Comprehensive cover holder ignored: R11,800 excess unpaid & stalled recovery since Jan 2025 (*** 01)

I am writing this out of sheer frustration after more than 18 months of silence and being passed from agent to agent by Budget Insurance.

We have full comprehensive insurance with Budget. On 12 January 2025, our 2022 Renault Triber was written off in a collision caused entirely by an out-of-control third-party truck carrying iron ore (Claim Number: ***1).

Despite paying for comprehensive cover:

We paid the R11,800 excess immediately, yet we were left without even a courtesy vehicle while stranded after the accident.

All third-party police dockets (Vanrhynsdorp SAPS, AR 02/01/2025), incident sketches, and authorisations were submitted to the recoveries team back in March 2025.

Budget initially claimed the logistics company owner was uninsured, and later that his lawyers would handle the matter.

It is now September 2026. As comprehensive policyholders, we entrusted Budget to handle the subrogation and recover our excess. Instead, the recovery has been completely abandoned with zero communication. Whenever we call, we get bounced between agents who have no answers.

We demand that a senior recoveries manager contact us immediately with:

A formal written status report on the legal recovery against the responsible logistics company.

The legal representative details on record for the third party.

An immediate resolution regarding the refund of our R11,800 excess.

If this matter is not resolved promptly, we will take our complaint directly to the National Financial Ombud Scheme (NFO) for breach of Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) principles.