Car insurer
Renasa Insurance
TIH’s broker-only insurer, reviewed in full, history, cover, and a credit rating on the rise.
1998
Established
Niche
Broker & UMA only
A+(ZA)
GCR rating
2023
Owned by TIH
The verdict on Renasa insurance
Renasa is different from every other brand in this comparison in one important way: you cannot buy it directly. Founded in 1998 and now part of Telesure Investment Holdings (TIH), Renasa sells exclusively through independent brokers and underwriting management agencies (UMA), positioning itself as “the broker’s best friend” rather than competing for direct consumer business the way Auto & General or Budget Insurance do. Since TIH completed its acquisition of Renasa in early 2023, the insurer’s GCR credit rating has been upgraded three times in three years, most recently to A+(ZA) in November 2025, on the back of a genuine underwriting turnaround. If your broker has quoted you through Renasa, this review explains who’s actually standing behind that policy.
What you will learn
- Who owns Renasa, and its history as an independent insurer before joining TIH
- Why Renasa only sells through brokers, and what that means if you want to buy from them
- What Renasa’s rapidly improving GCR credit rating actually shows
- What products Renasa offers through its broker and UMA network
- What is and isn’t known about Renasa’s claims record
- Who Renasa suits, and how to actually access its cover
Who Is Renasa?
Renasa was established in 1998 by the international Reliance National Group, initially focused on liability classes of insurance. Following a restructure that began in 2003 under a local consortium of owners, Renasa repositioned itself around general commercial and personal lines business, deliberately focused on the intermediated market rather than direct sales. The company grew substantially over the following two decades, approaching R2 billion in written premium by around 2017, at which point its owners began looking for access to institutional capital to fund the next stage of growth.
In June 2022, Telesure Investment Holdings (TIH) announced the acquisition of Renasa Holdings Proprietary Limited, the holding company of Renasa Insurance Company Limited. The deal was finalised in January 2023, and Renasa’s financial results were consolidated into TIH’s group accounts from the second half of TIH’s financial year ending 30 June 2023. Renasa’s CEO, Jonathan Rosenburg, continued in his role after the acquisition, and the company kept operating under its own brand and licence.
Broker Only: Why You Can’t Buy Renasa Directly
Unlike Auto & General, Budget Insurance, Dialdirect, or 1st for Women, all of which sell primarily or exclusively direct to consumers, Renasa distributes only through independent brokers and underwriting management agencies (UMAs). Its entire business model is built around helping brokers compete, rather than competing with them for the same customer.
You need a broker to access Renasa
You cannot get a Renasa quote by visiting its website or calling a call centre the way you can with its TIH sister brands. If you want to be covered by Renasa, you need to go through a broker or UMA who places business with them, and your broker’s advice and service will shape a large part of your experience, separate from the insurer itself.
Financial Strength: A Rating on the Rise
Renasa is one of the few insurers in this comparison series with a genuinely public, actively tracked credit rating history, and it tells a clear turnaround story.
- 2020 to 2022: GCR held Renasa at A-(ZA), Stable Outlook
- November 2022: Placed on Rating Watch Evolving pending the proposed TIH acquisition
- May 2023: Affirmed at A-(ZA), Evolving Outlook, after the deal closed
- November 2023: Upgraded to A(ZA), Stable Outlook
- November 2024: Affirmed A(ZA), Outlook revised to Positive
- November 2025: Upgraded again, to A+(ZA), Outlook back to Stable
The numbers behind that upgrade are specific and public: Renasa’s combined ratio, a core measure of underwriting profitability where lower is better, improved from 162% in the 2023 financial year to 98% in 2024 and 85% in 2025. Insurance revenue grew 16% in the 2025 financial year, capital adequacy strengthened to a ratio of 1.9 times GCR’s requirement, up from 1.4 times, and liquidity improved to 1.5 times.
1998
Established
Niche
Broker & UMA only
A+(ZA)
GCR rating
2023
Owned by TIH
Claims Reliability and What Isn’t Publicly Known
Renasa’s claims reliability assessment is best described as good but genuinely niche. Because Renasa sells only through brokers and UMAs rather than directly to consumers, it has a much lower public profile than TIH’s direct brands, and this review did not locate consumer-facing claims-ratio data of the kind published for insurers like OUTsurance or Santam. Renasa does, however, benefit from the same underwriting discipline and reinsurance strength that supports the rest of the TIH group, and its rapidly improving, independently published GCR credit rating is a more concrete, checkable signal of financial reliability than most insurers in this comparison series can offer.
Products Offered Through Brokers and UMAs
Renasa offers a broad short-term insurance product range for both commercial and personal lines clients, developed with a particular focus on business classes that suit an advice-based, broker-led sales process. This includes standard personal motor and household cover alongside a wider commercial and specialist book, with premium development supported by partnerships with underwriting management agencies that bring specialist expertise in particular business classes. Renasa has been recognised more than once by South Africa’s Financial Intermediaries Association (FIA), winning both Commercial Insurer of the Year and Personal Lines Insurer of the Year on two occasions between 2017 and 2019, and has continued to feature as a regular finalist and winner in the FIA’s annual Short-Term Insurer of the Year awards.
Can I buy Renasa car insurance directly?
Who owns Renasa?
Is Renasa financially stable?
What kind of insurance does Renasa offer?
Does Renasa have a good claims record?
How is Renasa different from TIH's other brands like Auto & General?
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