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South Africa: Travel Insurance

Overview

Holiday or travel insurance is recommended for everyone, irrespective of whether you have an international health policy. As you probably know, anything can and often does go wrong with a holiday, sometimes before you even get started (particularly when you don’t have insurance). The following information applies equally to residents and non-residents, whether you’re travelling to or from South Africa or within South Africa. Nobody should visit South Africa without travel (and health) insurance.

Travel insurance is available from many sources, including travel agents, insurance companies and brokers, banks, motoring organisations and transport companies (airline, rail and bus). Package holiday companies and tour operators also offer insurance policies, some of which are compulsory, overpriced and don’t provide adequate cover. You can also buy 24-hour accident and flight insurance at major airports, although it’s expensive and doesn’t offer the best cover.

Before taking out travel insurance, you should carefully consider the range and level of cover you require and compare policies. Short-term holiday and travel insurance policies may include cover for holiday cancellation or interruption, missed flights, departure delay at both the start and the end of a holiday (a common occurrence), delayed, lost or damaged baggage, lost belongings and money, medical expenses and accidents (including evacuation home), personal liability and legal expenses, and default or bankruptcy, e.g. a tour operator or airline going bust. You may also need cover for transport strikes in South Africa!

Always check any exclusion clauses in contracts by obtaining a copy of the full policy document, as all relevant information won’t be included in an insurance leaflet. High-risk sports and pursuits should be specifically covered and listed in a policy (there’s usually an additional premium). Winter sports policies are available, although they’re obviously more expensive than normal holiday insurance (dangerous sports are excluded from most standard policies, although the definition of ‘dangerous’ varies from company to company). Third-party liability cover should be at least R20 million (£1.8 million) in the US and R10 million (£870,000) in the rest of the world.

Third-party liability cover doesn’t usually cover you when you’re driving a car or other mechanically propelled vehicle, for which you will normally require specific insurance.

Health Cover

Medical expenses are an important aspect of travel insurance and you shouldn’t rely on insurance provided by reciprocal health agreements (of which South Africa has none!), charge or credit card companies, household policies or private medical insurance (unless it’s an international policy), none of which usually provide adequate cover, although you should take advantage of what they do offer. The minimum medical insurance recommended by experts is R5 million (£435,000) for South Africa and R10 million (£870,000) for the rest of the world (many policies have limits of between R15 million/£1.3 million and R50/£4.3 million, which is particularly recommended if you’re visiting the US).

If applicable, check whether pregnancy-related claims are covered and whether there are any restrictions for those over a certain age, e.g. 65 or 70 (travel insurance is becoming increasingly expensive for those over 65, although they don’t usually need to worry about pregnancy – particularly the men!).

Visitors

Travel insurance for visitors to South Africa should include personal liability and repatriation expenses. If your travel insurance expires while you’re visiting South Africa, you can buy further insurance from a local insurance agent, although this won’t include repatriation expenses. Flight and comprehensive travel insurance are available from insurance desks at most airports, including travel accident, personal accident, worldwide medical expenses and in-transit baggage.

Cost

The cost of travel insurance varies considerably according to where you buy it, how long you intend to stay in South Africa and your age. Generally, the longer the period covered, the cheaper the daily cost, although the maximum period covered is usually limited, e.g. to six months. With some policies, an excess must be paid for each claim; with others, the excess applies only to certain items, such as luggage, money and medical expenses. As a rough guide, travel insurance for South Africa costs from around R250 (£22) for one week, R375 (£33)

for two weeks and R700 (£61) for a month for a family of four (two adults and two children under 16). Premiums may be higher for people over 65 or 70.

More pages

Page 1: Overview
Page 2: Annual Policies

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