Motor plan insurance loosely refers to a motor maintenance plan, service plan (both of which are actually non-insurance products), and a car warranty (which is an insurance product). Many of the providers of motor plan insurance in South Africa offer all three products, either separately, or as a combined product. The benefits of having your motor plan being a stand alone maintenance plan for example, or a combination of the three is discussed below.

Let’s firstly get the most important thing out of the way, i.e. neither a vehicle maintenance plan nor a service plan are insurance products. They are continuous services which you enjoy benefit of regardless of future uncertain events, like the mechanical breakdown of an engine. Warranties for cars on the other hand are insurance policies to mitigate the financial burden you would otherwise incur if your car’s mechanical or electronic parts malfunctioned, which might or might not happen.

NOTE: Your personal information is confidential, and we will never rent or resell it to anyone. It will only be used to call you back and then provide you with a motor warranty solution.

A stand alone offer like a service plan means that you make an upfront payment for the regular service of your car, as stipulated by the manufacturer. These services are carried out at certain times or at certain mileage readings on the odometer, or whichever comes first. The benefit of a stand alone product like this is that service due to you is made certain when you make your upfront payment. This could be at any time during the duration of your ownership of the vehicle. Thus, you do not have to worry about dishing out tonnes of cash for each and every service. It’s equally common for single motor plan insurance to be purchased by owners of new and used cars. For new cars, this is usually a top up of an existing or expired motor plan. And of course for owners of used cars, you should buy a single motor plan because your second-hand car doesn’t come standard with one. With a stand alone plan, what might be covered in a service plan might not be covered in a maintenance plan or car warranty. The benefit of that of course is that it makes the product more attractive because its cheaper, but you might be missing out on other valuable benefits. You should consider what you want from each motor plan before you commit to a specific offering.

The alternative to the above is a combination of two or all three of those options in your motor plan insurance. The obvious benefit would be that you get covered for every possible need and issue for your car. Most car makers offer new car buyers these sort of plans, and increasingly to used car buyers as well. The all-inclusive option of motor plans in South Africa are usually more expensive than the individual products however.

Here’s some more advice on your motor plan insurance options: Compare and buy each product separately if that will cover you the same way as an all-inclusive motor plan would. Else, purchase the latter.