Current insurance certificate. Next month, the insurance certificate will be harmonized
Forget about brand names like SORAS, SONARWA, Radiant and others on your car or motorbike insurance certificate. It will become history in less than a week.
Effective September 1, 2018, all local insurance companies will issue a uniform insurance certificate to their clients insuring vehicles or motorbikes.
The harmonization comes as a way of curbing down on illegal and forged insurance cover certificates that have also caused loss of lives, according to insurance companies.
The Association of Insurers in Rwanda (ASSAR) says that the certificate will be uniform for all insurance companies and will have a seal that carries database which will be easy for traffic police to identify details using a smart device.
“The certificate will have a seal, which all insurers have agreed on, and which will make it hard for anyone to forge” Jean Pierre Majoro, the ASSAR Executive Secretary said.
“This is good for us because we shall be able to cut on risks of having fake insurances circulating and having effect on people’s lives when an accident happens,” said Vedaste Nsengiyumva, the Chief Insurance Underwriter at Prime Insurance company.
Nsengiyumva said that in July 2017, his company encountered two forged certificates cases.
One of the cases involved a public transport company which was involved in a fatal accident.
For motorists, the new certificate may only benefit the insurers.
“There is nothing added to our services, we still have to pay more on insurance. Maybe the new certificates will of value to the insurers” said Jean Paul Habimana, a Motor taxi operator.
In January 2018, the treasury announced that all premiums were increased by 100% for the mandatory third-party insurance policy and the comprehensive packages.
The premiums will be increased up to 60% this year, then a 40 % in 2019, which will make a 100% as proposed by 2020.
Meanwhile, automobile owners with the current insurance certificates will keep them until the expiry date. Upon renewal, all clients will have to go by the new guidelines.
