Terrible policy holder treatment form Auto & General - This is about a policy holder car that is kept at renew-it penal beat over 116 days to date.

My Name is Vusi Jiyana, one of the Auto & General policy holder; at least for 2 years now.

I unfortunately had an accident on the 16th of December 2017 and today marks 116 days since it happened. Auto & General towed the car away to their preferred penal beat which was renew-it greenstone branch. On the same day I registered a claim and also seek assistance from the legal department to recover the costs since I was not on the wrong. Details of what unfolded is detailed on my complaint email to Auto & General complaint department, Telesure complaint department and Short-term Insurance Ombudsman.

A brief description of my issue is that I was not satisfied with the quality of renew-it repairs. They changed my lights from 2014 to 2012. Ignored a minor damaged between driver’s door and a fender. They also painted a different white on the front where they repaired. I refused to take the car from them with a view that they should correct the mistakes because if not that automatically drops the value of the car. They said their going to change the lights back to 2014; the response about the damage between the door and the fender was that the insurance assessor noted it as an old damage. Further said they only repaint where they fixed and they only paint according to the specs of the VIN number, meaning they only paint original colours. The issue then is that I bought my car second hand and insured it immediately. I expected them to match the colour as per the Auto & General clause that says the car must be at the same state as it was before the accident. It is also silent about the originality of colours.

Since the 16th of December to date I have been paying costs of a car that is not at my disposal. I pay R1563.41 every moth for a 2012 Polo Vivo GT which I feel it is too much. I never complained because I expected quality and best treatment since I am paying expensive premium. This experience gave me none of the above mentioned experience. I am also expected to pay an access of R10 300.00 before I get my car back while I am dissatisfied with the quality of work done. It is also important to state that this is my first insurance claim ever.

It is unfair that I paid 4 installments of R2 897.36 + R148.99 for tracker + R1 563.41 for insurance premium for a car that is not at my disposal. This mean per month I am losing R4 609.76. My total loss up to so far is R18 439.04. This exclude the costs of public transport.

I am emotionally drained and terrified! I have been hit by rains several times; I now have to wake up earlier than I usually did; I experienced all the inconveniences of the public transport; This also contributed to me losing my job since I was at times getting late for meetings. I was contracted for 2 provincial projects as an Independent Service Provider by the University of Johannesburg from March 2017 to February 2018. I was not able to get across Gauteng as I used to and supposed to because I don’t have the car at my disposal. I had to resign because my relationship became very ugly with my Manager partly because the car issue prevented me to deliver on the contract as per the expectation. I am currently unemployed and battling to keep up with the costs of an asset that is currently bringing zero value to both my life and career.

The Ombudsman for short term insurance - On the 15th of March 2018 I received a response from ********** stating that the insurance was given 14 days to resolve my matter or alternatively make contact with the ombudsman office. I have not received any feedback to date.

On the 4th of March 2018 I sent a complaint to ********** ********** and only received automatic response without any reference number.

On the 5th of April 2018 I shared my experience with Absa Client Service on ********** since we co-own the care and my battle is value based. I received an automated response that said a consultant will contact me soon and never got any communication up to date.

I am looking forward to any assistance to resolve this matter.

Regards, Vusi Jiyana vusijiyana.wordpress.com