Assupol Funeral Cover: About the Company
Assupol funeral cover is provided by the Assupol Life Insurance company. Assupol have been providing insurance and savings solutions in South Africa since 1913. The company is part of the Assupol Holdings company which owns not only Assupol Life, but also Assupol Investments and its two daughter companies (Cornerstone and Pan-African Asset Management). Rudi F. Schmidt is the CEO of Assupol Holdings, and Assupol Life, who provide Assupol Funeral Cover, is headed by Bridget Mokwena-Halala. We'll be looking primarily at Assupol Funeral Cover, but we will also touch on the company's life insurance policies.
Where to Find Assupol
The head office of Assupol is located at 308 Brooks Street, Menlo Park 0081. However, the company also has a mailing address, which is: P.O. Box 35900, Menlo Park 0102.
Services Provided by Assupol Life
Assupol Holdings provides for both insurance and investments needs. Assupol Life provides Assupol Funeral Cover and life insurance, as well as a selection of retirement and savings plans.
Assupol Funeral Cover
There are three basic kinds of Assupol Funeral Cover, the Excellence Family Funeral Plan, and the Absolute Advantage Family Funeral Plan with is available as either a single plan or a family plan.
Assupol Excellence Family Funeral Plan
The first option for Assupol funeral cover is called the Excellence Family Funeral Plan, and it has the following benefits:
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The maximum pay out is R50,000 and the minimum monthly premium is R70;
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There are no medical exams or questions required;
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If you wish, you can increase your premiums in order to increase you coverage each year;
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Children are covered for their whole lives, a child policy does not expire at 21 as with many other companies, in addition you may choose to cover your spouse as well as extended family members such as parents or parents-in-law;
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Accidental death coverage is immediate, with natural death being covered after six months;
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For an additional premium you can add several options: double pay out upon accidental death, family income protector (paying your family an income for up to six months after death), cash back benefit (receiving cash back once every four years), or Premium Waiver Plus (meaning your family will have insurance without having to pay premiums after your death).
Assupol Absolute Advantage Funeral Plan
As mentioned, you can choose to opt for the Absolute Advantage Funeral Plan as either a single or a family plan. In both cases, maximum coverage is R50,000 (including for the spouse and up to five children if you opt for the family plan). Accidental death will be covered immediately and there is a six month waiting period for natural death. You can add additional options by paying an increased premium for both of these plans. These options are as follows:
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Additional extended family members can be added up to the age of 79;
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Family Income Benefit, provides a monthly income for up to six months after death;
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Option to double pay out in the case of accidental death;
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Guaranteed Cash Back which will give you cash back every four years even if you make a claim;
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Premium Waiver, which will give your family insurance for no premiums after the death of the main policy holder.
There doesn't seem to be a huge difference between Assupol's Excellence Family Plan and their Absolute Advantage Funeral Plan, with both offering the same maximum coverage, for example. Though do note that the Excellence plan asks for no medical information, whilst the Advantage Plan does not comment on this issue.
Assupol Life Cover
As noted, Assupol also offer life insurance policies. There are a range of policies available (the main ones being the Progress Legacy Plan, the Progress 4Sure Plan and the Progress Accident Plan), and the main features, depending on which policy you choose, are as follows:
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Coverage ranges from a maximum of R300,000 to a maximum of R10 million depending on policy;
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Funeral cover may be included for an extra premium;
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The ability to increase your premium and therefore increase your coverage each year;
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Disability and serious illness cover available for an extra premium;
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A Loan Protector plan can be added for an extra premium to assist in paying off loans in the event of death;
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Also for an additional premium you can add an Education Option to help pay for your children's education in the event of something happening to a parent;
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Again, for an additional premium, you can add a Cash Back plan which will repay all premiums after ten years without a claim.
Note that not all of these extra premium plans can be added to all Assupol Life policies.
How Are the Customer Reviews for Assupol Funeral Cover?
Because Assupol Funeral Cover is provided by Assupol Life we looked at reviews for Assupol Life on the customer review website hellopeter. The site registered only 61 reviews over the last twelve months, which compared to other insurance companies we've reviewed is not a large number. Of these reviews, 59 were complaints. Most of the reviews centered around pay outs not being received and inability to cancel policies. On the upside, there were responses from Assupol to nearly all these reviews. Additionally, it is important to point out that the number of reviews is very low and therefore it wouldn't be very reliable to reach any objective conclusions as to the customer service provided by Assupol Funeral Cover.
How User Friendly is the Website for Assupol Funeral Cover?
Www.assupol.co.za, which lists all the information for Assupol Funeral Cover, was very user friendly indeed. Information was easy to find and nicely laid out. There were clear comparison tables for each of the different policies, making the differences between plans very easy to understand. The only thing that we would have liked to see, is a little more information. We didn't really understand the difference between the two main funeral plans, for example (the two plans appeared on different pages and therefore couldn't be compared in a table). We'd also like to see more information about their Cash Back option, since this is sure to have limitations but these weren't listed. Generally, the Assupol Funeral Cover website was a good user experience, even for those who know little about insurance.
Assupol Funeral Cover in Summary
Assupol Life offers both Assupol Funeral Cover and life insurance options. There are a range of policies available and most of the information is available on their website, although sometimes it is a bit difficult to tell the difference between a couple of the funeral policies. As for the Assupol Funeral Cover customer service, although the majority of the reviews on the Hellopeter website were complaints, it would not make sense to reach any conclusion from this, seeing how the number of reviews over the last 12 months were so few. If anything, perhaps the low number of complaints may indiciate an overall satisfaction from Assupol, based on the logic that most people would take the time to complain, but not to write a positive review.
As always, we recoomend that you compare quotes from different insurance companies before coming to a decision, as well as looking at other reviews that we have written. If you'd like to get up to 2 Free life insurance quotes, then click on the top right of our home page, or on the banner above.
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Main subject: Assupol Funeral Cover
