you could be on your own

<p>I was involved in a car accident in March 2017. The evidence and witness proves the 3rd party was 100% at fault. The 3rd party has no license or insurance but own's a 2011 VW Polo potentially worth more than my vehicle. <br /><br />My damages were R10650; I had to pay a 9k excess (i was aware of this) to have my car repaired. <br />Since then (now the 26th July) i have called Dial Direct around 20 times to regain my excess. They have given up on reclaiming any amount from the 3rd party as clearly I have paid 90% of the damages and their legal costs in chasing won't be worth their while (how it looks)<br /><br />Instead; i lost my bucks back bonus and also had my premiums raised by R200 (managed to negiaote it to a R100 increase). The reality though is I lost R9000 and will have to pursue this with the 3rd party almost as if I was not paying R900+ per month on Insurance already. (with a 9.3k excess). I have lost endless time and money trying to stress over this. <br /><br />Each time I call dial direct I get a new story and they not shy about mentioning it could have took 3 years to 'possibly'recover some of my money. I then asked them to send me the documents (final Demand) so I can consult the small claims court; 5 minutes later I recieve the email confirmation that Dial Direct has withdrawn from attempting to pursue the 3rd party.</p> <p> </p> <p>Question is im 9k in debt; what if the next uninsured and unlicensed driver knocks into me? Then I am bankrupt without any fault of my own. I pay my insurance on time. Rather than putting blame on Dial Direct (since I signed a contractual agreement); rather let the reader of this make up their own mind if the process I went through was fair.</p> <p><br />I am still in debt paying back interest and taking leave from work for car repairs and to deal with this small claims court case. Just confused as why comprehensive Insurance is compulsory on a financed car (that I am paying each month) . It has made my last few months a nightmare. Besides that the court advised me we need to restart the Letter of demand process as I am only claiming back R9000 rather than the Dial Direct requested amount of R10650.</p>