Car Insurance in Kenya: Optional Benefits and Costs

Car Insurance is the biggest line of businesses in the insurance industry in Kenya grossing over 50 billion shillings for the general insurance companies. Third party motor insurance is the least insurance cover for Kenyans required by the law to be on the road according to the Kenya Traffic Act Chapter 405. It covers only the third party liabilities that the insured is exposed to by operating their automobile on public roads. It will cover the insured against third party property damage, bodily injuries and death.

With over 7,000 second hand cars imported into Kenya every month, most car owners take the comprehensive car insurance to cover their asset and also cover the third party liabilities. It is no wonder after purchasing such a key asset that most people opt to fully insure their valuable motor vehicle. On top of the basic comprehensive car insurance quote, these are some of the additional benefits that most motorists add to the cover to make it a bullet proof cover.

Optional Benefits and Costs/Rates:

Excess Protector

This is the most common additional benefit to the main car insurance policy in Kenya. It reduces the financial expense to the insured in case of a claim arising. There are two types of this excess protector, the own damage excess and the full excess protector. The own damage excess protector applies for accidents and damages to the car while the full excess protector extends to include total theft of the vehicle.
Cost: This typically costs from 0.25% of the car to 2% of the car depending on the type of insurance, PSV or private. The minimum for this is typically KSh 1,500 Read more about excess protector and details.

Political Violence and Terrorism Cover

This is the second most common benefit added on to motor insurance policies in Kenya. It covers damage or total loss to the vehicle arising out of events of a political or terrorism nature. Because these are normally exclusion in all car insurance quotes, it is prudent to take this extension to cover one’s assets.
Cost: This typically costs between 0.25% to 0.5% of the value of the car being insurance with the minimum premium being KSh 1,500.

AA Rescue

This is offered by Automobile Association of Kenya, a towing and rescue service to give you extra comfort and security in case of a breakdown. AA Kenya has the largest network offering towing, jumpstarting to members. AA Rescue is world renown and has the largest rescue network in Kenya.
Cost: The cost of this is a flat fee of KSh 3,500 per annum for which the member receives an AA membership and card.

Courtesy/Replacement car

This is yet another common benefit taken out by many motorists. In case of damage to the insured vehicle from a road accident, the client gets access to a replacement car to use for the up to 10 days while the repairs are going on. This has a few caveats the first being the benefit is normally paid out in cash benefit of KSh 3,000 per day for a maximum of 10 days. Secondly, there is an excess of the first 3 days after the claim is reported.
Cost: This costs anywhere from KSh 3,000 all the way up to KSh 6,000 depending on the car insurance company chosen.

Personal Accident Cover

This is yet another very important benefit that most motorists are not aware of. The car insurance policy in Kenya does not cover members of ones family in the vehicle in case of an accident. That means that ones family is not covered for medical expenses, disability and also the unfortunate case of death. This is a life insurance cover and it pays out in the event of accident, permanent and total disability (PTD) and also death.
Cost: There are a multitude of options for this cover which have different limits for the benefits. The price starts from as low as KSh 500 per annum.

Forced ATM Cash Withdrawal

This is yet another benefit that was much more common during the car jacking days in Kenya but has drastically gone down. In the case of a hijacking, cases where the insured is forced to withdraw money from an ATM or bank or MPESA can be refunded by this extension of the policy.
Cost: This benefit is normally charged at flat fee of KSh 1,000 per annum and the total reimbursement is limited to KSh 10,000.

Other benefits

In addition to the main optional benefits to the car insurance quotes in Kenya, there are more benefits that include:

• INFAMA assistance: Similar to the AA cover, this is yet another towing and rescue product
• Windscreen and Radio Limit: This is to increase the limits offered by a standard car insurance policy in Kenya for vehicles which have state of the art accessories. This is charged at a rate of 10% of the extra value that has been insured.