Taurai Craig Museka
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 losses 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 it 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 [email protected] or +263775608014

You Might Also Like

Comments