Normal Car Insurance Won't Cover Your Taxi

Transporting passengers? You need taxi insurance.

If you own and/or operate a taxi you need to protect your investment, and your livelihood, with taxi insurance, which specifically caters to this vitally important industry. Why? Because your regular vehicle insurance won’t cover your claim.

By as early as 2017, the South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) estimated that there were approximately 200,000 taxis on our roads, carrying roughly 65% of the then 2.5 billion annual passengers in the urban environment. Those numbers have only grown since.

Taxis travel hundreds of kilometres every week, with intertown transport racking up even more mileage. That is a lot of driving and, statistically speaking, the more you are on the road, the more likely you are to be involved in an accident or other vehicle-related incident. Drivers of private vehicles most often claim from and are paid out under their personal motor vehicle insurance policies. But if your vehicle is used to transport passengers, normal car insurance will not cover your damage or loss.

So, how do you define “transporting passengers”? When you charge a fee to take someone from point A to point B, you are transporting a paying passenger. And your personal auto insurance policy will not cover you if you submit a claim.

Benefits of Taxi Insurance

• This type of insurance is custom made to meet your needs as a taxi owner, driver and operator. Your transport business will enjoy coverage for things that traditional vehicle insurance policies do not normally cover.
• Some insurers include policy cover and extensions for minibus, midibus, eHailing, metered taxi, tuk-tuk, shuttle, and even chauffeur services.
• You can choose from basic to comprehensive cover including own damage, fire, theft, hijacking, damage to third-party property, and personal accident cover for drivers and passengers.
• You are responsible for your passengers’ safety, making passenger liability insurance a necessity should the Road Accident Fund not respond appropriately.
• Some policy plans cover trailers and/or the loss of or damage done to luggage.
• Certain policies offer compensation for loss of earnings when your vehicle can’t operate due to loss or damage - meaning you can keep up with your finance, insurance, and other fixed payments.

A Few Important Cautions

With insurance, the devil is in the detail. It is critical that you stick to your side of the insurance contract and familiarise yourself with the terms and conditions of your policy.

Beware if you decide not to take out an “open driver policy” - no cover will be afforded if someone else has an accident while driving your vehicle. Make sure you always let us know if your driver changes. And always be honest when applying for cover - insurers share information, and since insurance contracts are based on the principle of utmost good faith, any deviation from the truth will count against you.

Taxis are an important part of keeping South Africa’s economy going and growing. You are an integral part of South African society - and you should be protected.

Khwela sihambe!