Tips & Advice

Old Mutual is committed to offering help and advice to make your life easier. Find out what to do if you're involved in a car accident or if you have an emergency at home.

Vehicle accidents tips

Being in a vehicle accident can be a stressful experience especially if you have been injured, or have injured someone else. It's not always easy to think clearly in the moment, so we have put together a few tips to help you in the event of an accident.

Add to that the cost of uniforms, sports gear, music lessons and for some extra maths and science lessons and you're looking at a rather daunting sum.

What to do after a car accident:

Stop your car immediately if you think there may be injuries, or damage to other vehicles or property. It is an offence not to stop.
Make sure the scene is safe and switch your car off and turn on your hazard lights to alert oncoming traffic about the accident.
Stay calm and wait for help to arrive.
Don’t accept liability and be careful not to take the blame or apologise for any incident until you have spoken to your insurer. Let them investigate the incident before accepting responsibility.
Call the police immediately in the event of an accident involving people or property damage. For minor incidents, report it to the police within 24 hours. You will not be able to claim from your insurer unless you have a police case number.
Exchange information. By law, all parties involved in an accident must exchange details. Ask the other driver for their name, ID number, address, telephone numbers (try to get a home number as well as a cellphone number) and their insurance details. You must also provide this information to them.
Notify your insurance company immediately. Regardless of whether or not a claim is to be made or whose fault it was, you'll need to let your insurance company know.

Write down the following details:

Date, time and place the accident occurred.
The other vehicles’ make, model, colour and registration number.
Contact details of the owner of the other motor vehicle, if not the driver.
Contact details of any witnesses.
Name of police or traffic officer, if present, and their police station.
Name/telephone number of the towing operator.
If you can, take pictures of the road layout, the position of the vehicles, skid marks, collision points and the damage caused.

Third party claims:

Third Party insurance covers you against claims made by others against you. If you were the cause of an accident your Third Party insurance will cover any costs you may be liable for, such as costs relating to death, injury and damage and any legal costs.

We have a dedicated team available to deal with third party claims so if you receive a claim from a third party, please pass the correspondence on to us immediately. We will deal with it on your behalf.

If your vehicle is stolen or written-off:

Once we have established that your vehicle cannot be repaired or recovered, a Claims Negotiator will contact you with the details of what to do next and what documentation is required to settle your claim as quickly as possible.

Know your rights!

If you are unlucky enough to be involved in an accident you can expect a host of tow trucks to arrive, all clamouring to be the one to tow your vehicle away! Worse still, you could find a police officer advising or insisting that you choose a particular tow operator to clear the accident scene. Here’s what you should know:

No towing operator or police officer has the right to force you to make use of a specific towing operator.
Should a police officer attempt to force you to make use of a particular towing operator, a charge can be laid against the officer at the nearest police station. In this case, make sure you take note of the officer’s details.
The responsibility for moving any obstruction to traffic rests with the police department, not the towing operator.

Home emergency tips

You should be able to feel secure at your home, but unfortunately burglaries, accidents, fire and other damage can happen to anyone, with devastating and often costly results. Read a few practical tips in the event of an emergency.

Burglary:

If you enter your property and notice anything out of place, leave immediately and call the police. The intruders may still be inside.
Don’t clean up or move anything until the police have had a chance to inspect the scene, or you could be damaging vital evidence. The police will want to take a statement from you, as well as photographs and fingerprints.
The police will also give you a case number which you’ll need for your insurance claim.
If your bank or credit cards have been stolen, call the bank’s emergency number and have them stopped. Report any important documents that are missing to the police.
Make a list of all the stolen items and if you have them, include the items’ model and serial numbers, how much you paid for them, as well as any purchase receipts, instruction manuals or photographs. The more detail you provide, the more helpful the information will be to assist us in dealing with your claim quickly and efficiently.

Important: Make sure that you report your claim within 30 days of the incident.

Burst Geyser:

The first thing to do is switch off the geyser isolator switches on your main electrical distribution board. If in doubt, switch off your main electricity supply.
Then turn off the water at the geyser inlet valve to minimise further water damage to ceilings, walls, carpeting and furniture. If your geyser is inaccessible, or you are not sure where the valve is located, (or if you have a burst pipe) turn off your water at the mains.
Once the water and electricity have been switched off, open up all the hot taps – your bath, basins, shower, kitchen, etc. This will drain out some of the hot water from the geyser, but its main purpose is to release the pressure in the geyser cylinder thereby making it leak less.
If you have switched off the main water supply to the whole house, you can also open up all the cold taps, as this will sometimes drain all the hot water from the geyser instead of it leaking onto your ceiling.
If you have an Old Mutual Houseowners policy, call our Claims Department immediately to report the damage and an External Loss Adjuster or an investigator will be appointed and will contact you within 24 hours.

Storm, hail or flood damage:

In the event of a flood, dry up as much water as possible to minimise further damage. Remove furniture and household contents from wet areas.
If your home has been damaged during a storm (for example if a tree has fallen on the roof), or you have damage caused by hail, evaluate the damage so that you can describe it clearly to your insurer. If needed, board up any broken windows or doors.
If you have an Old Mutual Houseowners policy, call our Claims Department immediately to report the damage and an External Loss Adjuster or an investigator will be appointed and will contact you within 24 hours.

Fire:

Experiencing a house fire is a frightening and upsetting experience. In the event of a fire, it is very important to know what to do to protect yourself and others from any possibility of harm.

Contact the emergency services in your area immediately.
If you are inside the house when a fire starts, check where the fire is coming from. If there is smoke coming from under a door, do not open it. Even if you don't see smoke, there could still be fire on the other side, so feel the door and doorknob with the back of your hand to see if it is warm or hot.
If the door and doorknob are not hot, slowly open the door. If you can see an escape route, stay low to the ground – crawl on your hands and knees as fast as you can until you can get out of the house. Don't walk upright – since smoke rises, you're more likely to inhale smoke if you are higher up.
If you see smoke or fire coming from under a door, block the cracks in the door with towels, blankets or clothes so the smoke doesn't come in. Open a window and shout ‘FIRE’ as loud as you can.
If you have water, wet a shirt or pillowcase and cover your mouth and nose so you don't breathe in too much smoke.
If your clothes catch fire, drop to the floor and roll around to put out the flames.
Do not re-enter the house or any other building that has been affected by a fire until you have been told it is safe to do so.
If you have an Old Mutual Houseowners, Home Contents or Personal Goods policy, notify us as soon as possible that you have a claim. We have a system in place to deal rapidly with these types of substantial losses.

Do you have enough cover?

Having up-to-date insurance cover will help to ensure that you are able to cope financially in the event of loss or damage to your home, its contents and your personal valuables. If you are unsure about what level of cover you currently have, or you would like to find out more about the various types of cover available, call us now on +267 390 5700.

Frequently Asked Questions

At Old Mutual we believe it's important that all our policyholders understand exactly what their insurance does and does not cover – without having to wade through pages of small print and industry 'jargon'. We answer your questions about some of the more complicated insurance terms and clarify these with helpful examples.

Why do I have to pay an excess if I claim?

An excess (also known as a deductible or first amount payable) is basically an underwriting fee charged to minimise the number of small administratively expensive claims, or to reduce a loss ratio, and to impose a duty of care on the insured. Excesses are usually charged either as a percentage of the claim, or as a fixed amount. For example, you have lost your watch to the value of P800 and the excess applicable is P200. The claim will be settled for the amount of P600.

However, if a burst pipe results in damage of P375 to a ceiling and the excess applicable is P500, the cost would be for your own account because it is less than the P500 excess.

If I can't pay my premium for a month, will I still have cover?

Your policy must be paid monthly in advance on the agreed date stated in your policy schedule. It is your responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient funds in your bank account so that the debit order can be processed.

If no premium is received on the agreed date, we will make a further payment request within 15 days. If payment is still not received within this period, your policy will be cancelled and you will have no cover for the time you did not pay.

Non-payment of your policy during the first month after cover has begun will result in your policy being cancelled automatically. If you cancel or reverse your debit order, this will also mean that you have cancelled your policy and you will not have cover.

What does it mean to be under insured?

However, if a burst pipe results in damage of P375 to a ceiling and the excess applicable is P500, the cost would be for your own account because it is less than the P500 excess.

What is the replacement value?

The replacement value of goods is what it would cost you, at the time of a claim, to replace all your belongings with similar brand new ones. If you submit a claim, your insurer will calculate the replacement value you should have insured yourself for. If you insured your belongings for less than that, your insurer will only pay a part of your claim and you will be responsible for the difference.

What is the insurable interest?

To have an insurable interest in an item, you would stand to suffer direct, measurable, financial loss if the item were lost, damaged or destroyed. For example, your TV set to the value of P2 000 has been stolen from your home. As the owner of the TV you have suffered a measurable loss of P2 000 because you have a financial (insurable) interest in the TV set.

What is indemnity?

The principle of indemnity is the basis of most short-term insurance contracts. This principle states that after a loss has occurred, the insured shall as far as possible be placed in exactly the same financial position as he was before the loss occurred, subject to adequacy of sum insured and all policy conditions and requirements being fulfilled. As your insurer, we indemnify you for any losses covered under your policy (subject to the above conditions). Limit of indemnity is the maximum amount of indemnity provided by a policy. The limit of indemnity is determined by the sum insured and constitutes the insurer's maximum liability in respect of any one event or series of events. The limit of indemnity is the amount upon which the premium is usually calculated.

What does 'betterment' mean?

If the settlement of your claim results in you being in a better financial position than you were before the loss occurred, the extent of the improvement to your position is known as ‘betterment’. If this is the case, you would be expected to contribute towards the claims settlement. For example, let’s say your sound system was destroyed in a fire and a replacement similar to the system you had would be P5 000. You prefer to upgrade the sound system to one with value of P7 000. The P2 000 difference in price constitutes betterment and would be your own account.

What is consequential loss?

This refers to loss or damage that results in further ‘indirect’ losses. For example, if a water pipe bursts, the consequential loss would be an unusually high water bill.

What if my policy information changes?

Changes of information could affect your cover and your premium, so you should inform us of them immediately. Some examples are moving to a new residence, changing the regular driver of your insured motor vehicle, convictions for offences relating to dishonesty (against you or someone covered under your policy) and getting tenants to rent your property.

How can I avoid being under insured?

We recommend that you assess the value of your home contents regularly to ensure that you are covered for the correct amount. Bear the following in mind:

The replacement values of goods change over time.
If your policy is not reviewed and the higher replacement value is not taken into account, cover becomes inadequate.
You – or an expert – need to make a realistic estimate of the true replacement value of your insurable assets, equipment etc.
Update your household inventory list and list of other assets on a regular basis to ensure that any new items are included and remove items that that you no longer have.

Tips for completing a Household Inventory

Move methodically from room to room in your home, and assess item by item.
Record the make, models and serial numbers of major household appliances. Retain your original purchase documents such as invoices and operating manuals.
Most policies limit cover for expensive items such as jewellery, artworks, stamps and coins, furs, rugs and loose carpets. You may need to insure these items separately with a Specified Personal Goods policy.
To determine the value of the items it may be easier to use the store catalogues, or to visit an online shopping site.

Once you have completed the inventory form, submit the form to your broker or insurer as a permanent record of your current value at risk. A video recording or photographs makes it easier to record and identify your household items. Your inventory should be updated annually, or alternatively periodically when you acquire additional household goods.

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