There are heaps of different products that you can add to your car insurance policy. Some are good. Some aren’t. And it’s never as simple as just putting ‘BAD’ and ‘GOOD’ labels on each of them to tell you what to buy and what to avoid. You see, it’s about what works for you and your needs. And we’re all different, so it takes a bit more research to figure out what’s good for you.
Your household might have 2 cars, and in a pinch could make do with 1 for a week while the other is being repaired after an accident. In that case, if you can’t afford car hire, then perhaps it’s not necessary to add it to your policy. Of course, if you have an extra R100 (or less, if you’re going for a Group A car, usually an Atos) and depend on 1 car to live life then it makes sense to explore this product a bit further. Hiring a car out of your own pocket is quite pricey, so in that case having it readily available through your car insurance policy is quite handy.
But today we’re not talking about car hire. We’re talking about those personalised chauffer services that car insurance companies advertise. Is it useful? Is it worth the money? Let’s find out.
What it is
Quite a few insurers, like King Price for instance, advertise a personalised chauffer service. Typically, you can add this to your comprehensive car insurance for a relatively low fee every month.
Why you would use it
We used to think of this service as a way to avoid driving home under the influence of alcohol. You might not have planned to have a drink at all, but there are times when ‘1 drink’ after work turns into 4 and then you have to figure out how to get home and what to do with your car. In a somewhat less than sober state.
But it could also be that you’ve fallen ill or lost your glasses or stayed too late somewhere and can’t drive due to being night blind. That last example is a bit of a stretch, but you know… These things happen and who are we to judge why you’d need to get you and your car home separately?
How it works
This differs between companies, so we’ll look at just 1 as an example. The king’s cab is a personalised chauffer service that King Price clients can call day or night on 0860 50 50 50. There’s nothing that you need to know here, because you’ll just follow the prompts to book your cab. You can even pre-book for a specific time.
There are 6 free rides throughout the year and if you want to use it more frequently, you can pay an additional fee per trip. How it works is that you’ll call king’s cab who’ll send 2 drivers to your location. The 1 driver takes you home in your car, while the other follows behind to take your driver back after dropping you off safely.
It’s worth knowing that you might have to chip in a little more if you live further than 50km outside the city centres of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, East London, George, PE, Cape Town, and Kimberley.
The advantages
The main advantage is safety. It’s much safer than driving yourself home when you’re not in the best state to do so. It’s safer for anyone else on the road, too. It’s also much safer because you don’t have to make any late night stops to ATMs to draw cash to pay for a ride.
Ultimately, with the king’s cab, clients can use this service 6 times a year for free, which is a minimum of 6 times that you don’t have to worry about how you’re getting home and 6 times you don’t have to worry about paying for a taxi.
If you’re interested in finding out more, then click right here and while you’re looking around, take a few minutes to get a super cheap, commitment-free quote.