Kyalami. By a “stroke of fortune”, Fourie says that MUA
found a YouTube clip of the
above client racing his car
around the track (he told them
he’d rolled it on a dirt road)
and promptly rejected the
claim, leaving him with a R1.8
million exposure.
To reduce the cost of insuring a
high-performance vehicle, Bertus Oosthuizen, principal at PSG
Insure, recommends capping
your per-annum kilometre usage
and working on a named driver
basis.
Referring to these as “exotic
cars”, Fourie says MUA’s ideal
client is an Aston Martin driver
– or anyone who buys an exotic car as an investment or a
“weekend car”.
Electing to take on higher excess, and having a telematics
device installed into your car to
track the car and your driving
behaviour, will also help your
broker negotiate a more competitive premium with the product provider, he says.
Since a large portion of your
car insurance premium goes towards funding accident-related
damages, the less time your car
spends on the road the lower the
risk of accident and the lower
your premiums will be.
Vehicles that have had performance upgrades or have
larger engines are immediately considered to be higher
risk. “You need to provide the
underwriter with all the details
of any after-sales equipment
you’ve installed in the car or
additional work you’ve had
done on it and the value of
that,” says Oosthuizen.
He recommends channelling
your insurance through a recognised insurance broker, who
will be able to provide you with
sound advice and establish the
correct insured value.
Fourie agrees, noting that
while any insurer can cover an
exotic car, specific resources,
such as skilled assessors and
repairers, are needed to attend to accident-damage on
a R4 million car.
Based on MoneywebDRIVE’s
research, insurance premiums
for high-performance or exotic
cars cost in the region of 1.25%
to 1.8% on the value of the car
per year.
This amounts to a premium of
around R27 000 a year for a R1.8
million Ferrari.
According to Oosthuizen, introducing certain restrictions, such
as vehicle use, security and
higher excess, could bring this
below 1%.
Fourie advises getting an insurance quote before buying a car,
to make sure you can afford the
insurance costs. She also suggests joining a club, such as a
Porsche or Ferrari club, as some
of these have special insurance
arrangements in place, often
through brokers.
Hanna Barry
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