Affinity Car Insurance Contact Details

Affinity does not sell car insurance. Affinity Health is a medical insurance product and its own site offers nothing motor-related at all. What it does carry is a benefit called Road Accident and Workmens Compensation Assistance, which is almost certainly what a search for Affinity car insurance is actually reaching for, and it is a very different thing.

Affinity Health contact details

• Telephone: 0861 11 00 33, and 0861 11 3000, both published in the contact block on affinityhealth.co.za
• Email: info@affinityhealth.co.za
• The site instructs members to contact Affinity 24 hours a day to use benefits and confirm cover
• There is also a call-back form on the site if you would rather not phone

That instruction to phone before using a benefit is not a formality. Several benefits on these plans require pre-authorisation, and a claim for something that needed authorisation and did not get it is a claim you may have to pay yourself.

Road accident assistance is not motor cover

The distinction is worth being precise about, because getting it wrong leaves you uninsured on the thing you thought was covered. The Affinity benefit pays toward your medical treatment after a road accident. It does not repair your car, it does not replace a stolen vehicle and it does not cover your liability to anyone else. For that you need short-term motor insurance from a licensed non-life insurer, which Affinity is not.

There is also a separate public scheme in play. The Road Accident Fund compensates people injured in road accidents caused by another driver negligence, and a claim there runs independently of any private cover you hold. Neither replaces motor insurance.

It is not a medical scheme either

Affinity states this in its own disclaimer, and it is the single most important thing to understand before buying. This is health insurance, not medical scheme membership, and the cover is not the same. A medical scheme is regulated under different law with prescribed minimum benefits; a health insurance policy pays defined amounts for defined events, subject to formularies, sub-limits and waiting periods. One is not a substitute for the other.

Who carries the risk

Affinity Health is a product of Affinity Life Limited, registration number 1952/001635/06, a registered life insurer and authorised financial services provider under FSP 49986. That is the entity to name in a complaint, and the licence number to check on the Financial Sector Conduct Authority register.

What the plans cover

• Unlimited 24/7 telephonic consultations with a nurse, doctor or mental health professional, with no waiting period on the consultation itself
• Day-to-day benefits including GP consultations, over-the-counter and chronic medication, optometry and maternity support, depending on the tier
• Hospital benefits ranging from accident hospitalisation up to daily illness hospitalisation and an ICU benefit on the higher tiers
• Standard, Junior and Senior plans alongside a six-tier Innovator range, with combined day-to-day and hospital plans priced below buying each separately

Two conditions from the small print that change the price and the shape of a policy: people joining over the age of 54 are subject to increased premiums, and a maximum of seven dependants applies per policy.