If you’ve ever had to file an insurance claim, you know it’s rarely the highlight of your week. Something’s gone wrong—your car’s been dinged in a fender-bender, your geyser has burst, or a storm has left half your roof on the lawn. And now, on top of dealing with the stress, you have to wrestle with paperwork, phone calls, and endless “we’ll get back to you” responses. Claims departments can feel like faceless bureaucracies that care more about process than people.
That’s why King Price has been making noise about what it calls “royal service”—a promise of personalized claims support that supposedly feels less like wrestling with red tape and more like having a personal assistant walk you through every step. In 2025, they’ve been doubling down on this promise, marketing themselves as the insurer that treats you like a king (or queen). Bold claim, right? But let’s pull back the curtain a little and see how this actually plays out.
Why claims support feels broken
Before looking at King Price’s approach, it’s worth pausing on why so many South Africans groan at the word “claims.” For starters, insurers have historically been slow. A cracked bumper might take weeks to process because of back-and-forth emails, assessor delays, or, let’s be honest, someone’s file sitting forgotten on a desk.
Then there’s the lack of communication. You log the claim and then… silence. You’re left refreshing your inbox or holding on the line, wondering whether your file even exists. And when someone does call you back, it’s often a different person every time, which means you have to repeat the same details like a broken record.
That feeling—that you’re just another policy number—may be the single biggest source of frustration. It’s not that people expect miracles; they just want to feel heard, updated, and maybe even reassured that things are moving along.
Enter the “royal service” promise
King Price has always marketed itself as quirky and customer-focused. They’re the insurer with TV ads that don’t take themselves too seriously and the “decreasing premiums” gimmick that hooked attention a few years back. But in 2025, their focus on personalized claims support has become a central part of their identity.
So what does “royal service” mean in practical terms?
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Dedicated claims handlers. Instead of being passed from one call center agent to another, King Price assigns you a single point of contact—someone who knows your case, calls you by name, and (ideally) sticks with you from start to finish.
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Proactive communication. They make a point of updating you before you ask. Whether it’s a text saying, “Your assessor will be there at 10 a.m. tomorrow,” or a quick call to check if the repair shop delivered on time, the idea is that you shouldn’t have to chase them.
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Human touch, not just digital. While many insurers are leaning hard into AI chatbots and self-service apps, King Price seems careful to balance that with actual human interaction. Sure, you can log a claim on their app, but the “royal” part kicks in when a real person follows up and takes ownership.
Now, on paper, this sounds fantastic. But I couldn’t help wondering: is this just clever branding, or are they genuinely shifting the experience?
My own brush with “royal service”
A few months back, a friend of mine—let’s call her Thandi—rear-ended another car on a rainy evening. She’s with King Price, and I got a front-row seat to how they handled it.
She logged the claim on her phone while waiting for a tow truck. Within half an hour, someone from King Price phoned her. Not a call center operator reading off a script, but an actual claims handler who introduced himself, explained the next steps, and even joked, “We’ll have you back on the road faster than your bumper can say panel beater.”
Over the next week, he checked in daily. Sometimes just a WhatsApp: “Car is at the workshop, repairs will be three days. All good?” By the end of it, Thandi said, “Honestly, the accident sucked, but the claim didn’t.”
Was it flawless? Not quite—the repair shop delivered her car a day late, and the handler didn’t seem to know until she told him. But compared to the usual “lost in the system” feeling I’ve had with other insurers, it did feel different. More personal.
The psychology behind feeling “royal”
Here’s where things get interesting. When King Price talks about “royal service,” they’re not really promising faster payouts (though speed does matter). What they’re offering is reassurance. Someone cares. Someone is accountable. And that sense of personal attention can soften the frustration of delays or hiccups.
There’s a psychological principle at play here: people don’t mind waiting as much if they feel informed and acknowledged. A delayed flight announcement calms nerves more than silence at the boarding gate. Insurance works the same way.
So, King Price’s model taps into that human need for connection. You don’t feel like policy #4728391. You feel like you. That’s powerful marketing—and, when executed well, powerful service.
But is it sustainable?
Here’s the question I keep circling back to: can they actually keep this up at scale? Personalized service sounds wonderful, but it also sounds resource-heavy. A dedicated handler per claim means more staff, more training, and more oversight.
Insurance is a volume business. Hundreds of thousands of claims move through the system each year. If King Price grows quickly (and they are growing), how do they maintain that intimate “we know your name” experience? Or does it quietly dilute into standard call center interactions while the brand message stays shiny?
It’s not impossible. Other industries—like boutique banks or premium airlines—manage to sustain personalized service models, usually by segmenting customers or investing heavily in staff training. But whether an insurer in South Africa, dealing with load shedding disruptions and a volatile economy, can pull it off long term is less clear.
The tech balance
Another nuance here is technology. Many insurers are leaning into automation, and for good reason—it lowers costs and speeds up simple claims. For example, AI can instantly approve a windshield repair if the damage meets certain criteria.
King Price appears to be straddling two worlds: automation for efficiency, but humans for reassurance. Done right, this hybrid approach could be a sweet spot. Done wrong, it could feel disjointed—like you start with a chatbot, then get bounced to a human who doesn’t have your full history.
From what I’ve seen, their app is functional but not flashy, and the human follow-up really does carry the weight. But again, it’s worth asking: will customers prefer the warmth of human contact, or the speed of pure automation? The answer may vary by generation—Gen Z drivers may find a WhatsApp bot more comfortable than a phone call, while older customers may appreciate the personal voice.
Comparisons: are they really the “royal” standout?
To be fair, King Price isn’t alone in trying to humanize claims. Santam has been investing in digital claims tracking, Discovery leans into their ecosystem of partners, and MiWay promotes “fast and friendly” service. In other words, the competition isn’t standing still.
What may set King Price apart is their storytelling. They’ve built a brand personality around humor, relatability, and “ordinary people made to feel like royalty.” That framing might make their claims process feel warmer, even if the nuts and bolts aren’t radically different from what competitors offer.
Still, the danger is that if they fall short even slightly, the gap between expectation and reality feels harsher. Promise someone a “royal” experience and give them a mediocre one, and the disappointment hits harder than if you’d promised nothing at all.
Why this matters in 2025
South Africa’s insurance market isn’t easy right now. Car theft is up, storm damage is more frequent, and household budgets are under pressure from rising costs everywhere else. People aren’t shopping for “bells and whistles” policies—they’re shopping for reliability and value.
That means the claims experience becomes the battleground. Premiums are similar across providers, but how you’re treated when you actually need the insurance—that’s the story you’ll tell your friends, the post you’ll share online, and the reason you might stay loyal (or switch).
In that sense, King Price may be onto something with their “royal service.” Not because it’s perfect, but because it touches the nerve of what people actually care about: “When things go wrong, will someone be there for me?”
Final reflections
Do I think King Price’s personalized claims support is flawless? No. I’ve seen enough to know there are still gaps—delays at panel beaters, occasional miscommunications, and the ever-present question of scalability. But do I think they’ve changed the feeling of claims for many customers? Yes, and that counts for a lot.
Insurance is a business of promises. You pay month after month for something you hope you’ll never use, and when you do use it, the experience shapes everything. King Price’s “royal service” may not always live up to its regal name, but it seems to push the industry toward a more human-centered model. And maybe that’s the kind of competition the whole sector needs.
As for me? I’m not rushing to crown them the undisputed kings of claims just yet. But if my own car were rear-ended tomorrow, I’d probably breathe a little easier knowing I’d get more than a faceless email. I’d get a human voice on the line, checking in, reminding me I’m not just a number in a system. And honestly, in the middle of life’s messy moments, that might feel like the closest thing to royalty most of us ever need.
Continue reading – MiWay’s Call-Free Claims Process: A South African Game-Changer