Ghosted by Discovery

My mom and aunt were traveling in my aunt's car in the evening following some rain on Christmas Day when they followed a number of cars and accidently drove into some water. No other car before them had an issue but unfortunately my aunt's car stalled and stopped in its tracks. They were able to contact Discovery Insure as they are the insurer in this case who ordered a tow truck which collected the car and took it to its the allocated Discovery yard.

Discovery took a couple of weeks to get the process of getting an assessor to assess the damages however, we understood as it was the festive holidays. However, once their assessor did assess the damage, apparently to the engine, it was declared a write-off by Discovery in January who all but forced my aunt to follow through with the write-off process. When she refused, she was informed that Discovery would then require that she have the car collected from the yard and provide them with a quote not exceeding the write-off value for the repair of the damage.

This process was followed however, when the service provider my aunt had asked to assess the damage saw the engine, he discovered that the engine had been damage significantly more than what some water would do - it in fact had physical damage showing broken parts which could not have been caused by water. (Photos of the damage can be provided.) He however provided a quote for the repair which was well below the figure Discovery said it would cover for the repair (based on the write-off value).

Since that was provided to Discovery Insure, there has been complete radio silence. In fact, she has since received correspondence indicating that her policy has been cancelled without her consent effective from 25 December 2022. She in fact vehemently refused to cancel her policy until such time as her claim was finalised and paid by Discovery. (Recordings to this effect can be accessed.) No one has responded to any email follow ups from my aunt and no one will assist anymore. Discovery has ghosted my aunt after years of receiving premiums from her.

We are ready to proceed with a case with the Ombudsman as this cannot proceed. My aunt is injured and on pension and has been without a car since 25 December 2023 and can not proceed any longer without a car. I cannot believe an insurer as large as Discovery would be so unprofessional and dishonest.