Insured without Peace of Mind

I had a home ******* on 13 February 2019 where my home content was taken including my car which was in the garage at the time. I reported the matter to Discovery on the same day after reporting the matter to the police. The car was recovered by my tracking company within an hour.

I was told by Discovery to not fetch the cat from the police hold and that Discovery would take care of everything. After many days of pushing for updates and getting my claim resolved, someone eventually confirmed they had assessed the car for damaged ammounting to R38 823.90 and that they would be handing my claim over for processing after-which they would send my car to a repair center for some damage which needed to be repaired and for changing locks. At this time the car was still sitting at the pound.

I then waited and waited without progress, My car sitting in unknown conditions and no update until I logged a case on hellopeter. Someone called me the following day to say they were going to followup. I started seeing progress and was contacted by the claims agent assuring me that they would get my car moved from the Police holding pound the same day.

There was no progress for days and I ended up calling the repair center to check if my car had arrived yet. I was shocked to find out It hadn't.

Eventually, my car was uplifted from the police pound and delivered to the repair center on the 12th of March 2019, a day short of I month from the day it was ****** and I lodged the claim. Had I not followed up and made noise, I wonder how much longer it would have taken. Still I received no Word from DIscovery to this day (25th March 2019) about the matter, the repair center had to call me complaining that the car came late in the evening without paperwork and they guessed it was mine.

I decided to go have a look at my car from the repair center and was so shocked to find much more damage than was initialy assesed. The rear bumper was missing, dents, scratches, panels torn off; The car was definitely stripped at the police pound during the month Discovery left it out for prey. Judging from the way it looks and the soil and leaves on the car, it is clear it was left out in the open. The repair center confirmed they had identified at least an additional R83 000 in damages so far.

My car value has depreciated considerably because of Discovery's don't care attitude. Even if the repair center was to identify and fix every single possible item damaged during the theft and in the month it was kept in the open for everyone to strip, the car will never be the same. People ask for part replacement history from Mercedes Benz when they buy these cars and they will always know what the car went through when I decide to sell, this has a huge knock on the value. Everyone who knows cars well will always spot a changed bumper, body panel, paintwork done on the body etc. None of these value depreciating repairs would never have to be done had Discovery done what I pay for every month.

I am not prepared to lose so much money in car value because of someone's negligence. Discovery should Settle the car and keep it. I am not prepared to pay any shortfall should they decide to write the car off either. I will be taking this matter to the Ombudsman in 7 days should it not be resolved by then.

I haven't had a car for a month and from the way things are going don't expect it back for 2 more. I have had to go buy another car to get along at my own expense. (Still insured it with Discovery)

We pay almost R20 000 to Discovey as a house hold for different products on a monthly basis for peace of mind that should we suffer loss like we did over a Month ago, Discovery will do their part. If I can't trust you to do the right thing with my car insurance, Why should I trust you with my medical insurance, How do I trust you with my Pension? Let alone my Life cover???