Life threatening position with an unsafe, unroadworthy car after claim and ‘repairs’

I have been with naked insurance for almost 3 years now, claim free. 20 years claim free history prior to that. Until June this year, when the right rear wheel area of my car took a direct hit in an accident. I submitted a claim, which was assessed digitally via photographs. I had to take my car to the approved Panelbeaters for them to do a physical assessment thereafter. I had to wait a full month before the claim was finally approved for repairs. The approved quote did not include any wheel, or axle or tyre replacements, so when I queried this with the assessor, I was told that the car would be assessed when it was on the lifts and addressed thereafter.

The car was booked in for repairs, but despite being advised it would take 8 days to repair, it took 3 weeks. The process itself was frustrating, as nobody on either side (insurer or panelbeaters) had any answers as to what was going on and how much longer my car would take to complete repairs. Eventually I was calling the panelbeaters twice daily to get feedback. Once to ask them to call me and secondly to call again to find out why nobody had called me. Time passed and nobody seemed to care.

I queried the status of the axle numerous times, and was told the car went for wheel alignment. I asked about the axle and wheel balancing and the rims and the tyres, but kept on being told the wheel alignment was done. No answer was provided on my query directly. i was told that all repairs had been done and that my car was ready for collection.

When I collected my car, I found a few things that were not done correctly, and a tail light had not been replaced. It was still with broken glass. I was advised that I had to bring my car back in when they received the part, after they had to get approval for that part from the assessor. It had been forgotten off the quote and parts order.

Driving my car away from the panelbeaters, I felt it pulling badly to the left and it was shaking and bouncing around on the road. And after driving the car a short distance thereafter my left rear wheel burst. I was fuming. I was told my car was safe to drive, when in fact it was not.

After paying huge towing fees, and the cost of replacing both rear run flat tyres, as the one was totally destroyed, and the other badly compromised, I took taking my car to an independent tyre place, where the results on the tyre and wheels showed that the toe and camber positions were totally out of spec, and that something on the chassis was causing the car to crab.

The insurance approved panelbeaters, Worcester bakwerke, had not even put my car on the machine to inspect if there was any damage to the chassis, and neither had they nor Tyger wheel and tyre checked any parts of the suspension as had been promised by the insurer and despite my numerous requests during the repair process. Tyger wheel and tyre just ’fixed’ the steering so it would seem like it was driving straight. The panelbeater kept on sending the car for ‘wheel alignment’ and saying everything was fine.

A serious oversight and an omission that put me and my nephew in a life threatening position while driving. I requested that the costs of the towing, and the two replacement tyres to be refunded due to their oversight and gross negligence, but the assessor came back saying the left rear tyre would not be refunded as it was not the side that was hit. The towing and right rear tyre would be refunded. This is still open with them, as they refuse to cover the cost of a tyre that burst after being told the car had been repaired, was safe to drive, but in fact was NOT.

I demanded that my car go to a bmw approved panelbeaters for proper full assessment of the chassis and the suspension. SMG found that the impact side was badly compromised. The rear right rim, shock and controller arms were bent and damaged. This had not even been checked by the original repairer. A huge oversight and omission. The first thing that any panelbeater does is check the suspension and chassis on any engine and wheel impact.

And SMG confirmed that the camber and toes on both left and right rear were out. This was consistently stated as such in every wheel alignment test and report. My independent one done too. This severe camber and toe positions were 100% ignored by the assessor and the panelbeater and the tyre company.

The badly compromised wheel alignment and severe trauma to the suspension was the cause for the left rear tyre bursting in addition to the right rear wheel and rim being damaged by the impact. This has been confirmed by 2 other independent car specialists from the reports that SMG and I have provided.

SMG confirmed with me that they couldn’t determine if setting the camber back to in spec would resolve the left rear suspension issues, but this could be ascertained once the right rear damages had been fixed and eliminated from the equation.

After a 3 weeks process of this assessment , and thereafter arguing with the insurer that they needed to process and handle this additional work as part of the claim process, so that the guarantees and work done is insured by them, and finally getting assessor approval, the repairs to the right rear suspension were completed by SMG, as I refused to go back to their ‘repairer’.

On driving the car for the test for all the new suspension parts, SMG found that the left rear camber popped out again despite being set into its acceptable range. So a follow up quote was sent to the assessor for the left rear controller arms to be replaced as well. The assessor rejected it straight out, with the excuse that the left rear wheel was not the side that took the hit.

It’s now 5.5 months after the accident. I am still without a successfully repaired car. This is impacting adversely on my income earnings, as I use the car for billable client meetings.

Twice the insurers assessor Yusuf has stated that the left rear wheel is not part of the impact, but despite all the findings, and resulting incidents that prove that the left rear was directly impacted on as well as the right rear impact zone, he keeps refusing to fix anything to do with the left rear side.

The whole oversight was that the assessor, the panelbeater and the tyre company ALL concentrated on just fixing the superficial aspects of the impact zone only and DID NOT, and seem to not want to, include the other affected parts that are not visually noticeable.

The insurer has shirked their responsibilities of fixing all the parts affected by the accident, nor have they returned my car to me in a safe roadworthy condition, and on top of that have taken short cuts every step of the way.

The car is unroadworthy in its current state. The car is unsafe to drive. The car has still not effectively been repaired, as per the comprehensive cover I have with naked insurance.

This is pathetic, unprofessional, and unacceptable business practice. I am absolutely fuming. I will not recommend Hollard nor naked insurance to anyone.