More and more consumers indicate in insurance surveys that severe weather and crime are their main worries.
Severe weather and crime are increasing in South Africa and this means the risk that it will cause you damage is also increasing.
Consumers are increasingly falling back on their short-term insurance as climate-related severe weather and crime increase, according to the 2024/2025 Santam Insurance Barometer Report, which highlighted that 18% of consumers claimed against a short-term insurance policy in the last 12 months, the highest percentage since 2019, Lizelle Greeff, underwriting specialist at Santam Broker Solutions, says.
Across the globe the impacts of climate-related adverse weather events are being felt, with United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres recently stating that soaring temperatures in Europe are no longer a rare event and “should be considered the new normal”.
Although only 8% of South African survey respondents reported suffering a financial loss due to extreme weather events over the past two years, 48% said they were “very concerned” and a further 29% were “somewhat concerned” about this risk.
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Severe weather becoming more intense
According to the US’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), extreme weather events, such as heat waves and large storms, are becoming more intense with human-induced climate change. The Santam report echoes this, showing that a comparison of the first quarter of 2024 with the first quarter of 2025 claims for flood and storm damage on its buildings policies reflects a drop in claim frequency alongside an increase in claims value, indicating an increase in claim severity.
Greeff warns that unfortunately the damaging impact of severe weather is also exacerbated by consumer negligence. “We have seen worrying signs of consumers neglecting important building maintenance due to financial pressures.
“For example, Santam has seen an increase in weather-related claims where the loss or damage is due to gutters not cleaned and maintained or flat roofs being neglected. From 2023 to 2024, we experienced a year-on-year increase in claims volumes due to flood, storm and wind damage and a decline in hail claims.
“As the flood peril remains in the spotlight, we deployed geocoding and geo-mapping technology to better understand our on-the-ground risk accumulation and identify high flood zones to help us to ensure sustainability of cover for the bulk of consumers in the longer term.”
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Crime is also increasing
And if the weather was not enough to worry about, crime also weighs on the minds of consumers. According to World Population Review, South Africa has the fifth-highest crime rate in the world.
Greeff says South Africans are keenly aware of this, with a staggering 50% of respondents citing societal issues, such as crime, as a top risk. Respondents were particularly concerned about burglary, mugging and hijacking.
“These societal stresses are evident in our MTN partnership, which covers a million policyholders for consumer tech products like laptops, smartphones and tablets. We have seen a notable increase in claims volumes for muggings and petty theft, particularly in malls.”
Encouragingly, she says, while the previous Santam Insurance Barometer Report flagged an alarming trend of car thieves stealing keyless vehicles and high-value SUVs, there has now been a decrease in hijacking and theft claims.
“This 2024 claims experience supports that underwriting interventions, such as doubling up on tracking devices in the high-value vehicle sector, are definitely effective. Applying these interventions does not mean that vehicles will not be hijacked or stolen, but they do increase the recovery rate.
“In some cases, this intervention can also affect premiums, with 36% (29% in the 2023 survey) of personal lines insured clients saying that they are trying to reduce their monthly insurance premiums by installing tracking or other monitoring devices.
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Digital criminal risks growing as well
The Santam Insurance Barometer Report also highlights digital criminal risks as top of mind for consumers. However, Greeff says, there is a growing disconnect between consumers’ perception of cyber risks and their purchase of insurance to cover it.
In the latest survey, 81% of consumer respondents were “concerned” or “very concerned” about future cyber threats, yet only 2% purchased cyber insurance. A 2023 report by cybersecurity firm Surfshark ranked South Africa fifth on the global cybercrime density list, which is based on the proportion of internet users affected by cybercrime.
“The growing complexity of cyber risk highlights a clear market need and while commercial cyber policies exist, there is a gap in the market for a personal lines product that protects individuals from the everyday digital risks they face. Social media hacking, loss of data from a malware attack, bank and credit card theft and email hacking are among the top threats.”
