Insurance Calculator South Africa 2026

Premiums are calculated from your risk profile. For life, disability and critical-illness cover, insurers apply a base rate per R1,000 of cover and adjust it for your age, gender and smoking status. For short-term cover like car and home insurance, premiums are a percentage of the insured value. This calculator uses indicative SA market rates to give you a ballpark monthly figure.

Age, gender, smoking status and health are the biggest drivers for life and risk cover. For car insurance it is the vehicle value, where you live and park, your claims history and driver age. For home insurance it is the building and contents value plus the area’s risk of theft, fire and weather damage. Your chosen cover amount and term also move the premium.

Stop smoking to drop life-cover rates significantly, install a tracker and alarm to lower car and home premiums, choose a higher excess, bundle policies with one insurer, and review your cover yearly so you are not over-insured. Comparing quotes from several insurers (Sanlam, Old Mutual, Discovery, OUTsurance, Santam) almost always finds a better price.

Short-term (general) insurance covers assets and is priced annually — car, home, contents and liability. It pays out to repair or replace something. Life (long-term) insurance covers people and runs for many years — life cover, disability, critical illness and funeral cover — paying a lump sum or income on death, disability or diagnosis.

No. It produces an estimate based on typical South African market rates to help you budget and compare. A real quote requires underwriting — medical questions, vehicle and address details, and your claims history — so the final premium from an insurer or broker may differ.