AIG Insurance – Background
AIG Insurance is a global insurance company and serves more than 70 million clients around the world. AIG is a grandfather amongst insurance companies: it was founded in America in 1912 and was therefore named AIG – American International Group. It replicated its success in South Africa in 1962, providing an array of insurance products including car insurance, accident, health and business insurance.
AIG Insurance in South Africa
The AIG Insurance head office in South African is located at 10 Queens Road, Parktown, Johannesburg in the Guateng region, but also has branches in Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria. The newly-appointed managing director of AIG Insurance is Wayne Abrahams who joined the company in 2002 and previously served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer for Africa.
What Services Does AIG Insurance Provide?
AIG’s size ensures that it is a one-stop-shop for all your personal and business insurance needs. Business insurance options include accident and health, commercial car insurance, and marine, property and kidnapping insurance, while their personal insurance options include homeowners insurance, small crafts, accidents, health and liability and of course car insurance.
AIG Car Insurance
The AIG car insurance options include the economical Car Cash Plan that covers the loss of the insured car as a result of theft, hijacking or accident if the car is written-off by the insurer (damage in the value of more than 70%). Unfortunately, and based on the FAQ page of AIG, the Plan does not cover the cost of an alternative car during the waiting period after an accident or theft and does not cover repair if damages are below 70% (a “write-off”). More about the Car Cash Plan can be learnt from Fareedah Benjamin, Personal Lines Manager at AIG, as he explains: “Our customers tell us that they can live with a few dents or scratches – but they can’t live without their cars. If you’re one of the 65% of drivers on the road who have no insurance, if your car is stolen, hijacked or written off, it could make your life very difficult. With the Car Cash Plan, a little over a hundred Rand a month makes sure that you’re back on the road fast if anything happens.” – it is important to note, that the AIG Car Cash Plan does not cover the costs of car rental whilst you await the assessment and the reimbursement – so despite the above statement, you ultimately will find yourself without a car, at least for part of the time.
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Is Bigger Really Better?
AIG is large, multinational company and they claim that this ensures that they will be able to pay all claims, big and small, without delay. However, even a quick glance at their website shows that they do not have the online capabilities offered by other car insurance companies in South Africa: though many of their claims forms are available online, they are not automated. They are in PDF format, which needs to be printed out and filled-in manually. Similarly, the car insurance quotes and purchasing process is not automated, something that would save potential clients time and money.
AIG Insurance Reviews
On the internet it is not easy finding personal reviews about the quality of service provided by AIG Insurance in 
South Africa. Even the hellopeter.com customer review website only has reviews of AIG Life/Health Insurance and not the car insurance. Nevertheless, one can learn from these reviews about the company’s general level of service. On Hellopeter, AIG received 195 reports in the past 12 months. The reports indicated that 90% of the customers were not happy with the service. Breaking down the 176 complaints, 31% were regarding Feedback/Response, 12% were for Breach of Contract and 12% were regarding Billing/Accounts. Needless to say, a 90% negative review rate is very bad, even if one would allow the option that a few complaints were wrongly reported.
Summary
AIG is a multi-national insurance company that provides a variety of insurance services and policies. Despite the company’s size, one would expect it to be a larger player in the South-African insurance market – although this is not so. Additionally, and due to the company’s vast experience, one would expect the company to be at the forefront of technology (with its Internet services), and to provide high quality service – again, something that doesn't appear to be so based on the 90% complaint ratio that AIG Insurance received on hellopeter
