The brand now calls itself Blink by MiWay, and its website has moved: miwayblink.co.za redirects to insureblink.co.za. It is a division of MiWay Insurance Limited, a licensed non-life insurer and financial services provider under FSP 33970, registration number 2007/026289/06. The important practical point is that Blink is an app-first product, so the way you reach it is not the way you reach MiWay.

Blink by MiWay contact details

Read the labels on those two numbers

Blink publishes 0860 254 653 as an emergency line and says so explicitly: it is for emergency assistance, and policy queries, changes and anything else should go to the email address or the WhatsApp number instead. The two 0860 numbers look interchangeable and are not. Phoning the emergency line to change a debit order date wastes a slot that somebody at the roadside needs.

Claims are submitted in the app

All Blink claims go through the app. There is no claims telephone number and no claims email address, which surprises people who expect an insurer to have one. The process Blink publishes runs like this: you select the claim type in the app and answer the questions, you are issued a claims reference number you can track in the app, and you are then allocated a claims advisor who gathers documents and validates the claim against your policy.

Answer the claims advisor fully and on time. Blink states plainly that you must answer truthfully and in full within a reasonable time, and an insurer that can show you did not is entitled to take a different view of the claim.

Crash detection

The Blink app carries crash-detection technology that automatically alerts the 24/7 MiHelp emergency call centre, and a MiHelp team member then calls you to check that you are all right and work out what to dispatch. That is worth knowing for two reasons: it only works if the app is installed and permitted to run, and if you are ever in an accident and your phone rings claiming to be MiHelp, that call may well be genuine.

Emergency assistance covers more than crashes. Blink lists a tyre change, running out of petrol and locking your keys in the car alongside accidents, all requested through the app.

If a complaint is not resolved