SAU Underwriters Contact Details

SAU is SA Underwriting Agencies, an authorised financial services provider under FSP number 281. It is an underwriting manager rather than an insurer: it designs and administers motor, home, personal and commercial policies that are underwritten by Santam and by Centriq, and it sells only through brokers. If you hold an SAU policy, your first call is normally your own broker.

Read this before you visit the SAU website

At the time of writing the corporate website at saunderwriters.com has been defaced. It serves a wiped WordPress installation carrying an intruder message instead of the company site. Do not use anything published there, do not download files from it, and do not follow payment or claim instructions found on it. The domain mail service is hosted separately on Mimecast and Microsoft infrastructure rather than on the compromised web server, so the mailboxes below are on different systems from the defaced site. Even so, until the website is restored, confirm anything important by telephone before acting on it.

SAU contact numbers

• Main board: 011 777 7200
• Sharecall: 0860 002 002
• After hours: 0861 727 253
• Claims: 011 777 7216
• Underwriting: 011 777 7217
• Roadside assistance: 0800 002 883 or 087 021 0853
• Marketing: 011 777 7347

SAU mailboxes

• General: info@saunderwriters.com
• Claims: claims@saunderwriters.com
• Underwriting: underwriting@saunderwriters.com
• Client care: clientcare@saunderwriters.com
• Complaints: complaints@saunderwriters.com
• Compliments: compliments@saunderwriters.com
• New broker applications: newbrokers@saunderwriters.com, or 0861 727 253

These are the routes SAU publishes in its own broker information brochure, which it distributes through its marketing site at sau4u.co.za. Every address is a departmental mailbox rather than an individual one.

How the broker-only model affects you

Because SAU does not sell direct, a policyholder question usually has two possible homes. Cover, premium and policy wording questions belong with the broker who placed the business, since the broker holds the mandate. Claims and roadside assistance are handled by SAU itself on the numbers above, and you do not need to go through the broker to lodge a claim or call for a tow. If you are unsure who your broker is, the main board can tell you from your policy number.

Checking who you are dealing with

• SAU is FSP 281, and any intermediary selling you an SAU product must give you their own FSP number too
• The underwriter on your schedule should be Santam or Centriq; if it names someone else, the product is not an SAU one
• With the website defaced, treat any email, SMS or call claiming to be SAU and asking for banking details as suspect and verify it on 011 777 7200

Complaints and escalation

• Use complaints@saunderwriters.com or the main board on 011 777 7200 and ask for a written reference
• For an unresolved short-term insurance claim complaint, the National Financial Ombud Scheme South Africa is on 0860 800 900 or info@nfosa.co.za
• For conduct of a financial services provider, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority regulates FSP 281