About Sanlam Life Insurance Ltd.
Created in 1918 as an insurance company, Sanlam Life Insurance has grown into a large financial services group providing more than just insurance. The company is headed by Ian Kirk (as of 2015 after replacing Johan van Zyl – under whose leadership Sanlam Insurance has grown rapidly). After selling their stake in Absa Life Insurance, Sanlam Life Insurance have gone on to buy African Life, Channel Life and the funeral insurance company Safrican. According to their website, Sanlam Life Insurance now employs over 6000 people in South Africa. Recently, Sanlam Insurance announced that they are updating their brand in an attempt to attract more young customers.
Where is Sanlam Life Insurance Located?
The head office for Sanlam Life Insurance is located at 2 Strand Road, Belville, South Africa. The company also has a postal address which is Sanlam Head Office, PO Box 1, Sanlamhof, 7532.
Which Services Do Sanlam Life Insurance Offer?
Sanlam Insurance is a large financial services company, and therefore provides a number of different services. They offer investment and capital market services, loans, savings and trusts, as well as insurance options including home, vehicle and life insurance.
Sanlam Insurance Life Insurance Options
Sanlam Life Insurance offers a comprehensive life insurance policy known as Sanlam Flexible Life Cover. You can also add extra benefits to this basic plan if required.
Sanlam Flexible Life Cover
The Sanlam Flexible Life Cover basic plan covers many areas and offers a variety of benefits, including the following:
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Sanlam Life Cover which pays a lump sum in the event of death;
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Loyalty Benefits which pay out every five years, whether you've made a claim or not, it's unclear whether these loyalty benefits are in the form of money or savings or extra benefits to your policy;
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Escalations, which allow you to add more coverage in return for higher monthly premiums each year of your policy;
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Unemployment and Pregnancy Payment Holiday, which allows you to waive payments for 12 months but keep your policy active if you become pregnant or unemployed, though pay outs are limited and certain parts of your policy may not be effective during this time;
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Burial Repatriation Benefit, which provides transport for the deceased anywhere within South Africa;
- Emergency Medical Support Benefit, which provides on site medical response, transport to hospital, transport of medication or blood, and transport of stranded children to their home or a safe place.
In addition to this basic policy, there are several other options that you can add:
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Life Cover, which covers your spouse for 25% of your coverage;
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Accidental Physical Impairment Benefit, which pays out if you are disabled in an accident;
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Savings Benefit, which allows you to save money over a set term and then claim the money in a lump sum at the end of that term, should death occur before the end of that term the savings will be paid out to your life insurance beneficiaries.
Life insurance with Sanlam is available for whole life cover, or term life cover which will expire when you are 65. Additionally, there are seven different coverage options, from R100,000 to R400,000.
Sanlam Accidental Death Plan
Sanlam Life Insurance also offer a policy that is specifically designed to cover accidental death. Unfortunately, finding information about this plan was very difficult. The only info that we could find was that the plan pays out up to R200,000 in the event of death by accident and can also include your spouse or partner if required.
Sanlam Funeral Cover
In addition to their regular life insurance policy, Sanlam also offer a specific funeral policy that is designed to provide beneficiaries with the money necessary to plan and hold a funeral. Sanlam funeral cover is known as iCover Family Funeral Plan and includes the following key features:
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Coverage of up to R40,000;
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The ability to cover any family members that you wish in your plan, including parents in law, adult children and adult siblings.
How Do Customers Feel About Sanlam Life Insurance?
On Hellopeter, a website where consumers can review companies, Sanlam have accumulated 290 reviews in the last twelve months. 248 of these reviews were negative, and 42 were positive, giving Sanlam an overall negative rating. The majority of the negative reviews were about poor customer service. Nevertheless, potential customers should note 3 things: First, a Sanlam representative responded to almost all the complaints, indicating that Sanlam does take customer service seriously. Second, the reviews are not necessarily for Sanlam's life insurance department, but for all of Sanlam's services. Lastly, it was brought to our attention that 'Sanlam Personal Finance', the department that deals with the most customers, recently scored the highest on the SA Customer Satisfaction Index in the life insurance industry – something which is certainly worth mentioning.
Is the Sanlam Life Insurance Website User Friendly?
On first view, the Sanlam life insurance website, found at www.sanlam.co.za, is very user friendly. The website is easy to navigate, and 
finding the life insurance option was simple. Unfortunately, the information provided about the company's life insurance options were a bit limited and instead users are directed to a form to fill out in order to get more information.For potential customers this makes searching for the informaiton a bit less easier. As noted in the introduction, however, Sanlam Life Insurance are in the process of rebranding themselves. Hopefully, Sanlam will use the opportunity of rebranding to add more important info to their website.
Sanlam Life: In Summary
From the information found, Sanlam Life Insurance seems to offer a very detailed life insurance policy with some flexible add on options as well as an additional funeral cover plan and accidental death plan. However, finding out information about the company's policies was a bit harder than we think it should be and hopefully this will be improved in the next website update. Customer reviews for the company on Hellopeter were not too encouraging, but as mentioned, these reviews do not necessarily refer only to their life insurance services. From what we've been told, Sanlam actually scored highly on customer service for their life insurance. As always, we advise that you use the information available today, read about 2-3 companies and get at least 2 quotes before deciding. For your convenience, you can get up to 2 Free life insurance quotes by filling in the form on the top right of the home page.
* 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: Sanlam Life Insurance
