in the life insurance market include:
Discovery Life Insurance – a relatively new insurance company, but already popular due to a fresh approach to the healthcare industry.
Liberty Life Insurance – a household name in South Africa due to its involvement in many aspects of the economy from property leasing to sports sponsorship.
RMB Insurance – offers both long and short term insurance and is part of the huge RMB Holdings groups, which owns other entities such as First National Bank.
Sanlam Insurance – another household name in South Africa dating back to 1918 and an all-round financial services giant.
1LifeDirect – one of the newer companies in the market that offers more affordable life insurance without sacrificing quality.
Short Term Insurance
The short term insurance industry in South Africa is even more cluttered given the many different types of cover on offer to the consumer. Essentially short term insurance is any type of insurance that isn’t life insurance.
The main types of short term policies available are:
- Household Insurance
- Health Insurance
- Vehicle Insurance
Some of the main companies in the short term insurance market include:
Auto & General Insurance – a huge player in the market since it was established in the mid 1980s, offering car, household and business insurance.
Dial Direct Insurance – relatively new to South Africa this company provides short term insurance directly to the consumer using call centre technology.
MiWay Insurance – provides simplified home and vehicle insurance with the promise of low premiums, loyalty rewards and free emergency assistance.
SA Eagle Insurance – is a solid old timer in the South African insurance industry that focuses on all classes of short term insurance.
The full list of insurance companies in South Africa is very long but it is easy to find them by searching on the internet. If you are looking for a short term or life insurance policy it is important to obtain quotes from more than one company, so using the internet is probably the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to do this.
These days insurance isn’t offered exclusively by insurance companies as many short term options are provided by other companies. For example many credit card companies offer low premium insurance cover against being able to pay off monthly card instalments.
There are some companies that specialise in one particular area or target a specific market. For example insurers like 1st For Women Insurance offer insurance to women only as they are considered lower risk takers than men.
Finding these companies on the internet is easy and most will offer quotes online as well as over the phone. To get a comprehensive list of insurance companies in South Africa you can search on google or via other search engines by typing ‘insurance companies South Africa’.
