Funeral cover
Work the number up from a real quote, not down from a round figure. Then check it covers every life your family would be expected to bury.
Insure the funeral you would actually hold, for every life you would actually bury. That is the whole method. R50 000 is not an answer, it is a round number somebody put on an advertisement. The answer comes from a written quote for a specific funeral, plus the costs that never appear on a funeral home’s invoice.
National averages are a reasonable sanity check and a poor planning tool. What a funeral costs depends on burial or cremation, on the cemetery, on how many people will be fed, and on choices your family has probably already made in their own minds without ever saying them out loud.
So begin at the other end. Telephone us, or any funeral home you trust, and describe the funeral you have in mind. Ask for it in writing. It costs nothing, it takes one conversation, and it converts an abstract question into a figure you can insure against. We will give you an itemised quote with no obligation whatsoever — families who plan ahead make our job easier, and theirs enormously easier.
A funeral home’s invoice covers what a funeral home provides. A family’s outlay is reliably larger, and the gap is where cover falls short.
Grave purchase and opening fees are set by the municipality or the private cemetery, not by us, and they vary widely across the Cape metro. A grave in a family plot costs something quite different to a new one.
Usually the single largest item outside the funeral itself, and the one most sensitive to numbers. Two hundred people is a different funeral to forty, whatever the coffin costs.
Frequently bought months later, and frequently unfunded. Decide now whether it sits inside the cover or outside it.
Bringing family in, or taking a loved one home to the Eastern Cape or across a border, is a real cost. Some policies include a repatriation benefit; check yours before assuming.
Certified copies, death certificate and related paperwork are individually minor and collectively not nothing.
Time off work, a household suddenly short an income, unveiling costs later on. Families who allow for this are grateful they did.
This is where most policies fail, and it fails quietly. A family policy covers named lives, each with its own benefit — often lower for children and for extended family than the headline figure. The cover you need is not one number; it is a number for each person your family would in practice be expected to bury.
Write the list honestly. Yourself and your spouse. Children, including adult children. Your parents, and your spouse’s parents. Anyone else your family would step in for, because in many South African families that expectation is real whether or not it is written down. Then check each of those people against the policy schedule, with the benefit amount next to their name.
Insuring older parents is usually where the plan strains, because entry ages and premiums move sharply after seventy. Funeral cover for parents deals with that specifically.
A last word on the temptation to round down. The cheapest policy that leaves a R15 000 shortfall does not save your family money — it moves the cost to the week they are least able to carry it, and usually onto a credit facility. Size it properly once, and it stops being a worry.
Last reviewed August 2026. W. S. Engledoe & Sons is a funeral home, not a financial services provider. We do not sell funeral policies, earn commission on them or recommend one insurer over another. This is general information to help you read your own policy; it is not financial advice. Product terms change often, so confirm the current wording with your insurer before you act on it. Cemetery, crematorium and municipal fees are set by third parties and change annually; we quote them at the prevailing rate at the time of the funeral.
Frequently asked
It depends entirely on the funeral you have in mind and on where it is held. A simple, dignified cremation service can sit well inside that figure. A traditional burial with a large gathering, catering and a headstone will not. The only way to know is to price the funeral you would actually hold — we will quote it for you at no charge.
It is worth deciding deliberately rather than by accident. A memorial is often bought some months after the funeral, once the immediate costs have settled, and families frequently find there is nothing left for it. Either add it to the cover amount or plan to fund it separately.
Several small policies from different insurers are harder to keep track of and easier to let lapse, and each carries its own waiting period and its own fine print. One policy sized correctly is usually simpler. The exception is deliberate: a second policy taken to top up cover for one particular life, such as an older parent.
You can pay for more than you need. The funeral class is capped at R100 000 per life, and above roughly the cost of a good funeral the extra premium is usually better spent on life cover, which pays more for the same money over a longer horizon. Funeral cover vs life insurance sets out where that line sits.
Keep reading
The amount is one decision. Who may use it, and whether the policy will still be in force, are the others.
Whatever the hour
Our family has read a great many funeral policies. Send us yours and we will explain the benefit, the waiting period and what your family would still have to fund — before you need it.