All-risk cover

A motor policy covers the car; all-risk cover handles the valuables you carry. It insures specified portable items against loss or damage wherever you are — at home, in the car, out and about — which fills a gap a vehicle policy leaves wide open, since theft of a laptop from a car is often only partly covered, or not at all, under the motor section.

Items above a certain value usually have to be specified individually, with proof of value, while smaller everyday items may fall under an unspecified limit. Phones and laptops are the most common reason South Africans add all-risk cover, given how often they are taken in smash-and-grabs.

It is technically a short-term insurance benefit rather than strictly motor cover, but it is commonly bundled onto a car or home policy. Check the limits, the specified-item rules and the excess, because under-declaring the value of a specified item invites the same average-clause reduction that catches out under-insured vehicles.