2018 saw over 500 000 South Africans travelling to destinations abroad.

“Buy travel insurance” usually doesn’t rank very high on your “to-do lists” before a vacation. Many people cringe at having to fork out more money when their planned journey is already stretching the budget.

It is important for travellers to remember that for a relatively small premium amount, travel insurance could save you from financial hardship if you fall ill or become involved in an accident abroad. It may also cover costs in case of death, or if your trip was interrupted for reasons out of your control.

There are various travel insurance options offered in the marketplace. It is important to remember that when you buy a travel insurance policy you, as the client, are entering into a legal, contractual relationship with the insurer, which has formal terms and conditions.

Travel insurance policies vary a great deal, covering different losses and offering different features. We have therefore designed a “travel insurance features” which highlights “must have”, “should have”, and “could have” features to consider when buying the right policy for you.

Most policies include cover for:

·       Lost or stolen bags

·       Emergency medical expenses

·       The cost of cancelling, delaying or cutting your trip short

·       Personal liability, in case you’re sued for damaging property or causing injury

Most policies exclude cover (NB note: add-on cover may be available):

·       If you’re over 65 or have a medical condition

·       For high risk activities – i.e. adventure sports, winter sports and any “dangerous activities”

·       Coverage for strikes, civil unrest, earthquakes, acts of terrorism and epidemics

If you’re travelling with your family or friends, there are options in terms of the policy cover, i.e:

·       Single-parent family cover

·       Couple travel insurance

·       Family holiday insurance

·       Couple and child cover

If you travel abroad more than twice a year, annual holiday insurance or multi-trip insurance is usually better value.

If you are combining your travel from both business and pleasure, there are insurers that offer both business and leisure cover under one policy.

It is our role, as your appointed broker/intermediary, to understand your travel insurance needs and present you with insurance options that best suits your needs, and your budget, in order to ensure that you are protecting yourself properly, rather than simply choosing the cheapest option available.  

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TRAVEL INSURANCE FEATURES

(MUST HAVE, SHOULD HAVE, COULD HAVE AND THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR)

“Must Have” Features

Medical expenses: provides cover towards the costs of emergency medical and surgical treatment while you are away.

Getting you back home (repatriation): cover is provided for the costs of emergency repatriation (for medical reasons) back to RSA.

Cancellation/curtailment: if you have to cancel or shorten your trip, this covers you for any travel and accommodation costs you have paid and can’t claim back. It’s good cover to have.

Natural Disaster: covers costs of providing similar accommodation in the event of a fire, flood, earthquake or storm.

Personal accident: covers costs if you sustain an injury resulting in Death and Permanent Total Disablement.

Travel Abandonment: if you have to abandon your trip and cancel your journey, this cover will reimburse your travel and accommodation expenses.

Baggage Cover: covers your baggage if it is lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed.

Personal Liability Cover: this covers you if you are liable to pay damages due to accidental bodily injury to someone or for loss or damage to someone’s property.

“Should Have” Features

Dental emergency: provides cover towards the costs of emergency dental treatment while you’re away.

Money: replaces money or equivalent if it is lost or stolen.

Terrorism: covers your medical costs and other insured losses like damaged baggage in the event of an act of terrorism.

Loss of passport: provides cover towards additional travel and accommodation expenses as a result of needing to replace a lost passport.

Delay: if your travel plans become delayed for example, due to adverse weather, the insurer will pay you a certain amount.

Hijack, Kidnap and Wrongful Detention: provides cover in the event of an unlawful seizure, kidnapping or wrongful detention.

Missed departure: covers costs of additional accommodation and travel expenses if you miss your departure flight, boat or train due to situations outside of your control.

Identity Theft: covers you for reasonable legal expenses incurred as a result of identity theft.

“Could Have” Features

Scheduled airline failure: covers you in the event of your airline going out of business.

Winter sports: covers you for winter sports like skiing and snowboarding.

Legal assist: covers legal expenses if you are imprisoned or threatened with imprisonment.

Value Added Services: such as telephonic medical advice, foreign translation services and delivery of essential medicine if luggage is lost.

Things to Watch Out For

Different excess amounts: your insurance company might apply different excesses depending on the type of claim.

Overseas days: maximum number of days that you are covered for whilst outside RSA in any policy period.

Receipts for baggage claims: when you need to claim for your baggage, some insurers insist on proof for all baggage items and all items above a certain value.

Territorial Limits: it is important to check which countries are excluded from incidents.

Chances are that you won’t need to put in a geyser claim anytime soon. But – what if the odds are not in your favour and your geyser 'decides' to come apart in spectacular fashion? Wouldn’t you rather have your insurer pay for all the damages?

 The very first thing that you should do when your geyser bursts, is to switch off the water supply to your property. If you have a water meter, the stop-cock is usually situated with the meter.

Once you have found the valve and closed it, switch off the electrical power to the geyser on your main electrical board. If you aren’t too sure which is which, just turn off the MAIN switch on the board and call us!

If you have been away from your home for a while and find the outlet pipe at your geyser dripping a lot of water, it may be a good idea to run your taps for a couple of minutes. Run both hot and cold taps to ease the pressure inside the geyser - this can often avert a burst geyser.

Water dripping from the ceiling is not a sure-fire way to determine that it is, in fact, a ‘burst’ geyser, it could be any one of several other things, for example an overflowing valve, a leaking vacuum breaker or even just a burst pipe.

 DO NOT WAIT! CALL FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE

There are many who do not realise that most insurance companies offer a “geyser hotline”, where help to find a plumber and replacement is expedited. The insurance company would give the home owner details of preferred service providers and in most cases, there would be a reduction in the insurance excess payment or, in some cases, no insurance excess payable at all, should the owner use the insurers preferred service providers.

Freshfields will always highlight these numbers on its accompanying renewal email and recommend that the number is saved in your cell-phone.

IMPORTANT POINTs TO REMEMBER

1. Insurers generally have a maximum settlement amount per geyser claim, and you should understand this limit before agreeing to a plumber replacing a geyser. In most or many cases, there will be an excess payable which will be for your account. 

2. As part of your Homeowners/Personal Lines insurance policy, you are under obligation to maintain the good repair of your geyser. If an appointed claim assessor determines that your geyser is in a bad state, the insurer may reject your claim.

3. In some policies you can add on cover for geyser maintenance which will cover not only a burst geyser, but issues with the connected plumbing. Check with us or your own broker for the options.

How to maintain your geyser to prevent accidents

 Please see below these handy tips for you to check when maintaining your geyser:

• Insulate your geyser with a geyser blanket. This prevents heat loss, reducing the cost of electricity needed to keep water hot.

• Turn down your geyser temperature to 60 degrees Celsius. This will save some money on your electricity bill.

• Check that the electrical isolator switch is within 1 meter of the geyser. This was not a requirement on old geysers. The geyser also has to be earthed.

• Check that you have a drip tray and that it can safely drain away any leaks from a burst geyser. This will save you a lot of discomfort from having to claim for and replace mouldy carpets or cupboards.  

• Fix leaking geysers which would be dripping water outside through a pipe from the drip tray that is under your geyser.  A steady drips wastes a lot of water but also means your geyser will need to continuously heat more water which adds to your monthly water and electricity bills.  

• There should be a cover over the thermostat and element. These are often just left lying next to the geyser.  

• Maintain your geyser by replacing the self-sacrificing anode. Anode rods come installed with geysers and are generally made of magnesium or aluminium which are screwed into the inside of the geyser. This anode, or rod, prevents corrosion of the geyser by "self-sacrificing" its metal which attracts the corrosion of the water and its minerals preventing rust. When there's no sacrificial metal left on the anode, the tank can rust out but generally last about five years. This depends on the water quality and usage. Therefore you can save money by maintaining your geyser with a replacement anode.  

• Check that you have the appropriate plumbing piping. The geyser may be fed with a plastic pipe, up to the shut off valve, but the pipe into and out of the geyser must be copper or galvanised steel.

 It is recommended that you ask a plumber to check that your geyser has all of the important safety features, such as the vacuum breakers, shut off valve, temperature and pressure safety valve and the multi (pressure) valve. These are important safety features of the whole water heating system.

 We trust that this exploration into INSURING YOUR GEYSER has been helpful!

We, at Freshfields, pride ourselves on providing the very best service to our clients and looking out for their interests in their relationship with their insurance provider. 

If you require assistance with an existing policy, do not hesitate to contact Freshfields Insurance Brokers on the same number, 011 326-1230.