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Category:
Insurance News
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Short Term Insurance
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Santam
/ November 2011
Business Owners: Beware!
Between 2009 and 2010, South Africa
recorded 358 cash-in-transit heists, 1412 commercial trucks were
hijacked and 14 534 robberies were reported at business premises.
There was also a 9.7% increase in cases involving shop-lifting and
84 842 cases of commercial crime.
Santam believes that although cash-in-transit heists decreased by
7.3% over the 2009 / 2010 period; easy targets, the current economic
climate and the fact that businesses have more cash leading up to
the festive season could be the three main factors for an increase
in commercial crime this year.
The
country's largest commercial insurer urges companies to update their
security measures and to take out appropriately-valued insurance
leading up to the festive season.
"Although it is normal for insurance claims to increase in the
months leading up to the festive season, our research shows that
many crimes can be avoided, and loss-to-business saved, if
businesses were insured for the correct amount and if they take the
time to update their security measures," says Louise Pharo, Head of
Santam Commercial.
Pharo believes that criminals are on the constant lookout for new
ways to carry out a crime and it makes sense for business owners to
adapt to this changing environment by updating their security
measures at least once a year, by engaging with security experts to
understand the latest technology available to protect their cash and
valuables and to ensure that they have appropriate insurance cover
to protect their assets.
"Although a specific risk may stay the same, the way that the risk
is exposed could be in constant evolution.
In
other words, one of your fleet vehicles could get stolen, but the
way that a criminal steals it, and the way that he or she accesses
your property, could change constantly.
You
need to protect yourself against this," says Pharo.
And
showing your insurer that you are proactive about protecting
yourself not only protects your financial well being, but can also
lead to a decrease when your insurer is calculating your premium.
"We
definitely take what the customer has done to protect themselves
into account when we calculate the insurance premium," says Pharo.
Underinsurance is a major issue in South Africa.
"If
the value of your office equipment is R100 000, but you only insure
it for R50 000, you will only receive 50% of the value of the
equipment when you claim."
"It
is a mistake that we see over-and-over again, and one which can be
easily avoided by asking a broker to assist in the process and by
updating your insurance policy every year to ensure that it reflects
the correct amounts, and that any new equipment or asset is added,"
concludes Pharo.
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