Here’s why only 35% of registered cars in SA are insured

Only 35% of 11.4 million registered vehicles in the country are insured, according to the South African Insurance Association.

Its corporate affairs manager Kwanele Sibanda said there were various contributing factors.

“It’s not affordable for them … even third party-only cover. Another factor could be because they didn’t drive regularly;  people who worked from home, for example, may not feel the need to take out insurance for their cars.

“If most of their travelling involves popping to the shops and back, it could seem that taking out cover isn’t worth it.

“The last factor could be there were people who thought it would never happen to them; humans are prone to a phenomenon called ‘optimism biases’.

“This is when people think they’re less likely than others to have something bad happen to them – that they’re better drivers than everyone else and, of course, they will never be in an accident.”

Sibanda noted having car insurance was meant to alleviate unforeseen expenses.

Automobile Association spokesperson Layton Beard said not having car insurance posed a high risk.

A Road Traffic Management Corporation report last year showed drunk driving accounted for 27.1% of fatal crashes in SA. The report also showed that 55% of fatal crashes happened at night and about three out of five happened over the weekends.