King Price Insurance has launched its app-based emergency response service, “code red”. The service is exclusively available to the insurer’s clients, for which they have to pay a “nominal” monthly cost in order to access it.
To launch the app-based service, King Price partnered with Secura, a representative of a network of armed response companies registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority.
According to King Price, it decided to launch code red in response to SA’s spiralling crime rates.
Pointing to the South African Police Service’s crime stats for 2019/20, the insurer says the figures reveal a sharp rise in crime, including carjacking, with more than 18 162 cases reported during this period – an average of 50 per day.
In addition, the SAPS crime stats show there were 21 130 robberies at residential premises, and 21 325 murders over the same period, up 1.4% from the year before.
King Price says code red aims to get users the closest armed response car or emergency service with the “tap and hold” function in the in-app panic button.
It is able to tap into a network of more than 280 armed response companies, which connects to thousands of responders across all nine provinces, says the company.
Wynand van Vuuren, King Price client experience partner, says code red aims to provide clients with peace of mind. “If you feel threatened, or if there’s a medical emergency, you open our app and tap on code red. The code red control room will dispatch the closest linked armed response car to your GPS location, and will then call you to confirm the activation and request additional emergency services, like the police or an ambulance, if necessary.
“The reason we chose Secura as our partner for code red is their ability to respond to an emergency, whether you’re at home, at work, or fetching your kids from school, at any time of day or night,” explains Van Vuuren. “By utilising smart technology, Secura ensures a speedy response to your emergency.”
King Price isn’t the first insurer to roll out an app-based panic button in the local market.
Last year, Momentum Short Term Insurance unveiledthe Safety Alert service, its emergency panic button linked to armed response and emergency healthcare services, which can be accessed via the Momentum app.
The King Price app is available for download from the App Store, Google Play Store and Huawei AppGallery.
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