R500,000 Professional Indemnity cover

• Sole practitioners and small consulting practices in the early stages of their business
• Professionals whose largest single client engagement is well under R500,000 in value
• Businesses meeting a professional body's or association's minimum recommended limit, where no client contract sets a higher floor
• Part-time or supplementary consulting work alongside another primary occupation

• Rarely accepted for corporate, provincial or national government tenders, which typically specify a much higher minimum
• May satisfy some professional body membership conditions where no specific rand value is mandated
• Generally adequate only where client engagement letters are silent on a minimum limit and contract values are genuinely small
• Not usually sufficient once a practice takes on its first mid-size corporate client — worth reviewing before, not after, signing that engagement

Your limit of indemnity is the maximum amount your insurer will pay out for a covered claim, or across all claims in the policy period if your limit applies in the aggregate. Your excess is the amount you contribute toward each claim before the insurer's payment applies. The two are set independently — you can hold a high limit with a modest excess suited to your risk profile, or accept a higher excess to reduce your premium. Choosing a limit does not determine your excess, and vice versa; both should be set deliberately based on your claim exposure and risk appetite.

Some PI policies apply the limit of indemnity “in the aggregate” — the total available across all claims made during the policy period. Others apply it “any one claim” (each-and-every-claim), where the full limit is available again for every separate claim, regardless of how many arise in the period. An aggregate limit can be eroded quickly if you face multiple claims in one year, while an each-and-every-claim structure gives broader protection for higher-claim-frequency professions, priced accordingly. Always confirm which structure applies before comparing quotes on the basis of limit alone.