Usage-Based Insurance
Pay As You Drive Insurance in South Africa
How per-kilometre and telematics policies work, which SA drivers save money on PAYD, and what to compare before you switch.
How per-kilometre and telematics policies work, which SA drivers save money on PAYD, and what to compare before you switch.
If your car spends more time in the driveway than on the road, you could be paying for cover you're not using. Pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) — also called usage-based or mileage-based insurance — links part of your premium to how much you actually drive, instead of charging everyone the same flat rate regardless of mileage. It suits second cars, weekend cars, retirees, students, and anyone who's driving less than they used to, whether that's because they work from home, use e-hailing for the daily commute, or simply don't cover much distance.
Not every insurer on our panel offers a true PAYD product, so this guide covers exactly which ones do, how each one actually works, and how to work out whether it's worth it for you.
In practice there are two ways insurers measure your mileage:
Insurers that use app tracking are only interested in whether the car is moving, not where you're going — visits to a doctor, a friend, or anywhere else you'd rather keep private stay private. Most of these apps also double as safety features, with automatic crash detection and an emergency assist button built in.
Here's the honest breakdown — two of our six panel insurers have a dedicated mileage-based product, and the rest don't (though your estimated annual mileage still affects the quote you get from any of them).
King Price's Chilli cover is the most established PAYD product on our panel, running since 2020. It's a genuine sliding scale rather than a single on/off discount: vehicles worth under R500,000 doing 100km or less a month start from around R299/month; push out to roughly 300km a month and King Price advertises savings of between 50% and 70% versus a standard policy; vehicles valued over R1.5 million top out at around R999/month. It's priced purely on distance, not driving style — there's no telematics scoring your braking or cornering, just kilometres covered. You report your mileage either by uploading an odometer photo in the King Price app in the few days before your debit date, or by fitting a tracking device that reports it automatically. King Price has also said they'll keep you on your lowest band even after the odd longer trip (their example: a run to Durban and back), as long as your average monthly mileage still fits the band overall — so one higher-mileage month doesn't automatically bump you up. Miss a month or drive further than expected and your cover doesn't lapse — your premium simply adjusts for the following month.
MiWay's Blink app is a fully digital, app-based comprehensive policy that tracks your driving automatically in the background and pays cashback into your account for the distance you don't drive each month — up to 50% of your monthly premium, according to MiWay. The app also includes automatic crash detection and severe weather alerts. Note that this is separate from MiWay's Micashback™ product, which is a no-claims cashback (10% of premiums back after two claim-free years) rather than a mileage-based discount — worth knowing so you compare the right product.
These four don't currently offer a dedicated pay-as-you-drive or telematics-discount product. That doesn't mean mileage is irrelevant with them — insurers still ask for your estimated annual kilometres when you get a quote, and a genuinely low estimate can bring the base premium down. But there's no app tracking, no automatic cashback, and no mileage-linked adjustment month to month. If a dedicated low-mileage discount matters most to you, King Price or MiWay are where to start — but it's still worth comparing quotes across the full panel, since your final premium depends on far more than just mileage.
Neither of these is on our panel, but they're worth knowing about if you're weighing up the wider market before you decide.
Old Mutual UBI is a WhatsApp chatbot Old Mutual Insure built for its Allsure, Motorsure and Elite motor policyholders. You send it a photo of your odometer each month before your billing date, and it applies a discount of up to 30% based on your actual distance covered the previous month — calculated ahead of billing, so the saving lands immediately rather than being refunded later. It launched in 2020; we couldn't confirm from current sources whether it's still running in 2026, so treat this as background rather than a live recommendation.
Naked Insurance (underwritten by Hollard) offers a feature called CoverPause®, which lets you switch off your accident cover — while keeping theft, hail and fire cover active — any time the car won't be driven for a day or more, cutting your premium by up to 50% for that period. You toggle it in the Naked app, and it settles automatically against your next bill. Naked's public FAQ doesn't specify minimum or maximum pause lengths or how often you can toggle it, so those details would need a direct check with Naked.
It tends to make the most financial sense if:
It's less likely to pay off if:
The advertised ceilings — up to 70% with King Price's Chilli for very low mileage, up to 50% cashback with MiWay Blink — are best-case figures from the insurers themselves, for drivers doing minimal kilometres. Your real saving depends on your actual mileage, your vehicle, and your driving profile, so the only reliable way to know is to get a quote based on your own numbers. As with any cover decision, it's worth weighing PAYD against a standard policy from the rest of our panel rather than assuming it's automatically cheaper.
Not necessarily. King Price lets you choose between a fitted tracking device or simply photographing your odometer in the app each month. MiWay Blink tracks automatically through the app on your phone — no separate device required.
Your cover stays active either way. With King Price, your premium for the following month adjusts upward to reflect the higher mileage band. With MiWay Blink, you simply receive a smaller cashback that month, since it's based on the distance you didn't drive.
App-based tracking is generally designed to record whether and how far the car is moving, not to log everywhere you go. Always check the specific privacy terms of the app before signing up if this is a concern for you.
Yes — PAYD products from King Price and MiWay are standalone comprehensive policies, so you can switch onto them the same way you'd switch any other car insurance policy, including cancelling your existing cover once the new policy is confirmed.
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