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Where you’re more likely to be a victim of smash and grabs

Where you’re more likely to be a victim of smash and grabs

Mar 3, 2020 | Blog, King Price

It happens in a matter of seconds. Your window’s suddenly shattered and your valuables have disappeared. Criminals of the smash and grab variety work swiftly and are gone before you realise what’s happened. They usually (and we say ‘usually’ because some are daft and don’t put much effort into the crime they’re committing) choose their surroundings and victims meticulously.

 

Here’s what smash and grabbers are looking for in a victim:

  • Female or single drivers.
  • Distracted drivers (like those lighting cigarettes or using phones).
  • Cars parked in areas with relatively low foot traffic, with valuables visible.
  • Belongings on the passenger seat.

In addition to what makes a person ripe for targeting, there’s also the surroundings. What we mean by this is that these criminals will choose specific hunting grounds and it’s good to be aware of the hotspots. This way you can be on alert or avoid the area altogether.

 

Here are a few smash and grab hotspots across 4 different cities in South Africa:

  • In Pretoria: Pretoria Central, Pretoria Road, Eeufees Road, corner of Garsfontein Road and the N1 Freeway, corner of Garsfontein Road and Philadelphia Road, corner of Cussonia Ave and Meiring Naude Road, and Watermeyer/N4.
  • In Johannesburg: Corner of Boeing and William Nicol Bedfordview, corner of William Nicol Drive and Main Road, corner of Joe Slovo Drive and Abel, the bridge at the intersection of Bowling and Witkoppen, and the Grayston on ramp and off ramp in Sandton.
  • In Cape Town: Jakes Gerwel Drive, Kromboom Road, and Jan Smuts Drive.
  • In Durban: N2-M41 intersection coming off the N2, the southern freeway as you approach the Victoria Embankment in the Durban city centre, the intersection of South Coast Road and Grimsby, and the N2-Inanda intersection on both sides of the bridge and the traffic lights near the Engen garage in Riverside Road.

Obviously these are just a few areas in only 4 cities, but don’t let the unknown scare you into staying home. Rather be prepared and use these helpful tips to avoid smash and grabs.

Here are things you can do to avoid a smash and grab situation:

  • Put your belongings in the boot, because thieves know to reach under your seats.
  • Don’t wind down windows for vendors as this is often a means of distraction.
  • Don’t get out of your car to move objects in the road, rather drive around them.
  • Leave 2 or 3 gaps between yourself and the car in front to give yourself an exit strategy.
  • At night, drive slowly towards a red traffic light and drift through on the green so you don’t stop and become a sitting duck.

Becoming a smash and grab victim is certain to ruin anyone’s day, so be aware, be alert, and stay safe on the roads. You should also consider what your car insurer can do for you. For example, these guys over here actually include roadside assistance with their super cheap car insurance policies. This way, you can call them to come and help you through the trauma of the situation because it’s not fun to handle it all on your own.

 

Does it matter if woman or men drive better?

Does it matter if woman or men drive better?

Nov 8, 2019 | Blog, King Price

Does it matter if women or men drive better?

The light is peeking over the horizon, and slowly we’re wrapping up that conversation about the traditional battle of the sexes which has dominated how life is lived by thousands of different people. No matter who they are, what language they speak, their culture, their race, their age… The arguments and comparisons have been there. Of course, the differences between men and women can still be laughed at, even if a lot of those differences aren’t true and they’re really just something reliable to fall back on and giggle over.

We can be chill about it while we let it go, even though it’s super refreshing to think that we can start to move past this chatter and just celebrate who we are as human beings. There’s 1 area of life where this conversation is still going on though, and that’s in the driving seat. We’re still a little preoccupied with which sex is the better driver.

Men and women argue about this a loooot.

So, which sex is better at driving?

According to a study featured on Harper’s Bazaar, a new study reveals that women are better drivers than men. This study analysed stats on insurance, crime rates, and driving test results in the U.K. Now, obviously this study applies to the Brits… So here’s some info from the 2017 Road Traffic Management Corporation’s Road Fatality report, which showed that the highest number of driver fatalities recorded from the age group of 25 – 44 were men. There are other studies, which you can find with a quick little Google search, but let’s get back to the point.

Women are apparently less likely to be involved in a car accident than men.

Why does this matter?

Well, it matters in terms of insurance for sure because as a result of these stats, women cost less to insure. This means that they generally pay less for car insurance.

But what does this actually mean?

If you say (out loud, not just in your head) that women are the superior sex on the road, you can practically see the hairs on the back of the surrounding men’s necks rise. Next will come a volley of retorts about how this just can’t be the case. A lot of men get super touchy about this.

But here’s the thing. Everyone gets twitchy if it sounds like you’re about to criticise how they make a right turn or how often they ride the clutch. Most of us don’t like to be told that we’re flawed. Sure, according to some studies, women are generally better drivers. But an individual woman might still be a seriously bad driver when compared to her brother.

Should we take these studies seriously?

This info isn’t about getting 1 up on another fellow human being. Yes, women have come out on top in this case… But if you look closer at the details of these studies you’ll pick something up. Something super important… And that is that both sexes make mistakes, ignore the rules of the road, drive aggressively, tailgate, and all that kind of bad stuff. We allllll are capable of driving badly.

In South Africa, we have a relatively poor road safety record overall which means that both men and women alike need to seriously start focusing on driving safety. So, let’s leave the battle of the sexes off the roads and put that argument to rest. It feeds no 1 and as a nation, we’ve got more important things to focus on. Like, the road, especially as December approaches. This month is historically quite dangerous for road users, so we urge you all to think about your driving habits and make safer decisions as you hit the tar to get to your holiday fun.

Oh, and if you want car insurance that offers premiums that decrease every single month (no jokes, your premium will go down every single month) regardless of whether you’re a mister or a sister, then get a quick quote here.

5 Essential Tips for Driving Safely with Children

5 Essential Tips for Driving Safely with Children

Sep 10, 2019 | Blog, King Price

Keep your little 1s safe on the road.

 

March madness means different things to different people. To us in sunny South Africa, it refers to the increase in accidents on our roads over the March and April holidays. This is meant to be a glorious time with friends and family before launching back into school and work, but can often end in tragedy and financial hardship.

To change this and make it safer for you and your family to travel, we’ve researched the best tips for driving with children in the car.

Tip #1: Obey the car seat rules and regulations.

International research shows that the use of a properly fastened car or booster seat significantly reduces the chance of death or serious injury in crashes. In South Africa, new legislation was added to the National Road Traffic Act in 2015, stating that all children who are 3 years old and younger must be strapped into a car seat when travelling in a car.

Unfortunately, not many have heeded this legal requirement, with less than 7% of children in cars using car seats.

As parents, caregivers, and responsible adults, we need to step up, buckle up, and protect our children in the car. There’s no reason good enough, not even… “I’m only driving a short distance” or “I’m going to be driving overnight so the roads will be quieter.”

Tip #2: The best car seat to use.

Not only is the use of a car or booster seat a legal requirement, but it just makes sense. To help you find the best seat for your children, we’ve narrowed down which seats are suitable for the different age, height, and weight ranges.

There are 3 main types of car seats:

  1. Infant car seats: Rear-facing seats suitable for newborns up to 10 or 15 kilos, or up to 70 or 80cms, depending on the brand. These seats usually have a handle for easy carrying.
  2. Convertible car seats: Larger and heavier, these seats are known as 3-in-1 or all-in-1 models because they are rear-facing at first for newborns and can be turned forwards for toddlers up to 130cms in height or up to 18 or 36kilos, and lastly, can be converted into a booster seat for children weighing up to 45kilos. These ranges depend on the brand.
  3. Booster seats: These seats use the car’s seat belts to secure the seat and child, and are designed for children ages 4+, who weigh at least 18kilos (depending on the brand).

Helpful hints:

  • Check that the car seat has a certification sticker displayed somewhere on the seat, showing the important numbers and codes, including the required ECE and the regulation number, R44-04.
  • You can save more by buying a convertible car seat and use it at the newborn stage and then when your child grows up and becomes a toddler.
  • It can also be cheaper to buy a travel system, which is when you get the infant seat and pram sold together.

Tip #3: Correctly positioning everyone and everything in the car.

We all know by now that car seats and booster seats are placed in the backseat. But what about your older kids? The general guide here is that if your child is under 12 years old or under the weight and height of the average for a 12-year-old, they should also ride in the backseat. Not only can this age be extremely vulnerable in the front seat, but they can also be fidgety and distracting to the driver.

You should also consider where items are placed in your car. You don’t want to place a heavy or easily moveable item (even if it’s light) directly behind where your children are sitting. If you brake hard, these objects could fall onto them. If you have no alternative, then consider using cargo anchors to secure these items.

Tip #4: Insurance that includes emergency roadside assistance.

An accident, no matter how small, can have serious emotional, physical, and financial consequences. Having the right insurance in place will help you deal with the situation. What can really help you in these moments is access to a roadside assistance service that you don’t have to pay for.

King Price Insurance, for instance, includes a roadside assist service with their comprehensive car insurance. This service will tow your car to an approved destination if you’ve broken down or been in an accident and can’t drive. Through their roadside assist service, King Price will also send help if you’ve had a mechanical or electrical breakdown, flat tyre, flat battery, or if you’ve run out of fuel. They’ll even pay for accommodation for the night if you’ve broken down more than 100kms from home.

If you don’t currently have car insurance or if your current policy doesn’t offer this service, it’s worth getting a quote from King Price. Not only do they include roadside assist with their comprehensive cover, but your premiums will also decrease every month in line with the depreciating value of your car.

You can get a quote online, call their sales team on 0860 50 50 50, or send them an email using [email protected]

 

Always insure your car for its retail value

Always insure your car for its retail value

Jul 2, 2019 | Blog, King Price

Always insure your car for its retail value
 
When you insure your car, you can choose how much you want to insure it for. We don’t mean that you can choose the exact value. Like, you can’t go and choose to insure your 2009 Hyundai i10 for R180,000. Rather, you’re given 3 types of values for your car and you can choose between them. These 3 options include the market value, the trade value, and the retail value. Usually, you’ll read up on this info and be told what each is and then you get to decide which 1 is better for you. That can be useful… But knowing what the words mean isn’t always the most helpful guidance you can receive.
We’re going another way with this. We’re going to unpack what retail value means and then tell you why we think it’s a good value to choose when insuring your car.
 
What retail value is
An easy way to remember what retail value means is to think about ‘sales’. Because the retail value is the price that your car can go on sale for. Or if that’s too complicated and you don’t need a story to remember what this means, then basically, the retail value is the average amount that a dealer would sell your car for if it is stolen or written off in an accident.
The retail value of a car is generally higher than the market value, which takes into account factors like mileage, your car’s condition, service history, and accident reports. This results in a value that you could likely sell your car for if you were to do it privately.
 
Why retail value is good
Even though the retail value of a car is generally higher than the market value, it isn’t (as some people might think) a way to make you richer after an accident. You see, car insurance is intended to indemnify you, which is to bring you back to the same financial position you were in before the accident or theft.
And you usually can’t do that when you choose market value.
When it comes to retail value, your car will be insured for its full retail value at the time of the incident. So you’ll receive a pay-out equal to the amount that your car is worth when it was stolen or written off. Not the value it had when you originally bought it. So if you claim for your car, you’ll get the best pay-out if you insured your car for the retail value.
Some insurers will only insure your car for its full retail value, like King Price, because they so thoroughly believe that it is the fairest value to offer consumers. And because they’re big believers in keeping things fair, they don’t just look at the true value of your car when it comes to its insurable value. They also look at its value over time and how this impacts your car insurance premium.
To this end, King Price automatically calculates your car’s depreciating retail value and passes these savings onto YOU every month. This way, your car is still insured for the best possible value, at a super cheap premium that will decrease monthly. And why on earth should you pay the same premium every month for a car that only ever loses value?
If you want to save money on your insurance without having to lift a finger or do the calculations yourself, then get a King Price car insurance quote today.
Third Party Liability

Third Party Liability

May 26, 2019 | Blog, King Price

The deal with third party liability

Third party liability is a common name for the type of car insurance you can get to make sure that you’re not on the hook for third party costs in the event of an accident. If you break it down, ‘liability’ means ‘responsibility’, so if you’re liable then you’re officially and legally responsible. ‘Third party’ refers to the other person involved in the situation, like if you drive into someone else’s car then that person is the third party.
When people talk about car insurance, they generally want to convince you that comprehensive is the best option. And there’s merit to that argument. But that’s not what we want to talk about. We want to chat about third party costs and how this insurance could be the answer for you.

 

Third party costs

The reality is that accidents do happen. So, if you get into a car accident with another person, and it’s your fault, then you’ll be liable for the cost of repairing their car. These expenses could end up running into the tens of thousands. And that’s on top of whatever you need to deal with when it comes to fixing your own car.

 

Think about it…

Imagine that you drive what you consider to be a beautiful car. Beautiful because you own it, it’s yours, you look after it, and have we mentioned that it’s yours? Oh we did? Now imagine that you drive into the back of the latest Toyota Fortuner.
Take a second to consider just how much it would cost to repair even the most minor of scratches, let alone structural damage to the bumper of this kind of car. You’re possibly looking at R70,000 (maybe even more) because cars aren’t what they used to be and parts are increasingly more expensive. Anything that needs to be replaced needs to be ordered, there are labour costs involved, and even a spot of respraying to make sure it all matches up again.
It’s ridiculous how much it can cost to repair even the smallest of issues with cars nowadays, not to mention something more serious.

 

Third party liability saves the day

What this type of car insurance does is make sure that you’re not personally going to have to pay for any damage that you cause to someone else’s car. Given the costs involved, it’s completely worth it to take out third party liability cover.

 

How to get this cover

Comprehensive car insurance typically includes cover for third party costs, but if you can’t afford this option and your car is paid off and less valuable, then there’s a way to protect yourself from third party liability. Most (if not all) insurers also offer ‘third party, fire and theft car insurance’ and ‘third party only car insurance’. The first option covers third party costs and damage to your car by fire and the theft of your car. It costs less than comprehensive cover but won’t cover damage to your car if you get into an accident. This isn’t bad at all, especially considering how affordable it is.
But the cheapest way to cover third party costs, however, is to take out third party only car insurance. What you need to know is that the person whose property is being covered is NOT you. It’s only the third party involved, where you’re liable for the damage. In this case, a little cover is still way better than none at all!
You might not think that you’re super adventurous, but the fact is that we all take risks every day. Even making toast or getting out of bed can be risky. There’s no telling when an accident can happen, or who, or how many people might be involved. So make sure to cover third party car liability and prevent any unnecessary financial trauma from ruining your future.Click here to get a commitment-free quote in just 2 minutes or you can call 0860 50 50 50 to get in touch.

We found the cheapest insurance in South Africa

We found the cheapest insurance in South Africa

Mar 26, 2019 | Blog, King Price

We found the cheapest insurance in South Africa

Everyone is on about finding the absolute cheapest insurance around… But this can often be a bit more difficult than we think because so much goes into creating a person’s monthly premium. Your age, where you live, how long you’ve been driving for, how many accidents you’ve had, how often you go out with the valuables you want to cover, etc. There are just so many details that help an insurance company calculate an accurate premium to insure your possessions. Of course, we can’t avoid the fact that some (not all) companies still want their pound of flesh, so there’s that, too.

How do you find the cheapest insurance around, then? Well, the obvious answer is to compare quotes and then choose based on the lowest price for the best value. And that’s the best advice you can ever receive. But for right now, before you head out on the hunt, we can point you in the direction of the actual cheapest insurance we’ve ever seen: R1 insurance.

That’s right. R1 insurance. You know how the oldies are always moaning about how ‘back in the day’, you could go to the movies for 17c, buy a coke for 5c, or pay a R15 deposit on a car? Well, this should make them pretty happy. And you, naturally, because everyone wants to pay the cheapest price.

What is R1 insurance?

You’re probably thinking, what’s the catch? There doesn’t seem to be a ‘catch’ so to speak, because this is an add-on product. This means that you take out the bigger insurance policy and add cover for just R1 per month. After that, it’s pretty straightforward.

The insurer in question is King Price, and the bigger insurance policy is comprehensive car insurance, and the R1 cover is for expensive valuables that you tend to take out with you, like your hearing aid, shiny new bicycle, or prized golf clubs.

Why does it exist?

These are some pretty specific items that are listed, however they’ve been intentionally selected from a range of items that you might not always think to insure. While it makes sense to consider cover for your laptop or cellphone, we don’t always remember to cover a hearing aid or bicycle. How often have you heard of your friend/uncle/sister/colleague’s bicycle being nicked?

It’s for that reason that the royal insurer decided to help people out by offering the cheapest possible cover for items that might not be obvious to insure, and yet are really costly and inconvenient to repair and replace.

Is their car insurance worth the R1 offer?

Look, this is totally your call. King Price’s comprehensive car insurance does come with all the bells and whistles, they’ve been in the business for a number of years and they’re reinsured by Munich RE (which is a big deal in the industry). Let’s not forget that they also decrease your comprehensive car insurance premium every month, in line with the depreciating value of your car.

When you weigh all these benefits up against how much your premium would cost if you were to insure your bicycle/golf clubs as a separate portable possessions policy, to your (non-decreasing) car insurance from another insurer, it makes sense to get a commitment-free quote, to see how you (and your budget) could benefit from the king’s royal touch.