Can You Afford Not To Have Insurance?

Remember when you were younger and how your ambitious self often dreamed of owning the perfect car and house one day? Perhaps, you’ve also dreamed of sharing these personal effects with a loving family of your own.  If you’re one of those guys who never resign to your aspirations, then you most likely have achieved these goals by now. And since you’ve worked hard to earn them, you’ll value them more than anything and obviously want to protect your most important assets.

When it comes to safeguarding your car and house, it’s good to think along the lines of practical safety measures.  For example, burglar fencing and an alarm system will go a long way to secure your house and its contents.  Similarly, installing an anti-theft device or smash-and-grab film in your car, can help to protect you, your family and your car when on the road.  But, will these safety measures be sufficient in the long run?

The risks of living in South Africa

While South Africa continues to be selected as one of the most beautiful countries in the world, we’re unfortunately trailing behind as far as road and public safety is concerned. In fact, a recent report by Africa Review declares South Africa as the “crash capital” of the continent with 10 000 annual deaths resulting from traffic accidents.  This, however, is nothing new: back in 2013, South Africa was also ranked the worst compared to other countries in a global road safety report.  This means that even though you may practice defensive driving all the time, you still have the highest chance of being involved in a car accident.

Besides the high level of poor driving practices and the risk of injury, there is the possibility of you ending up in a car accident with someone who has no insurance. This will leave your insurance footing the bill (or you, if you don’t have insurance either).

A Case study

Imagine you and your family departing for a well-deserved holiday at the beach.  The weather is perfect, the countryside is beautiful and the radio is playing the best summer tunes.  It’s an idyllic drive – until the moment you took your eyes off the road for two seconds and crash into another vehicle.  Yes, this happens even to the best drivers among us.

Although nobody was injured in the collision, both vehicles sustained damages. And, as luck would have it, the other car is one of the most expensive cars on the market and double the value of your car.

Now, let’s imagine this is one of those “when-you-think-things-can’t-get-worse-they-do” situations.

Back at home, your area is experiencing loadshedding.  Although you’re consoling yourself to the thought that you left your house impregnable , the outage does in fact render your alarm system and electric fencing useless. And the two-hour power cut is all that burglars need to gain access to your house and help themselves to your most prized possessions.

The consequences of living uninsured

While not something we enjoy contemplating, the statistics indicate that the above scenarios will be a reality for many South Africans.

In our two examples, the outcome of the vehicle accident would be far more serious than the house burglary.  Besides the high level of unsafe driving practices on South African roads, that put you at risk of injury,

But what happens when you don’t have car insurance?

Even the slightest car accident can leave you with a significant amount of lawyers’ bills if you don’t have a car insurance policy to back you up. These can include the cost for the vehicle repairs, medical expenses and liability costs if you’re being held accountable for the accident. In addition to having to pay for third party claims, you also need to foot the bill for the damages to your own vehicle.  This often results in the uninsured taking desperate measures such as using the money saved for their children’s education or turning to a personal loan which they have to pay back with interest over time.

With the high mortality rate of traffic accidents, this, of course, goes beyond car insurance.  You may already have a comprehensive insurance plan covering your vehicle, but the likelihood of you perishing in a car accident cannot be ignored.  In such an event, your family will need the financial stability of life insurance to help them carry on with their lives.