About Hollard Life Insurance
Hollard was founded in 1980 by Robert Enthoven and according to their website, Hollard insurance is now the largest privately owned insurance company in South Africa, with an annual turnover of over R15 billion (that’s with a “b”). The company is an independent entity, having no bank or institutional shareholders. Holland offers a range of financial services, including investment options and insurance. At the beginning of 2014, Hollard acquired Etana Insurance, thus increasing their market share in the insurance niche. The company is also the founder of the Hollard Foundation Trust, which according to their website invests in the health, nutrition and education of children aged 0 to 9. Hollard life insurance is headed by executive director Ian Ross, CEO Nicholas Kohler and a board of directors that includes the founder Mr. Enthoven.
Where are the Hollard Life Insurance Offices?
The head office for Hollard insurance can be found at 22 Oxford Road, Parktown, Johannesburg.
What Services are Provided By Hollard?
Hollard offers both investment services and a range of insurance options. They offer home, business, personal, household and life insurance, as well as a range of specific insurance packages, for example antiques insurance.
Hollard Life Insurance
Hollard Life Insurance offers three main life insurance options. You can choose between general life insurance, a Hollard funeral plan, or a Hollard hospital plan.
Hollard Life Cover
A Hollard life insurance plan is called “Hollard Life Cover”. The features of this plan are as follows:
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Coverage of between R50,000 and R200,000;
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Pay out in the form of a tax free lump sum;
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Hollard will pay R20,000 of your total coverage within 48 hours of receiving appropriate documentation to help beneficiaries pay funeral costs.
Unfortunately, the above information is very basic due to the fact that the Hollard Life Insurance website does not provide any additional information and only mentions that different options can be selected per the customer’s needs. We also were unable to find any information about what the “appropriate documentation” required for the R20,000 immediate pay out was. Hollard's website is lacking in more detailed information, which makes learning about their policies difficult.
Hollard Funeral Cover
Hollard also offer a funeral cover policy, to help beneficiaries to pay for funeral costs, and to make the period immediately following death more financially secure. The benefits of the basic plan are as follows:
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Coverage ranging from R10,000 to R50,000;
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Pay out of a tax free lump sum paid within 48 hours of Hollard receiving the appropriate documentation;
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The policy is available to South African citizens and permanent residents between the ages of 18 and 75;
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An option to add parents, partner and children to your plan.
Unlike with the life insurance plan, Hollard's website does list some of the optional benefits you can add to a funeral plan. This list is not inclusive, and according to the site is just an example of the most commonly chosen additional benefits. The benefits are as follows:
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A grocery benefit that will pay a monthly sum to cover costs of food and supplies;
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A vehicle benefit that will give you access to a vehicle and mileage for the duration of the period surrounding the funeral;
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A memorial benefit to include the extra costs of another service to unveil a memorial after the funeral is over.
Once again we found ourself asking more questions than receiving answers due to the lack of information. For example, there's no information about how long the grocery benefit will pay out.
Hollard Hospital Plan
Theoretically, Hollard also offers a hospital plan to cover the costs of hospitalisation in the event of an accident or illness. However, their website informs us that they are currently not selling the hospital plan to new customers and are only servicing existing plans.
How do Customer Reviews for Hollard Life Insurance Look?
Looking up Hollard Life Insurance on Hellopeter (a website on which consumers review service providers), brings up 495 reviews from the last twelve months. 420 of those reviews are negative, meaning that Hollard only has a 15% positive review rating, or in other words a 85% negative rating which in all standards is very high compared to many other life insurance companies in SA. Many of these complaints refer to Hollard's poor customer service, long wait times in processing claims, and even in some cases rudeness and hostility from Hollard Life Insurance representatives. This is hardly reassuring for people thinking about using Hollard's services. Nevertheless, it is only fair to point out that nearly all the negative reviews were responded to by a Hollard representative.
Is the Hollard Website User Friendly?
The positive aspect of the Hollard website is that it's extremely easy to navigate and all information is clearly laid out in easy to find 
categories. There's no technical/professional language, so the website is very easy to read. On the negative side, however, there is very little detailed information about the various Hollard life insurance policies which makes it almost impossible for a potential client to make an informed decision. We looked long and hard but could find no sign of the optional benefits that Hollard says you can add to a Life Cover plan. As a general introduction to Hollard and their services, the website is very helpful. But, for those who are planning on buying an insurance policy, there really isn't enough information to let customers make a sensible decision.
Hollard in Summary
Hollard are a private insurance company, and one of the biggest in South Africa. They offer a range of insurance products, including life insurance and funeral coverage, though their hospital plan is no longer available to new customers (as of the date of this post). Unfortunately the lack of detailed information on the Hollard Life Insurance website makes it very difficult to evaluate these insurance policies. But that isn’t the main concern, seeing how even if we did have all the necessary information, we would still have to consider Hollard’s 85% negative review rate on the Hellopeter review website.
* Disclaimer: We do not represent any of the companies, products and/or services reviewed, published or advertised on this website. Nor are we financial, health or insurance professionals or services provider. If you request a quote or purchase a product/service, it will not necessarily be given by the company reviewed on any specific page. Any decisions you make based on the information presented is at your own discretion and we advise that before doing so, you consult with the relevant professional.
Main subject: Hollard Life Insurance
