The eight rating factors
Every South African PI quote is assembled from these inputs:
- Annual fee income or turnover.
- Indemnity limit and whether it is any-one-claim or aggregate.
- Profession and scope — payments, health and safety-critical code rate highest.
- Client profile and jurisdiction, especially US and UK exposure.
- Claims and notified circumstances over five years.
- Retroactive date and how much past work is picked up.
- Excess level.
- Contracting hygiene — signed scopes, change control, liability caps.
Which levers actually move the number
In order of impact for a typical SA tech firm: right-sizing the limit to contract obligations, raising the excess, consolidating PI and cyber with one insurer, and presenting a clean underwriting submission with documented processes. Switching insurer purely on price usually costs more over a renewal cycle than it saves.
What makes a submission underwrite well
A clear description of services, a revenue split by work type, your five largest clients and contract values, your standard contract with its liability cap, and a five-year claims declaration. Vague submissions get loaded for uncertainty.