Simple and always by my side – my digital insurance

My name is Ranja Schlotte and I am a professional kitesurfer. Currently, my favourite discipline is the wave. I used to do a lot of freestyle, big air, and a bit of wakestyle. When there's not much wind, I like to go foiling. While foiling, you float above the water because there is an airfoil under the board that is attached to a long lever. For me, the variety of disciplines makes kitesurfing so special. It simply never gets boring.

What roles do safety and risk play in my life?

Kitesurfing is a water sport where you stand on a surfboard and let yourself be pulled over the water with a kite. The lines of the kite are about 22 metres long and are attached to a harness that is worn around the waist. In emergency situations, for example, when the kite can no longer be controlled, you can separate yourself from the kite together with the lines. In this case, the kite would fly away in the direction of the wind. If property is damaged or someone becomes injured as a result of the kite flying away, the kiter is liable for the damage. For these types of emergency situations, it is useful to have liability insurance that covers kitesurfing.

How I went digital with my insurance

When I hear the word insurance, I associate it with time-consuming visits to offices, huge amounts of paperwork, long insurance policies, and not knowing what benefits you will actually receive in the event of a claim. For me, it's a time-consuming topic that I don't like to deal with in my free time. I also find it better to have the insurance documents at hand in the event of a claim. But who has them on hand all the time? I certainly don't – but my mobile phone is always with me.

In my opinion, digital insurance has many advantages: no paperwork, less time consuming, and you always have a simple and quick overview of your policies and what’s covered.

I think these points are obvious. I was with the same insurance companies for years and was always annoyed by the process. At that point, I didn't even know that there was another option – until I saw advertisements from Getsafe on Instagram by chance. That made me curious and I visited their website to find out more about the company and their insurance policies. When it comes to liability insurance, I always check first whether kitesurfing is covered. Thanks to the well-structured website, I found this information very quickly (and not only after minutes of searching somewhere in the small print). In the end, Getsafe convinced me.

A few days later, I downloaded the Getsafe app. The app is very user-friendly, the interface is intuitive, and the sign-up process is quick and easy. First of all, I used the app to buy liability insurance, which was very simple and incredibly affordable.

In the meantime, I also bought bike and car insurance from Getsafe. All insurance policies can be purchased and managed via the app. I didn't have bike insurance before. Because of my kiting, I'm currently spending a lot of time at the German North Sea, in Holland, and on the French coast. For the windless days, I like to take my racing bike with me, so I decided to insure it against theft. Finally, I bought car insurance because I find it convenient to have multiple insurances with one provider and in one app. In addition, the price of the Getsafe car insurance is significantly cheaper compared to my previous insurance (which is probably due to the fact that the company's digital focus saves costs).

As I always have my mobile phone on me, which means I always have the Getsafe app and insurance documents at hand. Managing everything in the app is perfect for me, as I travel a lot due to my kitesurfing. I can also buy a new insurance policy at any time or easily file a claim via the app. I haven't made a claim since I joined Getsafe, but I've always found the claims process with conventional insurance companies very annoying. I remember one moment – we were training in England. It was a very stormy day, I opened the car door and a gust of wind caused the door to hit the neighbour's car. A classic case for liability insurance. Unfortunately, I had to make the other person wait until I got back home because I didn't have my insurance documents with me.

My conclusion: only digital insurance from now on

In the era of growing digitalisation, I would also like to manage my insurance digitally. I can no longer imagine switching to a conventional insurance company, and I feel comfortable with Getsafe's easy-to-use app. On top of that, my insurance with Getsafe has exactly the services I'm looking for and I find the prices really reasonable. I would like to see Getsafe expand its insurance offering to include health insurance and international health insurance in the future. I would then have my personal all-in-one insurance package in one app.

Click on the button if you would like to learn more about Ranja.