The study by ‘Compare the Market Australia’ highlights the need for comprehensive and compulsory motor insurance in South Africa, says Ami Sure’s Christelle Colman.

The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield interviews Christelle Colman, owner of Ami Underwriting Managers.

The significance of comprehensive motor insurance in South Africa has been heavily underlined following a recent study by Aussie company, Compare the Market Australia says Ami Underwriting Managers.

The research found that we have one of the highest rates of unsafe drivers worldwide.

According to the stats in the study, South Africa reported 44.8 fatal accidents per 100,000 people says Ami Sure.

That is seven times higher than the number for the UK, the country with the safest drivers.

These unsettling statistics emphasise the “dire need” for adequate motor insurance in a country where the likelihood of being involved in an accident is alarmingly high, says Ami owner Christelle Colman.

Moreover, she notes, approximately two-thirds of the vehicles on our roads are uninsured.

This means there’s an almost 70% chance that an accident might involve an uninsured driver.

Bruce Whitfield talks to Colman on The Money Show.
I want to make a distinction when we talk about compulsory third party insurance, and what we had in South Africa that became the Road Accident Fund… that was bodily injury third party insurance. When we talk about accident cover, that is what we don’t have….

Christelle Colman, Owner – Ami Sure
…which is if you renew your vehicle license in any other country around the world and even our neighbours, you have to prove that you’ve got insurance for that year to renew your vehicle license. So we don’t have that and we haven’t really had it in South Africa on the property damage aspect of motor insurance.

Christelle Colman, Owner – Ami Sure
Colman says the reasons for our poor driver record highlighted by the study include speeding, alcohol use and unroadworthy vehicles.

“They also talk about our poorly maintained roads, bribe-friendly traffic officers and illegally acquired drivers licenses.”

For those motorists who do actually have comprehensive insurance, it is a very high-risk landscape they’re operating in, she says.

Of course, this also affects the price of your monthly premiums because the pool from which claims are paid is relatively small for the market.
We end up paying much higher insurance premiums… It makes more financial sense for everyone to have comprehensive motor insurance, or at the very least third party insurance.

Christelle Colman, Owner – Ami Sure
It would be very good for all motor owners to spread that risk across a pool of people who all participate in the benefits of having insurance.

Christelle Colman, Owner – Ami Sure
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