Discovery Insure

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stevengzn

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Has anyone moved over to Discovery Insure yet?
Interested to hear anyone's opinion if you are with them?
I'm interested in looking into it, but trying to get my head around the "big brother" type device they install in you car. Apparently you will earn driving points based on your style of driving and can earn up to 40% off your petrol every month (paid back into your account?)
 
I got a quotation from them and it was almost double what I am currently paying! I am a discovery member (MedAid, Vitality & Life policy), but this didnt help at all as far as favourable premium is concerned.
 
I'm in the financial services industry and all I can say is Discovery is a rip-off and the biggest problem is they make everything complicated so the client is not sure what they get and they also link everything you have with them as one, for example on your life policy they adjust your monthly premiums depending on how much money you claim from your medical aid, how often you go to gym, how much you spend on your Discovery credit card and end of the day you end up paying so much more. Just to give you an idea last month I replaced R4840 Discovery life cover with better benefits and more benefits and he's now paying R1786, this is a huge saving. Also if one of the family members claims it automatically reduces the cover on the other members. To be honest the only thing I'd use Discovery for is medical aid, even though there are a few good medical aid companies out there.

If you would like to just get another opinion, quote, compare a policy or whatever you need PM me your contact details and I will get in touch with you and remember there's no obligation for you, if you get anything out of it good, if not well you wasted 5min of your time. As a company we haven't had any repudiated claims in the past 4 years, we are managing over R520 million rand at the moment and we've been around for 13 years.
 
I agree... Discovery is out to make as much money out of you as possible... they want the tracking device so they can have some sort of grounds to repudiate your claim, and leave the client without a leg to stand on.

They are ALL out to get you... including Outsurance... They used tried-and-tested methods from the US to give customers a raw deal..
 
I understand, that discovery can use information from Discovery medical aid, short term insurance, life insurance etc. interchangeably, which could be a problem when it comes to payouts and premiums. I remember listening to a scenario on radio- that if you meet up in an accident and through insurance it is proved to be your fault, this could affect your medical aid claims as well as premiums for long term insurance. Not sure how true all of this is though...
 
me just curious to see how possible it is to get that 40% back. would one have to drive at 40km/h all month?
 
it will be an almost-impossible-to-reach percentage... perfect for Granny who drives 40km/h notwithstanding the fact that the other cars are almost driving into her arse and she's causing a traffic backlog
 
yip, Im currently paying R1100 for insurance (which is already high) and Discovery quoted me R1550. I told the guy he is mad, but his response was that i would be getting 40% back on petrol every month. I said to him, "Lets be honest, its probably almost impossible to get up to that 40% mark". Would be god to hear from any people that have actually installed the device and signed up with them to hear how it all works, from the end user and not some salesman pitch.
 
VitalityDrive™ provides valuable fuel rewards to clients, with up to 40% fuel rewards on their monthly BP fuel spend. It does this by combining the efficient payment mechanism of the DiscoveryCard, the BP fuel station network and enhanced vehicle safety through the Tiger Wheel & Tyre MultiPoint check. Alternatively the client can opt to allocate up to 80% of their BP fuel spend into their Excess Funder Account™ which enables the client to build up a fund to cover their excess in the event of a claim.
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The balance in your Excess Funder Account™ is carried over from month to month, and from year to year. With every rand of fuel spend, you build up your Excess Funder Account™. You can also use your Excess Funder Account™ balance to afford a higher policy excess, providing the opportunity for substantial reductions in premiums over time.
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Now tell me with 40% back on your fuel how quick would you build up capital. I spend about R3000 on fuel every month so that means in a year I'll get R14400, now if I drive a car insured for R500, that's R6000 for the year, so are you saying that Discovery will lose money?

@stevengzn You are obviusly not happy with your current insurance company if you looking for something else because if you were you wouldn't have made this tread. Then bear in mind that there's nothing for free and all those extras they advertise you as their client is actually paying for it, they are using that technique to sell their products and many people think they are scoring. Anyway bottom line is, I'm in this industry, I deal with those issues every day, I know what happens and how insurance companies work, if for you that's a selling point that's fine, I have no problem with that. You just have to ask yourself if you had to claim now would they pay, what would the service be like, how many people you have to deal with and how long it would take for the claim to be processed, once you have given yourself a satisfactory answers to those questions you will be happy with your insurance company. A lot of people are happy with ther insurance company until they claim ;) And please understand no disrespect whatsoever, I just wanted to raise the issue.
 
I also contacted my broker to to get a quote. It was almost R1000 more a month than my current insurance. While the "promise" of 40% back on your petrol is mighty tempting I don't see Discovery making inroads into the insurance market if they are going to price themselves the way they currently do. You actually need some word of mouth to help the sell and if no ones buying, no ones talking.

I did also read through the fine print behind the 40% back and it's all attached to your DQ score. It's going to be interesting to see how driver behaviour translates into points. I did actually consider that it would be a great incentive to see how my driving rated, but at a R1000/pm premium, Discovery can forget it.
 
I got a quote and it was half to what I am paying, you do not have to put in the tracker, it is voluntary.
My curent insurance with Santam is a a joke after having a claim some time back , it literally double to Discovery
 
marine1 said:
I got a quote and it was half to what I am paying, you do not have to put in the tracker, it is voluntary.
My curent insurance with Santam is a a joke after having a claim some time back , it literally double to Discovery
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I don't understand the insurance industry at all. I'm currently with Santam and have had no issues claiming (phone, iPod & windscreen repair so far) and neither did my premiums go up other than the annual increase. If Discovery had come back to me with the same price (maybe a bit more) I would have considered it.

I do actually like the tracker idea as I think it could be an interesting eye opener for people on how their driving is actually rated.
 
I spoke to Discovery and told them I dont want the tracker. I dont need to be monitored, they said no problem.
As for Santam? I am paying R2500-00 for a vehicle and some household. Bloody joke. I am considering taking it to the insurance ombudsman
 
marine1 said:
I spoke to Discovery and told them I dont want the tracker. I dont need to be monitored, they said no problem.
As for Santam? I am paying R2500-00 for a vehicle and some household. Bloody joke. I am considering taking it to the insurance ombudsman
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Are you working via a broker or direct with Santam?
Discovery quoted me R2116 for 2 x cars, house & content and a few specified items like phones and electronic items.
 
@Faetsa Yip, im very unhappy with them. Purely on price at this stage.
Thankfully haven't had to claim yet so cant base any decision on that.

I bought a car in January, and just to get it off the showroom floor so i asked the VW dealer to organize insurance, which at the time felt a little on the steep side (R1100). The excess structure on my policy is also a bit high i feel. Work has settled down a bit of late so i have began my search to change insurance companies! So far not having to much success.

I'm battling to understand how they base their prices. I have a friend, the same age as I am (26) who lives in the same street with the same car as i do, yet i am paying double the price for insurance? OK, he is insured through his parents policy, but i have tried both options ( on my own policy and through my parents policy) but it doesn't seem to effect the premium at all.

What is everyone's opinion? Is it better to go through a broker? Do they really get you a better deal? Is the claims process easier having a broker do it all for you?
 
I have also been looking for quotes recently. Having been with the same company for nine years, they suddenly decide I need an increase of 25% even though I have only made one claim for r3500 in that time. I tried Discovery and their quote is R 200 more than what my increased premium is.
 
stevengzn said:
What is everyone's opinion? Is it better to go through a broker? Do they really get you a better deal? Is the claims process easier having a broker do it all for you?
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Depends. My broker is pretty pro-active. They call me once a year before my policy increase to check everything with me and point out changes or new options available to me. They have also been very good to get competitive quotes and then negotiate with my current insurance company on said increase. So for me it certainly has been useful.
 
You will find that depending on your profile which includes more than just all of the following age,past claims, what type, make and model of vehicle ,where it is parked day and night ,how long u have had your drivers licence,your credit score etc based on all this some people come out cheaper and some more expensive. Any new short term company will cherry pick (choose the best risk) initially until they have built up capacity and they can afford to look at accepting higher risk members.
 
Hi,

R there any more people out there using vitalityDrive? Word of mouth is difinitely a good benchmark for me ...Q is does the benefits of vitalityDrive really outweigh the cost ?
 
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