Who is Unity Insurance?
Unity insurance was established in November, 2004 as a subsidiary of Budget Insurance. The company was underwritten by Auto and General insurance company until 2012. However, after this Budget Insurance got approval from the Register of short term insurance, meaning that all of the insurance policies backed by Auto and General were transferred to Unity Insurance. Even more confusing is the fact that Budget Insurance itself is a member of the Telesure Group, which owns many other insurance companies (for example, 1Lifedirect and Virgin Money Insurance). If you are still confused, Budget Insurance has a Question and Answer page on their web site that will help you understand how Unity Insurance’s policies were transferred between companies, but this isn’t really that important.
Where is Unity Insurance Located?
The postal address for Unity Insurance South Africa is P.O. Box 11250, Johannesburg 2000. The company is located at the corner of Barry Hertzog Avenus and Napier Street in Johannesburg.
What Services Does Unity Insurance Offer?
Unity Insurance offers a full range of insurance options, including business insurance, vehicle insurance, home contents insurance and life insurance (which includes personal accident and funeral insurance). Below, we will focus on Unity's life insurance options.
Unity Life Insurance
Unity offers two types of insurance under their life insurance package. These include personal accident insurance and funeral insurance.
Unity Personal Accident Insurance
Unity personal accident insurance is designed to give you coverage in the event of you being injured, hospitalised, disabled or killed in an accident. The benefits offered in this policy are as follows:
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No medical examinations are required in order to take out the policy;
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Discounts are offered for adding partners to your policy;
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Hospital coverage will begin from the first day of your hospitalization;
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Payout for death or disablement is tax free and paid in a lump sum;
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You will be given legal and administrative assistance for filing a claim to RAF (Road Accident Fund) in the event of injury, disability or death resulting from a third party's negligent driving;
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Testing and counselling should you accidentally be exposed to the HIV virus;
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Child coverage is also included, with children up to the age of 6 being covered for a maximum of R10,000, children ages 7 to 14 being covered for a maximum of R30,000, and children from 14 to 21 (or to 25 if the child is a full time registered student) being covered for 25% of the policy holder's coverage;
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Disablement payouts are percentages of the complete coverage, depending on the nature of your disability. For example, if you should lose your hearing in one ear, you would receive 20% of your full coverage amount;
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Coverage is limited to those between the ages of 21 and 65 (with the exception of covering a policy holder's children;
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The policy does not include coverage for several situations such as: suicide; hospitalisation for reasons other than an accident; accidents that are a result of dangerous pursuits (such as illegal car racing for example or other certain extreme sports), alcohol or drug abuse; injury due to mental disability; death or injury from natural causes; death, injury or disability that result from accidents that occurred before the policy began.
Unity Funeral Plan
The second, complimentary option offered by Unity is funeral plan coverage. This kind of plan is designed to cover the expenses that arise after your death (god forbid) or the death of one of your family members, especially the funeral costs. This policy includes the following:
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Coverage for the policy holder + spouse and up to five dependants. Children under 21 are automatically included in the policy;
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For an extra monthly sum you can include parents, in-laws and employees in your policy;
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HIV and AIDS related deaths are covered;
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There is a three month waiting period before payout if death is due to natural causes; We found this to be something negative and a downside of the policy, seeing how if they have decided to include natural death in their funeral policy, why would the policy holder (the customer) have to wait 3 whole months for the payout when he/she will probably need the money immediately to pay for all the funeral expenses.
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If death is due to an accident there is no waiting period and double the maximum coverage amount will be paid out;
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Suicide is not covered for the first 24 months of the policy;
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According to the Unity Insurance website, once all documents are received, claims will be approved within two working days. This seems very fast, but the catch lies in the words “all documents” seeing how they can always tell you that another document is needed or that they didn’t receive the previous ones you sent. Having an easy to find list of the exact documents needed to file a claim on their website would therefore be helpful;
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Repatriation within South Africa is included, meaning that your next of kin can have your remains transported to their funeral home and cemetery of choice;
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The maximum age for application to the policy is 80.
Customer Reviews for Unity Insurance
In the last 12 months (since the posting of this review), Unity Insurance received 103 reports through the customer review website Hellopeter. Of these, 84 were positive and 19 were negative, meaning that Unity Insurance has an 80% compliment ratio. However, it is important to note that 103 reports is a very low number compared to other insurance companies (that have hundreds or thousands or reports). Additionally, most of the reports do not refer specifically to their life insurance, but rather refer to all the services they provide – making it difficult to reach any objective conclusion. Nevertheless, the fact that the majority of the reports are positive, is a good indication of their overall level of service.
How User Friendly is the Unity Website?
Overall, Unity Insurance's website is very user friendly and provides a good user experience, with just one small exception. On the 
positive side, the website is simple to use and the information is comprehensive and easy to find. Unity doesn't overwhelm you with information, but they do give you a clear explanation of each policy in a PDF file that can be saved or printed out. This is a nice feature, since it lets you save information to read comfortably at a later date. The only downside is the lack of information regarding the pricing of the policies. We were unable to find any information as to how much the premiums are and what the various levels of coverage cost – or even an indication of the prices. We do understand that both of these options depend on each individual's application and that Unity life insurance quotes would give an accurate number once a person asks for a quote. However, as consumers, one of our main concerns is pricing and costs, so it would be nice to at least have a general idea of how much policies cost or their price range.
Our Conclusions
Unity Insurance's policies seem easy to understand and comprehensive, especially in regards to their life insurance and funeral insurance. They offer two main options, and both cover a fairly wide range of circumstances. Additionally, based on the positive customer feedback on Hellopeter, it seems that they provide a fair level of customer service. So, although we would have liked to receive even just a minimal amount of information about the cost of their policies, it seems that Unity Insurance is on the right track (assuming their prices are competitive).
As always, we recommend that you compare quotes with other life insurance companies and get at least 2-3 insurance quotes. You can do this by filling in the form on the top right.
* 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.
