Day light *******, lies and dishonest

I was involved in an accident on 22 December 2023 in Ventersdorp, North West. My portifolio is insured with Discovery Insurance. In this case the vehicle in question is a 2022 GWM P-Series bakkie. I contacted Discovery Insurance and they towed the vehicle to a yard in Roodeport, a company called Nation Auctioneers. This was followed by silence from the insurance company until the 2nd January, when they requested for accident details, which I provided promptly.

I requested, and was given a courtesy vehicle on the 23rd December 2023.

What followed this was a lot of stories and lies. I will describe the events below.

I raised my concern upon seeing the assessment report. The assessment did not cover what will be done about the chassis, which is no longer straight, leave to say they are replacing broken parts.

They also highlighted that they will strep the vehicle in order to determine the full extent of damages on the suspension. A follow up request was sent to the insurance company with the additional parts, on the basis that the vehicle had been strapped. I then took the effort to go and check the status of the vehicle on the 26th of January 2024. To my utter shock, I found the vehicle still parked at the same yard at Nation Auctioneers, with the bonnet open, no stripping done, and not even collected by the repairer, a company named Nu Wagon.

The broker, and myself have tried escalating all these unfortunate developments to Discovery and only landing on deaf ears.

Our inspection and observation was that the vehicle assessment was either inaccurate, or biased in order to give the repairer business. The chassis and suspension of the vehicle is damaged and poses a permanent risk of lack of stability post repairs. Focus has been put on replacement of broken body panels, but the methods proposed on the vehicle suspension are highly dangerous and poses a great post repair risk and as the owner I will be left with a great liability and risk of major loss of value.

The insurance company is not taking any due care to the treatment of my vehicle, the appointed repairer is dealing in bad faith and is very dishonest. Requesting additional parts on basis of fabrications, false status updates and incorrect assessments.

I was informed that the courtesy period has lapsed on 26 January and I should return the vehicle I am using. The real delays have never been about the parts, but rather internal bureaucracies, and when we question the behaviour, they refer us to terms and conditions of contract. They are abusing the contract while not delivering:

Below is the breakdown of events from the beginning:

1. Claim registered 23 December 2023 2. Claim reassigned to someone else 27 December 2023 3. Next update from Discovery 2 January 2024 (4 working days later - asking for information that should have been asked for upon registration) 4. The broker intervened on 2 January and nothing was being done by Discovery. 5. 5 January 2024 – we finally were able to get confirmation that the car at Nu Wagon who were only going to open 8 January 2024 (On 26 January we found the vehicle still at the towing yard where it was dumped on 23 December 2023) 6. Assessment only occurred 8 January 2024 – so a full 7 working days since the claim was registered but no report. 7. 10 January 2024 – we receive a mail that Discovery is still completing validations??? 8. 11 January 2024 – we are told that the assessment is done but car is being moved to VDS Autobody for no known reason??? 9. 12 January 2024 – Justin from Discovery sends another email that he is still doing validations on the claim?! 10. 15 January 2024 – claim is finally authorised. 13 working days after the accident and would have taken a lot longer if we as broker were not spending our time phoning discovery, panel beaters, assessors, etc. just about every single day. 11. 17 January 2024 – repairer say they will be stripping the car for 2 days before any repairs commence. 12. 23 January 2024 – email from Dineo stating the vehicle is repair preparation phase – so still no actual repairs done (19 working days later) 13. 24 January 2024 – apology received from repairer. 14. 26 January 2023 – vehicle still found dumped at the towing yard, with bonnet open and rain going into the engine and nothing done.

I need to demand reassessment of the vehicle, and need the vehicle chassis and suspension properly assessed.

The terms mentioned about non-renewal of courtesy period be declared null and void. All delays are on Discovery Insurance.

by Allen Musengezi