Posts Tagged ‘Theft’

I’ve got some great news for our Cross Country Policyholders!  You can now reduce your excess on your 4×4 Insurance with Cross Country.

Paying an excess has always been one of the major issues people have with insurance.  I can understand the frustration.

When you have had an accident, or you have lost your 4×4 to theft (a.k.a. wealth redistribution), you have already suffered a loss.  Now, you have to pay a huge excess too!

Lets take a stolen Double Cab for example, valued at R279’000. Generally, your theft excess is 10% of the claim… so you’re in for R27’900 excess. Ouch.

Fortunately, you can change that now!  By adding the XS Sure option to your Cross Country policy, you can remove the Basic excess, Theft excess, as well as the Vehicle Rollover excess and Water Damage excess. This option covers up to R40’000 for those excesses, with only a flat R1’000 excess payable.

It makes sense to me… and I bet it does for you too.

To add this option to your existing Cross Country policy, simply email us and we will contact you to explain the product in detail and to confirm the additional premium.

If you don’t already have a 4×4 Insurance policy with us, click here to complete your details online, and we will provide you with the biggest range of 4×4 Insurance quotes in South Africa.

As with all policies, terms and conditions apply.
XS Sure does not cover additional / cumulative excesses and voluntary excesses

Related articles

• Excess explained: compulsory vs. voluntary (blogs.confused.com)

If you’re going away in your 4×4 this holiday season to Sodwana Bay, please take note of this warning, which we have just received from our specialist 4×4 insurance underwriters:

An undesirable element of people are operating in the “Stop and Go” road construction area between Pongola and Sodwana. Their modus operandi is to jump on to the back of the boat or trailer and remove equipment and valuables.

View Larger Map

Please secure your equipment and keep your caravan doors and 4×4 trailers locked where necessary. Be especially vigilant if you are travelling with your 4×4 trailer, caravan or boat on that stretch of road… or any other stop and go area, for that matter.

If you’ve got a specialised 4×4 insurance policy from us at www.4×4-insurance.co.za, then you’re bound to have better insurance cover for your 4×4, and valuables than anyone else on that stretch of road, but still… why start your holiday with an unnecessary inconvenience? Keep your eyes open, be careful, and warn those travelling with you to watch out too.

And before you leave for that well deserved 4×4 holiday, please check the wheel bearings on your 4×4 trailers, caravans and boats.

Travel safely and happy holidays from the team at www.4×4-insurance.co.za!

I’m sure you’ve read reports about the increasing numbers of stolen 4×4′s, particularly the Toyota Fortuner as well as Toyota Hiluxes.  

Just recently, here at 4×4-insurance.co.za we posted a warning about these 4×4 thefts and suggested some practical ways in which owners of the affected vehicles could reduce the risk of becoming another 4×4 theft statistic.

For South African 4×4 owners, the future may seem a little brighter now as new technology to recover stolen cars makes its way into the market.

Microdots, which are smaller than 1mm, are laser-printed dots that are superimposed across the body of the car and contain vital vehicle information that can be used to determine if a vehicle is stolen or not.

We support the Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) initiative to get the microdot technology rolled out across the country in an attempt to curb the alarming number of hijackings and vehicle thefts.  insurance premiums are likely to decrease if we are able to reduce the number of thefts and hijackings of 4×4′s in South Africa.

Theft of vehicles is big business in South Africa.  Statistics reveal more than 90 000 vehicles worth more than R9-billion are stolen every year.

BCSA’s Microdot project manager, Fouche Burger, told SA-The Good News that the crime-fighting organization is waiting for the government to approve the legislation authorising the use of Microdots by every vehicle manufacturer.

Burger says it won’t be long before police will start using the technology to identify stolen vehicles at road blocks. The microdots are too small to see with the naked eye, and can be identified by police when examining stolen cars using magnifying glasses and specialised equipment to see the microdots.  And the South African Police Service (SAPS) has announced that Microdots will shortly be compulsory for all new vehicles registered.

Already being used

As of 31 May 2009 over 370 000 vehicles in the country where microdotted by the following companies: Nissan, BMW, Avis Rent-a-Car, Toyota (on the Quantum minibus), SAPS, SAVRALA and Vesa, Burger revealed.

How does it work?

The process involves the application of approximately 10 000 tiny polyester or metal dots, each less than 1 mm in diameter and each containing the vehicle’s identification number (VIN) or a unique vehicle PIN etched onto it by a laser-etching process, as repeated lines of text.

The microdots are applied to 88 different locations on a vehicle. Discovering and removing all of them is practically impossible and any attempt to remove them results in the car’s body being severely damaged.

It also helps that the technology used to identify microdots is cheap and easily available, said Deborah Hunt, Media Liaison at BACSA. “Police can use a low-tech magnifying glass, which is cost effective”.

International statistics indicate that Microdot technology leads to a decrease of between 50 and 60 percent in the number of stolen and hijacked vehicles and an improvement of more than 55 percent in recoveries.

It is common knowledge that many of the stolen and hijacked 4×4′s are dismantled in chop shops and the parts sold as second-hand.  Microdots can be used in recovering components sold as used parts and this will certainly be a deterrent for hijackings and motor vehicle theft.

Related articles:

• Off-Color Cars Offer Effective Theft Prevention [Theft] (lifehacker.com)
• Why Car Thieves Are Male (freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com)