Why
you should Bundle Your Insurance
A bundle generally has
a different meaning in Zimbabwe as to the rest of the world. Whenever a bundle
is mentioned, we are quick to think about the internet, Whatsapp or Facebook
bundles. Based on its true definition a bundle is a number of things that are fastened or held together. However our
understanding of what a bundle is, can be misled to think that a bundle is one
service offered separately.
This is not the case in the insurance industry. A bundle in
insurance or put in other words bundling insurance is buying different classes
of insurance (that is your motor, home, business, farming, health and life insurance)
from one insurance company. Everyone has things they need to protect from loses
and all of these can be insured in one place. I always point out that insurance
isn’t the easiest of things to shop for. What makes is difficult is not only
the perceived complexity of the product itself but there are just way too many
insurance companies you can chose to buy from. Everyone is always conscious
about price when buying insurance and it is one thing that makes buying
insurance a bit more complex. Nevertheless, once you get the concept of
bundling your insurance you simplify the whole process of buying insurance.
Reasons you should bundle your insurance
Convenience
Bundling your insurance means that instead of speaking to various
people from different insurance companies you speak to only one person who manages
all your insurance policies at once. It is probable that you will receive one
invoice and one expiry date, which means its highly likely that you will not
forget to pay any of your insurances when they become due .
Getting
Discounts
Having all your
insurance policies under one insurance company is a great way of removing the
hustle of shopping for insuranc. Since insurance is a numbers game, most
insurance companies are willing to reduce their price for you if you increase
the number of policies you take with them. Discounts can be negotiated based on
the amount and number of policies that you take with the same insurance
company.
Saving
on Stamp duty.
All invoices that you
receive from insurance companies attract a stamp duty which is charged on every
invoice. This means that when you don’t bundle your insurance you attract more on
stamp duties as you have more invoices from different companies. Each invoice
will be charged as separate stamp duty whereas if you bundle the stamp duty is
only charged once.
Save
on transaction costs
We have a unique
situation in Zimbabwe in which transactions of big amounts of money attract more
in terms of bank charges. When you bundle your insurance service it means all
your insurances are put under one invoice and therefore you make just one bank transaction,
saving you a lot in bank charges. Having to pay your insurances to different insurance
companies makes you spend more in bank charges, a cost which you can avoid with
bundling.
However the only danger
in bundling your insurances is doing it with a company which is not financially
sound. It’s imperative to research about the company you want to bundle with to
avoid putting all your assets in a risky pool. It is also important to note that insurance
products can also be bundled with non- insurance financial products such as
micro-finance loans and investments. The best company to bundle your insurance with
is a company that has strong balance sheet support and a wide range of
insurances products, such as Zimnat which has products in general insurance,
bonds and guarantees, medical and life insurance, microfinance and investments.
Article by Taurai Craig
Museka, a freelance insurance writer. If you would like to learn more about
bundling your insurance contact him on tauraimsk@gmail.com
or +263775608014