A 5-month Claim Nightmare With Miway and my car is still undrivable

I write this with a heavy heart for the service I have received and outcome of claim. I am 6 months pregnant, and that is how long I have had to fight to get my vehicle back and repaired to its former drivable condition. I have had no vehicle and no way to take care of emergencies, attend important appointments as well as being a care giver for my mother during the last 5 months. Lord knows the stress and health issues I have had as a result of the treatment I have received from Miway and the employees mentioned below.

On 22 September 2024, I was involved in an accident where a third-party crashed into my 2017 Kia Rio (Registration JD54GPGP). The claim was approved. And that's when the nightmare and little to no communication began from the claim handler Doctor Mafisa as well as the head assessor responsible Justin Burts.

The claim was only approved on 3 October 2024 with my preferred/selected repairer being MAG.

On 9 October 2023 Ayanda Mtetwa at MAG communicated with me stating with frustration stating that Miway had canceled authorisation for MAG to proceed with repairs. Donovan Reddy had canceled prior authorisation for MAG to repair my vehicle as per my request and authorised Sleeq Auto against my will. They didn’t want MAG to uplift the vehicle from Sleeq Auto and gave MAG delaying tactics.

On 9 October 2023 I had to be involved (as a client) between the tug-of-war between Miway giving MAG authorisation to uplift the vehicle from Sleeq Auto which had already caused stress and delays, authorisation was eventually granted after I expressed my confusion and frustration regarding why the initial authorisation was canceled in the first place.

The vehicle arrived at MAG with missing parts as per feedback received from Gerhard Olivier from MAG. This caused frustration for Gerhard because there was a delay in even finding a suitable bumper for my vehicle make due to the vehicle arriving at MAG missing a front bumper.

On 1 November 2023, Marice Tucker from Miway escalated a complaint from the MAG to Quinton Starkey, where MAG has not been able to contact Justin Burts for a month regarding authorisation for the order of parts on the vehicle. Quinton Starkey escalated the issue to Happy Sigcu. On 2 November 2023 Happy Sigcu assisted MAG with their delay in receiving authorisation for the ordering of parts Justin Burts on responded to MAG with authorisation on 2 November 2023 after the involvement of all the aforementioned employees from Miway.

MAG stripped the car and found additional damage and informed Miway. Miway delayed giving authorisation for additional parts. MAG contacted me and expressed their distress at receiving no communication after trying to get a hold of Justin Burts on numerous occasions and requested that I take up the matter with my insurer. Justin Burts never apologized for any inconveniences caused to me as a client and instead denied the claim from MAG about him being unreachable, and only sent authorisation for additionals on 15 November 2023. Throughout my claim I have contacted Justin Burts multiple times and left numerous messages for him to get back to me with feedback for my claim but he ignored all messages left by me, the same sentiments gi for Doctor Mafisa. Both Doctor and Justin never contacted since the vehicle arrived at the repairer on 9 October 2023 until today 27 February 2024 regarding the delays in authorizing repairs on my claim. The repairer

The only update or courtesy call I received from Miway since 22 September 2023 regarding my claim, was on 14 February 2024 from a call center stating that an inspector has inspected my car 5 months after the car was towed. However no contacted to go over the detail of the inspection or lease with regarding my complaint about the car being undrivable. The fact of the matter is that the inspector made unfounded claims that my vehicle had an engine prior to the accident. Which is false because my vehicle has full service history with the last service being from Kia East Rand in July 2024. The car was stripped and stayed away from my possession and sight for 4 months and anything could have happened to the vehicle between the day it was towed until the date when the inspection happened. Kia Menlyn released a report that the issue with vehicle is accident related (See attached document) however the inspection report does not include any testimony from Kia and myself regarding the condition of the car pre and post accident. The report simply denies all ownership towards ensuring that I receive a vehicle that is in driveable condition as it was prior to the accident.

Ruan from the repairer is the one that contacted me regarding the specialist report from Miway which excludes feedback from Kia ad well as myself, whereas no one from Miway called me to explain this report. Ruan from he repairer MAG, informed me that they will have to tow the vehicle to Kia and I would incur the towing costs should I want my vehicle back.

I am at the end of my willpower as i have faught with everything inside if me to get my vehicle back in a state that i can use as it was prior to 22 September 2023. I have not defaulted and spend R1 900 on premiums at Miway every month however I am left in the cold without a vehicle that I can drive after a nightmare of 5 months. I feel that Miway has undermined me a single black woman who knows nothing about cars and has used this as leverage to confidently give me an outcome to my claim that leaves my car in an undrivable state. Who will protect us single black women to continue getting such mistreatment from insurers even when we pay high premiums and put all of our trust in insurers resolving our accidents?

The whole ordeal with this claim has left me emotionally, physically and financially crippled by the treatment I have received from Miway. I have experience ongoing health issues during my pregnancy die to the stress and lack of sleep I have gotten due to the unfair treatment i have received from Miway. Miway has abused my trust and has had no remorse for wanting to rush and finalize a claim for a car that is undrivable.

Regards Nokuthula Thabede