Types of short-term insurance in South Africa, explained

What counts as short-term insurance

Short-term insurance covers things and liabilities rather than lives: it indemnifies you, meaning it puts you back in roughly the financial position you were in, after a sudden event such as a crash, a burglary, a fire or a hailstorm. The Insurance Act defines a non-life policy as one that “fully or partially indemnifies loss on the happening of an unplanned or uncertain event”, other than life events and non-accidental death or disability (Insurance Act 18 of 2017, s1).

The name changed in 2018. The Insurance Act (2017) took effect on 1 July 2018 and replaced parts of the Short-term Insurance Act of 1998, but “short-term insurance” is still the term most people, brokers and many insurers use. The policyholder rules you rely on at claim time, the Policyholder Protection Rules (Short-term Insurance), still sit under the older Act. Life cover, funeral policies and retirement annuities are long-term insurance, a separate category explained in our guide to short-term vs long-term insurance.

The law also splits the market two ways. Personal lines is cover bought by a person “acting otherwise than solely for the purposes of the person’s own business”, and commercial lines is everything else. That split, plus the 17 classes below, is the official map of every type of short-term insurance sold in South Africa.

The 17 classes of short-term insurance in the law

Every insurer licensed for non-life business must be licensed class by class, using the list in Table 2 of Schedule 2 to the Insurance Act. Most people only ever deal with a handful of them, but seeing the full list makes it easier to understand where a policy fits.

Class names and descriptions are summarised from the Insurance Act, Schedule 2, Table 2. A single household policy often bundles several classes, usually motor, property and liability, into one schedule. The next two sections turn the legal classes into the products you’ll actually be offered.

Types of short-term insurance for individuals and families

For a household, short-term insurance usually comes down to five building blocks: the car, the house, what’s inside it, the valuables you carry, and your liability to other people. The FSCA’s consumer guide describes the core ones in a line each: motor insurance “covers your motor vehicle against collision, fire and theft”, household contents cover “furniture, TV, radio and other valuables in your house”, and house owners cover the “bricks, roof, fittings and other things that are needed to rebuild your house” (FSCA, Know more about short-term insurance).

Car and vehicle insurance

Motor cover usually comes in three levels. Comprehensive car insurance commonly includes accident damage to your own car as well as theft, fire and damage you cause to others. Third party, fire and theft drops accident damage to your own car. Third-party-only cover deals only with the damage you cause to other people’s property. What “third party” means in practice is explained in our guide to third-party claims. The same motor class includes motorcycle insurance and cover for a caravan or trailer.

Before you choose a level, it helps to understand retail, market and trade value, how car insurance premiums are calculated and how the excess works. If you drive for an e-hailing platform or use a bakkie for work, the way you use the vehicle matters too: see e-hailing insurance and bakkie business use.

Buildings insurance

Buildings insurance covers the structure: walls, roof, fixed fittings, and often the geyser and outbuildings. If you have a home loan, your bank will normally require it. Our buildings insurance guide covers what it includes, and sectional title insurance explains how a body corporate policy changes things for flat and townhouse owners.

Home contents insurance

Home contents insurance covers what you’d take with you if you moved: furniture, appliances, clothing and electronics. It’s the type tenants usually need, because a landlord’s buildings policy normally covers the building, not a tenant’s belongings. Read what contents insurance costs and buildings vs contents.

Portable possessions (all risks)

Portable possessions cover, often called “all risks”, extends to items you carry away from home, such as phones, laptops, cameras and jewellery. Contents cover usually stops at your front door, so items you take out with you often need to be listed here.

Personal liability and other personal cover

Personal liability insurance pays when you’re legally liable for injury or damage to someone outside your household, for example if your dog bites a visitor or your tree falls on the neighbour’s car. The FSCA describes it as cover for “damages to a person or property that is not part of your household” (FSCA). Other personal types include watercraft, travel and personal cyber insurance.

Businesses face all of these risks and a set of their own, which is where the list gets longer.

Types of short-term insurance for businesses

Business short-term insurance protects three things: the business’s property, its income when it can’t trade, and its liability to customers, the public and employees. Most small businesses start with a business insurance package that combines several sections, then add specialist cover as the risks grow.

Sector packages bundle these for particular trades, such as hospitality insurance for guesthouses and restaurants and professional services insurance for consultancies. For more detail on individual types, see our guides to public liability, professional indemnity by profession and goods in transit.

There’s one more type that sits on top of both personal and business policies, and it often confuses people.

Sasria: special risks cover that sits on top

Sasria cover protects against damage from riots, strikes, public unrest and terrorism, which ordinary short-term policies usually exclude. Sasria is state-owned and describes its cover as protecting “your valuables damaged during unforeseen public unrest, civil commotion, strikes, riots and terrorism” (Sasria).

You don’t buy Sasria cover on its own. It’s added to an existing motor, property or business policy through your insurer or broker, and Sasria’s own policy documents say that to be covered “you must have an underlying policy contract in force that includes Sasria cover at the time of the event” (Sasria, Business Interruption (2026)). It’s usually a small amount on the schedule, so it’s worth checking it’s there.

How many South Africans have short-term insurance?

Not many. FinScope’s 2023 consumer survey found that “only 11% of individuals, or about 5 million, possessed non-life insurance”, compared with 48% who held a funeral policy (FinMark Trust, FinScope Consumer South Africa (2023)). On the roads, the AA has reported a SAIA estimate that “about 65% of South African motorists are not insured” (AA of South Africa (2023)), which matters for anyone hit by another driver.

The industry is still large. The Prudential Authority reports that non-life primary insurers, cell captives and captives wrote R237.5 billion in gross premiums in the 12 months to 31 December 2025, up from R224.9 billion a year earlier (Prudential Authority Annual Report 2025/26, Table 15). Not having cover usually comes down to cost or not knowing which type fits, and the second is the easier one to fix.

Which types of short-term insurance relate to you?

The types that relate to you depend on what you own, what you do and who could hold you liable. Tick what applies and the list below shows which types of cover deal with those risks. It’s a starting list for a conversation with a broker or insurer, not advice on what to buy. Your ticks stay in this browser.

Whichever types appear, the details that decide a claim sit in the policy wording: the sums insured, the excesses and the conditions. Our guide to reading your policy schedule and underinsurance and the average clause show what to check once you have cover.

Short-term insurance FAQs

General answers about the types of short-term insurance available in South Africa.