Car insurance
Third party is compulsory. Comprehensive adds your own vehicle. The gap between the two is the gap between a repair you can absorb and one you cannot.
Personal protection
Most households do not lose everything at once. They lose one thing — a car, a hospital bill, a breadwinner — and the loss cascades through everything else. Personal cover is about interrupting that cascade.
The five covers
Each answers a different question. Buying them in the wrong order is how people end up paying for cover they cannot claim on.
Health insurance
Private medical cover alongside the state scheme. Inpatient, outpatient, maternity, dental and optical, depending on the plan. The cover most households use first and understand last.
Life insurance
Income replacement for the people who depend on yours. Not a savings product, and not a substitute for one.
Home insurance
Buildings for owners, contents for everyone. Landlord, owner-occupier and tenant each need a different version of the same policy.
Personal accident
Fixed benefits for accidental death, permanent disablement and temporary incapacity, whether or not the accident happened at work. Cheap, unglamorous, and the cover that pays fastest when it is needed.
Which cover do I actually need?
Four questions, in order. The answers decide the sequence, and the sequence is what most people get wrong.
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Does the law require it?
Motor third party, if you drive. That is the only compulsory personal cover in Kenya, and it comes first because a fine is not the real cost of driving uninsured.
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Could one event bankrupt the household?
A serious admission. A written-off car. A fire. If the answer is yes, that is the next policy, regardless of how unlikely it feels.
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Does anyone depend on your income?
Children, a spouse, a parent, a business partner. If yes, life cover has a job to do. If no, it usually does not, and we will tell you that.
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What would you replace, and at what cost?
Contents, tools of trade, equipment. This is where sums insured get guessed, and where under-insurance turns a valid claim into a partial one.
What people get wrong
- Insuring the loan, not the asset. A car insured for the outstanding balance leaves a gap if it is written off and replacement costs more.
- Buying life cover instead of medical cover. They answer different questions. One pays on death, the other keeps a treatable illness from becoming a financial one.
- Assuming the employer covers everything. Group cover ends when the job ends, and it rarely covers dependants the way a family policy does.
- Letting a policy lapse. A lapsed policy does not respond to a claim, and reinstating it usually restarts waiting periods.
- Not reading the excess. The premium is what you pay to be covered. The excess is what you pay to claim.
Questions we are asked
Which personal cover should I buy first?
Motor third-party cover if you drive, because it is compulsory. Then medical cover, because a single admission can cost more than a year of premiums. Everything else — home, life, personal accident — depends on what you own and who depends on you.
Do I need life insurance if I have a savings scheme?
That depends on what the savings would do if you died tomorrow. Life cover exists to replace income that other people depend on. If nobody depends on your income, the case for it is weaker, and we will say so.
Is home insurance only for owners?
No. Tenants can insure contents, and should. The building is the landlord's problem; your furniture, electronics and the cost of having to move out are yours.
Can I cover my family under one policy?
Usually yes. Family medical cover is written as a single policy covering a principal member and dependants. Motor and home cover are separate policies because they insure different things.
Not sure which of these you need?
Tell us your situation — who is in the household, what you own, what you drive — and we will tell you which covers matter and which do not.