The holidays are almost here!
But after the year we’ve all just had, the last thing I want is for your car, belongings or home to add to the misery we’ve all already experienced this year. So for my final newsletter of 2020, I want to help you make sure that you and your insurance are prepared for the holiday season. Here are four things you can do to prepare yourself, your belongings, your home and your car for the holiday season.
1. Save your insurer’s emergency contact numbers to your phone.
If your car, home or belongings experience any insurance-related emergency, the first thing you need to do is to call your insurer’s emergency call centre. This way you are guaranteed immediate response. They will assist you with any emergency relating to your insured items, whether it’s roadside assistance or a plumbing emergency at home.
Please save the relevant number to your phone right now so that you don’t have to search for it if the need arises. For your convenience, I’ve listed all of them here:
A-Sure Assist/Hollard – 0861 777 074
Bryte – 086 000 1121
CIA – 087 135 1222
Discovery – 0860 999 911
Hollard Commercial – 0860 038 262
Miway – 0860 64 64 64
Momentum Short-term Insurance – 086 000 6784
Old Mutual Insure (OMI) – 0860 247 365
Renasa – 0102713098
Santam – 0860 505 911
Although my team and I are here to serve you, we aren’t a replacement for the 24-hour service available from the call centres. This is especially true when our offices close over December as we won’t be available all the time via the usual methods (more on that at the end of this letter). Also, please be on the lookout for the email from our head-office which also explain the various Assist options and what they offer, in detail.
2. Make sure your holiday hobby gear is on your policy before you leave the house with it.
If you’re a scuba diver and you’re heading to the coast this holiday season, have you checked that your scuba gear is specified amongst your portable possessions section on your policy?
If you’re taking expensive camera gear, valuable sporting or outdoor equipment or expensive clothing items along, are they properly specified in your policy?
We covered portable possessions, or ‘Stuff You Take Out of the House’ in detail in last month’s newsletter. If you missed it, be sure to read it here. It’s got all the information you need to know about portable possessions and how to insure them correctly.
3. If you’re going away, make sure your car and home are ready.
Most of us are probably staying put this year. But if you’re taking a long road journey, please make sure that your car isn’t overloaded and that it remains sufficiently fueled for the distance you need to cover. And if possible beforehand, ensure that your car is properly serviced and fully roadworthy.
Hopefully, you’ve already saved the call centre number for your insurer that I provided further up, but if you haven’t yet, then now is the time to do it. You don’t want to be stuck on the side of the road without data reception and unable to look up the roadside assistance number.
Before leaving the house, make sure that you’ve switched off the geyser and physically unplugged all non-essential plugs.
Also, have you tested your alarm? Does it work and is it connecting properly to your armed response provider? Something you could try is to press a panic button (when last did any of us do that?) and test the response from your provider. This will help you catch any potential issues with the connection and their service before you leave the house for a period of time.
4. Make sure that your December premium gets paid!
It’s the holidays and many of us tend to go a little overboard with our spending. But PLEASE make sure that you leave enough money in your bank account so that your debit order for your insurance premium can come off.
I had a situation two years ago where a client’s premium bounced. The client didn’t realise that that had happened and that his vehicle wasn’t insured. Unfortunately, he got into a car accident during that short period and discovered that he now wasn’t covered for the damage.
Remember No premium, no cover!
December annual shutdown dates.
Please diarise the following dates:
I will be on leave from Friday 11th December and Kirsten will be on leave from 24th December.
I’ll be back from Monday 4th January and Kirsten will be back on Monday 18th January.
From the 24th December until 4th January the Optimum offices will be closed.
Should you have any insurance emergencies or queries, please contact the numbers I’ve provided at the start of this newsletter.
Thank you and here’s wishing you and yours a safe, peaceful and blessed festive season.
Season’s Greetings,
Stephan Kruis