A Nightmare!!Just doesnt care about the client!!

I had an accident on 15 June. My car was collected on the 19 by Discovery personnel for further assessment. During this process the investigating officer asked me questions around the accident and requested for bank statements and all contact details of the people I was with on the day which I duly provided.

I was assigned a consultant by the name of Bianca Manaka as my person of contact on the 19th of June, which was the last time I spoke to her. For the next month I had to chase up Discovery for feedback on the progress of my car which led me to lay my first formal complaint about how drawn out and inconsiderate to the client the process was. Spoke to the manager named Posh who assured me that the process was taking this long because they wanted to be as thorough as possible when assessing the car.

Spoke to the investigating officer by the name of Johan Small who informed me that the engine on my vehicle had ceased and they need to have an engine specialist to have a look at the engine to determine whether I was culpable for the damage caused. After two weeks I received feedback from Johan stating that the specialist had cleared me as being responsible he just needed the report from him which would take a few days.

Few days later Johan calls me and says they have looked at the car and they see that the engine has been performance enhanced. Reason cited is that the exhaust system on the car had been decatalysed(catalytic converters removed). I tell him the cat delete has nothing to do with the engine and it only affects the exhaust note and in any case this is the condition the car was in when I was on-boarded as their client. So all this should have been raised then. Nothing had been done to the car since.

He reassured me that they would consider this when deliberating on whether to honour my claim. The following day I go to where discovery had stored my car, Nu-wagon Autobody to inspect my car personally given that I hadnt seen it in over a month and a half at this stage.

Get to Nu-Wagon and they tell me they do not know the location of my car as it was not showing up on their systems. After searching their yard they direct me to another part of the building for further assistance. Upon my arrival at that department to my surprise, I am informed that there is a tow truck from Discovery there to collect my car as it had been written off and was due to be delivered to an auction house to be auctioned off.

I refuse to authorise the decision as I had not be consulted by Discovery about their decision. We get on the phone with Discovery and Johan and they both say they have not sent anyone or authorised the car to be written off. The lady assisting me from Nu-Wagon informs me that this happens more frequently than I could imagine and had I not pitched on the day my car would have been sold off.

She went on to say that people within these insurance companies will send towers to collect the cars that they want to purchase for themselves at reduced prices and leave the panel beater shops to explain themselves to irate consumers who have had their vehicles sold off without their knowledge. I laid my second formal complaint on this day with Discovery.

A week later I get a call from Johan and he confirms that Discovery will not validate my claim and stated material non-disclosure as the reason for their decision. I was told that had Discovery known about the exhaust system they would not have taken me on as a client. He said they would reimburse me my premiums for the duration of my policy and I had to make arrangements with Discovery about collecting my car.

So after about 2 months of them looking into my financial records on the day of the incident to determine whether I was drunk, which failed and them hiring a engine specialist to try prove that I was somehow responsible for the damage which also failed, they resort to the exhaust system being tempered with.

If that is not enough I took delivery of my car and the car had a big scratch on the driver's side door. When the specialist disassembled the engine to assess it, it was not put together back to its original condition. The car now has loose tubes and wiring dangling from the undercarriage and is filthy. Pity we cannot upload pictures on here so you can see the state the car was in when it was collected on 15 June 2019 compared to today. Shocking!

So I am disgusted at the lengths that have been taken to try worm themselves out validating my claim and appalled at the level of service which we pay handsomely for in premiums because we think that when we need them they will be there to assist.

If you value your sanity and overall health, do not get cover from this sham of a company. All they care about is your money