Car insurance journey: All roads lead to discovery

I am a South African, who has been driving since 1994, the so called dawn of our democracy. Four years as a teenage boy practicing in the driveway, and 23 years on the road. I can see some of you are doing the math, yes, I am a 40 year old young lad. My first car was an old 1985 white Mercedes Benz 230E. Although I saved up for it doing weekend jobs as a student over 4 years, my Dad decided to buy it for me having established I succeeded at learning how to save. I guess you could say I was privileged, even though some people still refer to me as previously disadvantaged.

Over the 23 years that I have had a car, I have had car insurance with a range of companies, including Allianz, Bryte Insurance Company, Old Mutual Insurance, Zurich Insurance company, OUTSurance, and PPS Commercial Insurance. About 2 years ago, just before Covid-19 happened, when shopping around for car insurance again, this time for my wife and I, my broker strongly suggested I give Discovery car insurance a try and asked for the opportunity to quote.

This is the other interesting thing about car insurance, if you don’t have an honest broker who does not constantly review your premium as your vehicle depreciates every year, you end up paying more than you should. Fortunately, my uncle was my insurance broker for many years, so he always ensured my car insurance premium reduction annually. Nevertheless, as happy as I was with PPS car insurance at the time, since the then PPS broker indicated to me profit share would be coming soon for PPS car insurance.

And so, since my broker was so convincing by showing me SMS messages on his phone of how much of cash back he was getting from Discovery car insurance, I agreed to give it a try. Not only did Discovery Insure beat all of the other quotes, but there was also this promise of cash back if you have Discovery Vitality, which I really was not banking on given my non-gym membership and my lack of activity.

Much to my surprise, after a two week holiday over the festive along the Garden Route and wild coast, I have been receiving in the region of R300-R600 per month in cash back from the Discovery car insurance, which is about half a tank of fuel. The cash back only comes when you fill up at Shell or BP. My biggest moral dilemma was whether or not to fill at Shell, especially after their intended seismic surveying along the east coast of South Africa. However, truth be told, sometimes I did not have a choice but to fill at Shell.

In short, I have been very happy with what I have been getting back from Discovery car insurance, and have told all my friends and family, in the hope they can also get something back from their car insurance. Especially if they are member of Vitality. Either way, whether you are looking for car insurance, building and household contents insurance, commercial or small business insurance, once you are empowered with all the information, I am sure you will make the choice that is best for you.

Wishing you happy and safe motoring. And car insurance shopping!

Take care,