Get home safely with Home Drive
ACCORDING to recent statistics released by Arrive Alive, almost 50 percent of South Africans who die on our roads are victims of drunken driving.
Clearly, drunk driving is one of the biggest threats to road safety in South Africa, which is why Momentum Short-term Insurance supports road safety initiatives and the Arrive Alive campaign.
In a bid to further bolster these efforts, Momentum Short-term Insurance has also introduced its own road safety initiative in the form of HomeDrive.
With HomeDrive, you will never have to get behind the wheel under the influence. You can have a good time safe in the knowledge that you – and your car – will arrive safely at home.
Says Vickey Swanevelder Head of Claims, Claims Support and Customer Relations at Momentum Short-Term Insurance: “As a socially responsible insurer, we appeal to the general public to be aware of the repercussions of driving under the influence of alcohol.
“All you need do is opt for the additional HomeDrive cover and do the responsible thing when enjoying a celebratory drink.”
So how does HomeDrive work? The HomeDrive service is available to Momentum Short-term Insurance clients who have car insurance cover and is limited to your specified vehicle. With HomeDrive, you can easily contact the HomeDrive contact centre to secure a ride home if you’re going to be indulging in alcohol.
Once booked, you will then receive an SMS with your driver’s name and cellphone number in case you want to contact him to change your collection details.
Your very own driving team consists of a backup driver, who will drive your car, and a main driver, who will drive you home in his car.
In terms of booking times, Momentum HomeDrive prefers prebookings that are arranged before 8pm (public holiday pre-bookings need be made before 5pm).
The earliest time that bookings can be accepted is 8am. Ad hoc or last-minute requests (day or night) can be accommodated on a best-effort basis, but will probably entail a minimum of one hour’s wait.
This also depends on the availability of standby team members at the time of requests. The cut-off time for new and last-minute bookings is 2am.
Come collection time, the call centre will notify you via SMS that the pick-up driver has arrived. You will then have 15 minutes to meet the driver.
When the 15 minutes are up, the call centre will notify you that the pick-up driver will be leaving, and that the trip will be cancelled. Cancellation fees (applicable over and above your free trips) will apply as follows:
2 hours before booked collection time: no charge
1 hour before booked collection time: R160
Less than one hour before booked collection time: R320
Swanevelder explains that clients can utilise the HomeDrive service safe in the knowledge that all HomeDrive drivers undergo extensive in-house training, have professional driving permits, are smartly dressed, are always available on their cellphones, carry GPS units or map books and are experienced drivers.
HomeDrive benefits include six free HomeDrive/ConvenientDrive trips (a professional chauffeur service for when you just need a convenient and safe lift) per year to a radius of 50km per trip.
If you need additional trips, you can book on a member-to-pay basis. Fees will be charged at a discounted rate and will be charged to your credit card.
Up to three additional passengers can also be transported at no cost if the entire trip is less than 50km (calculated from pick up to primary address drop off), the trip takes less than an hour and all passengers are transported to one address.
You will be charged an extra cost for each additional or unplanned drop off. This can be arranged with HomeDrive agents at the contact centre who will authorise your request to ensure efficient planning and upfront payment.
For everyone’s safety, HomeDrive drivers don’t carry cash.
HomeDrive service centres are available in Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, East London, George, Johannesburg, Kimberly, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria.
Simply phone the HomeDrive contact centre on 0860 784 767 between 8am and 2am daily to make use of the services.
Should you wish to add HomeDrive to your insurance policy, contact Momentum Short-term Insurance’s call centre on 086 000 6784.