Are you meeting your motor insurance requirements?

When getting a motor insurance quote, the insured will determine your insurable risk to see if you can be insured. They will ask you a series of questions which must be answered truthfully, otherwise their assessment of your risk will be incorrect and subsequent insurance claims will be rejected on the grounds of non-disclosure.

This does not only apply when getting a motor insurance quote, but requires you to inform your insurer if any of the information regarding your insurance policy changes. This is a motor insurance requirement. The biggest material changes to your motor insurance quote are:

Security

Your car must be fitted with a VESA (Vehicle Security Association of South Africa) approved security device in order for it to be insured. This device must also be in working order for your vehicle to be covered under your motor insurance policy. Most vehicles come with a factory-fitted security system. Your insurer will let you know if this is adequate or if further devices (immobilizers and tracking systems) are required.

For this reason, your motor insurance company will require you to take your vehicle for a security inspection after you have taken out a policy with them. This inspection will determine whether or not the vehicle has a device and it is in working order.

Additions

If you make any changes to the motor of the vehicle, or other physical changes that have an impact on the vehicle’s performance, you must inform your motor insurance company. Whether or not these changes were the result of an accident, your insurer can reject any further claims after these additions were made if you do not inform them.

This is because your material risk changed and your premiums were no longer adequately covering this risk. You are, essentially, placing more risk on the insurer than you are paying for.

Driving purposes

Should the vehicle be involved in an accident while it was being used for work purposes (more than seven business-related trips a month) and it is insured for private use, your insurer can reject the claim. If you begin using your car for business, you must inform your motor insurance company , so they can adjust the risk and premium according to the increased time spent on the road.

Licenses

All vehicle and driver’s licences must be valid for your motor insurance policy to cover you. If your driver’s license is revoked for any reason, or expires (same as for the vehicle’s license), you are no longer insured. Failing to inform your motor insurer of any of the above changes, invalidates your cover.