Vehicle Accident

Momentum service has proven to be a horrible experience for my first accident! I had a car accident on the 3/11/2017 and received great service with the logging of my claim as this was my first accident however my experience with Momentum changed drastically with the appointed panel beating company: Durban Panel beaters. I was advised that the ETA was 15 to 20 working days. The vehicle remained at the panel beating company for over a month as parts were on “back order”. When in fact the panel beating company ordered parts in continuous dribs and drabs. There should be someone who understands the basic exterior of the vehicle at the onset when ordering parts.

On the 23 December I contacted the panel beating company for a courtesy vehicle or my vehicle as they did not meet their deadline; more so because I received communication that the shocks that they were waiting for was received days ago. Hours later I was messaged that my vehicle was ready to be fetched. I then received a call from them and called back and was advised that the vehicle went through “QC” and they picked up that one part was missing but the vehicle is drivable and that they were going to order the grill and I need to bring the vehicle in to fit it once it arrives. I go to the panel shop to take delivery of the vehicle and find out that two parts are in fact missing on the vehicle and that they will be ordered that day. This was absolutely ridiculous! The doors were fitted weeks back and how can one not notice that there’s no rubber prior to the day of taking delivery? How can you miss the grill of an SUV when its right in front of the vehicle? The vehicle had undergone “quality checks” yet they did not pick up that the bonnet was not aligned properly and my spare tyre in the boot was filthy and in a pathetic condition until we checked the vehicle. My tow bar light was also not adjusted and put in order.

I logged a complaint with momentum regarding the panel beating company on the 23/12/2017 and was advised that I will receive feedback and a callback that I requested by the 27/12/2017 when the procurement staff are back in the office. I received no communication regarding my complaint to date but a letter advising me of a R326.17 increase on my current premium. On 2/1/2018 I called momentum to follow up on the complaint and the sudden increase on my premium as the vehicle is 4 months and the premium remains the same for 12 months. I was advised that they were short staffed due to the festive period and my complaint has been assigned 25 minutes ago to someone and that the panel beating company is closed. (This is understandable but why didn’t somebody let me know instead of setting a false expectation and making one feel that days have gone by and my complaint was being ignored?!) I was then transferred to customer services regarding the increase in premium communication and was advised that my premium will increase by R227.09 due to a discount and that a quote is not valid for 12 months but on the duration of my contract with Momentum. My experience with Momentum is starting to turn into a really bad one. I would understand if the premium remained fixed but to increase a vehicle premium for an asset that’s depreciating other insurance companies don’t do that and I can name one that I have been with previously where the premium reduced annually! And if that was the case I would have cancelled my previous policy with Momentum and started a new one from the quote of the new vehicle had I known it was not going to be fixed for 12 months!