• What is the difference between business use, professional use and personal use?
  • Your vehicle can be insured for either private use or business use. Some car insurers also offer a professional use category.
  • Private use is when you car is used for private or social purposes, including driving between your home and regular place of work.
  • Business use is where the vehicle forms an essential part of the performance of any work or function. Private use will also be covered under this category.
  • Professional use some insurers have an additional category called Professional use. This is where the vehicle forms an essential part of the performance of any work or function as a Lawyer, Doctor, Actuary, Accountant, Architect or an Engineer. Private use will also be covered under this category.
• What is the difference between limited and comprehensive car insurance?
  • Comprehensive car insurance provides the widest cover and covers for theft and hijacking, damages due to an accident, fire or explosion and natural disasters like hail and floods. Comprehensive car insurance cover also includes damage to the vehicle’s glass and liability to other parties as a result of an accident.
  • Limited car insurance is where the policy holder selects not to have cover for all of the above. A policy holder would normally choose limited car insurance to pay a cheaper car insurance premium. Typical limited car insurance would be “Third Party, Fire and Theft” where the policy would not cover any losses due to accidents.
• What is the difference between the retail, trade and the market value of my vehicle?
  • The retail value (which is the higher value) is the average price a dealer would sell the vehicle for taking its age, condition and mileage into account. If your vehicle is covered for its retail value, and it is either written-off, stolen or hijacked without being recovered, the settlement amount will be based on its retail value less the applicable excess. This will enable you to replace the vehicle with a similar model.
  • The market value is a lower than the retail value. A discounted premium is charged for clients selecting the market value.
  • Finally the trade or book value of the vehicle is the average price a dealer will pay you for your vehicle.
• What is an excess?
  • An excess is an agreed amount of money that you the client is liable to pay in the event of a car insurance claim being settled. I.e. If your excess on your car is R3,000.00, and the damages amount to R50,000.00. MiWay will pay the remaining R47,000.00 once you the client has paid your excess to the repairer.
  • Most car insurance companies give the client the option to discount their premium by choosing a higher excess.
• Why does my premium increase every year even though the value of my car is depreciating?
  • Unless you have chosen otherwise, your car is not only covered for the theft but also for the repair in the event of an accident. The labour cost of repairing your vehicle and parts used increase every year with the unfortunate consequence of your premium increasing in line with these costs.

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