Should vehicle insurance be made compulsory in SA?
Should vehicle insurance be made compulsory in South Africa? With the reality of limited budgets and high living costs, how does one budget for insurance?
Official crime statistics show a 12.3% annual increase in car theft, with over 11 000 reported cases annually. Approximately half of these vehicles are resold in South Africa, with around 30% being exported to other countries and the rest are turned into parts at various chop shops.
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“Insurance in South Africa should not be seen as a luxury but rather a necessity, and South Africans need to acknowledge the fact that we live in a country with one of the highest crime rates in the world,”
says Derek Wilson, Head of Hippo.co.za, the online insurance and financial services comparison website.
“Around 65% of vehicles in South Africa are uninsured, which could very likely result in the owners of these vehicles being at a financial disadvantage should an incident occur.”
Ask Nthabiseng Motshabi, a 26-year-old female from Johannesburg whose 2010 Toyota Yaris was stolen outside her house on September 12th 2015. She did not have vehicle insurance, nor did it have a tracker. She assumed that because she was due to pay off her car in a year and she lives in a relatively “safe” neighbourhood, vehicle insurance is not a necessity.
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Nthabiseng now faces the reality of paying for a car that is no longer in her possession. She agrees that although vehicle Insurance may be an added expense, there are more advantages to having it than not.