IMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS WHEN HIRING A 4X4 IN NAMIBIA

On 30 September 2014, my wife and I were in our hired 4x4 Nissan bakkie when it swerved off the gravel road and rolled just outside Omaruru, about 150 kms north of Windhoek. Despite some bad injuries, we are thankful to be alive, probably due to the relatively low speed at which we were travelling - 100kms per hour - and the fact that we had our seat belts on.<br> On returning that afternoon to the offices of Camping Car Hire cc in Windhoek, I was shocked to discover that I was being held liable for the full value of the car, approximately R170 000. I had paid an excess of R25000 and had expected that to be the maximum extent of my liability. However, it was pointed out that we had been driving above the company's limit of 80 kms and this made us liable under the negligence clause. I signed my acknowledgement of negligence without thinking clearly what was going on - I was still in shock having had a near-fatal accident a couple of hours before and my wife was lying seriously injured in a hotel room. I paid because I was told that the insurance company would not cover this accident due to us driving over the stipulated limit.<br> During the accident the car had suddenly swerved for no appa