Car insurer review
King Price Car Insurance
Premiums that decrease as your car does, reviewed in full, cover, backing and claims reputation.
2012
Established
Privately held
Structure
15%
Munich Re backed
R5.2bn
Valuation (2020)
The verdict on King Price Insurance
King Price is a privately held South African insurer, founded in 2012, best known for a decreasing-premium model: your car insurance premium drops every month in line with your vehicle’s depreciating value. It is one of the youngest large-scale insurers in the South African market, backed by a 15% shareholding from Munich Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurers, which gives it the capacity to write larger commercial risks. King Price is generally well regarded in consumer comparison roundups for transparent pricing and customer support, though as a younger, mid-sized insurer it has a shorter public track record on independent complaint-ratio data than long-established players like Santam or OUTsurance.
What you will learn
- Who founded King Price, and who backs it financially today
- How the decreasing-premium model actually works
- What King Price covers beyond car insurance, and where it’s expanding
- What is and isn’t known about King Price’s claims and complaints record
- Who King Price suits, and who might want to compare further
Who Is King Price?
King Price was founded by Gideon Galloway, who opened the company’s doors on 2 June 2012 with a small founding team and seed funding from Francois van Niekerk, founder of the Mertech Group, now part of the wider Mergon investment group, and Stefan van der Walt. The business started as a roughly R100 million start-up and grew quickly: by the end of its 2020 financial year, King Price reported year-on-year growth of 28% and a company valuation of around R5.2 billion. The company is headquartered in Waterkloof Glen, Pretoria, and remains privately held.
King Price’s reinsurance is provided by Munich Re, the German-based global reinsurance giant, which holds a 15% shareholding in the company. This backing gives King Price the financial capacity to underwrite larger commercial risks. King Price also holds a shareholding in Basileia Holdings, a business with insurance interests in Europe, and in 2020 completed its acquisition of Stangen, a South African life and funeral insurance business.
Car Insurance Cover and the Decreasing-Premium Model
King Price’s defining feature is its decreasing-premium model, which it describes as a world first: rather than charging a flat monthly premium for the year, King Price reduces your car insurance premium each month in line with your vehicle’s depreciating value. The company offers both comprehensive and agreed-value motor cover, giving buyers the choice between a market-related payout or a fixed, pre-agreed amount if the car is written off or stolen.
Beyond motor: a growing commercial book
King Price has built out engineering, agricultural, community, and cyber insurance, and has named growing its corporate and commercial insurance book as a strategic priority. Since the 2020 Stangen acquisition, King Price has also offered life and funeral insurance products, giving it a foothold in long-term insurance alongside its short-term core business.
Claims Reliability: What Is and Isn’t Known
King Price does not feature prominently in the Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance or National Financial Ombud Scheme’s public complaint-ratio commentary in the way that larger insurers like Santam or OUTsurance do, which cuts both ways: it means King Price has not been singled out for an elevated complaint ratio, but it also means there is less independent, publicly reported data available on its long-run claims performance compared with insurers that have been in the market for several decades. Munich Re’s 15% shareholding is a meaningful financial-strength signal in itself, since a reinsurer of that scale would not take a stake in an insurer it did not consider well run. King Price is also consistently well regarded in South African consumer insurance comparison content for transparent pricing and responsive customer support, though this is a different kind of evidence to an audited ombud complaint ratio.
AM Best / GCR
No rating found
R5.2bn
2020 valuation
+28%
2020 YoY growth
Is King Price Right for You?
King Price tends to suit car owners who want their insurance cost to track their car’s falling value over time, rather than paying the same premium in year three as they did in year one. Its comprehensive and agreed-value options make it flexible for both standard and higher-value vehicles. Buyers who specifically want the deepest, longest independent complaint-ratio track record, the kind built up over decades by insurers like Santam or OUTsurance, should be aware that King Price, as a younger company, simply has less of that specific public data available, even though its Munich Re backing and market reputation are strong on other measures.
Is King Price a good car insurance company in South Africa?
Who owns King Price?
How does King Price's decreasing-premium model work?
What other insurance does King Price offer?
Does King Price have a good complaints record?
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