5 Months of hell

It has been a while since this happened and I have had some time to think about posting this, and careful consideration, I decided that people should hear this and draw their own conclusions. This is a record I kept over the time I dealt with this claim over a period of 5 Months. In the end Outsurance was the biggest, most costly mistake I even made as I will not be able to afford another car like this in the near future.

OUTsurance Claim Progress

07/02/2021 Lodged accident with OUTsurance claim ***8/02/2021 Send email containing video and photos of the accident as proof that I was not at fault. “Good Morning

Please find the attached photos and video of the incident. This was recorded from my dash cam.

Please could you advise if I can take my wife in for a medical check-up as she has some residual pain from the incident that got a little troublesome this morning?

Kind Regards Ernst Moolman”

10/02/2021 Received assessor report, clearly stating that the car needed to be stripped for a complete assessment. I requested that the quote be done to assess the damage properly.

11/02/2021 Received a call informing me that the car will be towed and a comprehensive strip and quote will be done. Email snipped below. “Good Day.

As per our conversation earlier, I cannot accept the original assessment quote as the car needs to be stripped and checked for mechanical damage due to the impact on the suspension and the possibility of damage to the transmission etc. I have been informed that you will have the car towed, stripped and re-quoted with a comprehensive quotation.”

16/02/2021 Car has not left the yard yet. Email requesting status below. “Good day

Please can you confirm when my car will be delivered for them to start the process? It has not left the yard since last week.

Thank you Regards Ernst”

18/02/2021 This would have dragged, but I went to the panel beaters and discovered that they had no instruction to collect my car so I called OUTsurance to find out why. OUTsurance emailed me that they had the wrong email address for the panel beaters. Thus, instructions to tow the car was not received. “Good day Mr Johann Ernst Moolman Sir I tried to call but your phone is now on voicemail, I called the panel beater apparently we had the wrong email address but have sent the all the stuff on our side , sir I have asked Micheal regarding the rental vehicle , he will just confirm on his side Thank you Regards Eulanda Buthelezi Tel: 27-12 ***” 01/03/2021 Requested an update and made it clear that I did not want aftermarket or body putty work done on the car. Was also informed that the third party did not have rental option so I would have to either use my policy, thus losing my OUT bonus and paying an excess as my policy did have a rental option or I would have to do without it. I chose to loan a car instead as I did not want to use my policy for an incident that was not my fault in any way. “Hi Michael We are now moving into the 4`th week of this claim. Please could you let me know how long it is going to take to get this quotation done so that we can make a decision regarding the repairs and/or if I should start looking for a replacement. Please can you also ensure that the parts quoted are new Audi original parts and not second-hand or after-market parts and that the body work will not contain body putty work. I would also appreciate a copy of the Quotation and Mechanical report for my own records. “ 03/03/2021 Went in to check on the car and found out that OUTsurance had authorised repairs rather then requesting a quote as agreed. Email to OUTsurance below. “Hi Mercy and Michael Please see the below correspondence with Farisani for your reference. As you can see this has been going on for some time and it took OUTsurance a week just to get the car to paint-a-car from the yard.

As stated, the car was meant to go in for a comprehensive damage report and quotation, yet somehow, they received instructions to go ahead with repairs of the quote I rejected for reasons stated below even though I was informed that a proper quotation would be done. Furthermore, there are parts quoted as "second hand" which should be quoted as new. I understand if the parts are not available on the market and other arrangements need to be made, but to quote on second hand parts does not justify an accurate damage costing and nobody could guarantee the quality of second-hand parts.

I have spoken to paint-a-car and have arranged for them to do the quotation as OUTsurance must have given them the incorrect instructions. They said that they will go ahead and do a complete quotation and that they will be in contact with OUTsurance directly.

I assume OUTsurance will update me on the progress as we go from here.

Thank you Kind regards Ernst Moolman “

19/03/2021 Was informed that OUTsurance authorised the Audi original parts and that the parts will take a few weeks to arrive. My email to OUTsurance below.

“Good Morning

I have been informed that the parts for my car are on order, and I will await the repairs.

I do however need to query when I can expect the refund of the medical expenses I submitted?

Thank you Regards Ernst Moolman “

23/03/2021 After sending multiple emails with no response I phoned OUTsurance and received this information. I was informed that the third party will not be paying for my medical expenses, but if I wanted to, I could claim on my policy but would lose my OUT Bonus as a result. I opted to pay the expenses myself as they were not very expensive.

07/04/2021 After waiting for the parts for the car I was informed by the repair shop that the parts had been received and that I should expect my car to be completed by the 22`rd or 23`rd of April. So, I waited.

23/04/2021 After requesting updates on my car during the week and not receiving response from the repair shop, I decided to check on the car myself. This email followed to OUTsurance.

“Good Morning

I feel I have been very patient up to this point but frankly this is starting to become a big problem.

I am very unhappy with the service I am receiving too thus far. It has been almost 3 Months since the accident and I still don’t have a car. The repair shop gave me an ETA of today or tomorrow after having to wait two weeks for parts.

I decided to physically check on the car myself this morning, and I can say that I am not happy in the least. The car is not even close to being repaired. Even though I emailed and I specified that I did not want my car Body Puttied, and that I wanted the car back with Audi Original parts, it seems that my requests were vain. The repair shop even tried to hide the fact that they were using body putty until I finally managed to get him to admit that they were going to have to use it to "repair" the door and bonnet of my car. Misleading someone is the same as lying to them and I don’t take likely to that.

Here is the content of my email I sent in this regard dated 01/03/2021

"------ Original Message ------ From: "Ernst Moolman" <***> To: "MICHAEL MULIDI" <***> Sent: 2021/03/01 07:57:49 Subject: Re: Claims Notepad - ***/OT***3 (MR JE MOOLMAN)

Hi Michael

We are now moving into the 4`th week of this claim. Please could you let me know how long it is going to take to get this quotation done so that we can make a decision regarding the repairs and/or if I should start looking for a replacement. Please can you also ensure that the parts quoted are new Audi original parts and not second-hand or after-market parts and that the body work will not contain body putty work. I would also appreciate a copy of the Quotation and Mechanical report for my own records.

Thank you Regards Ernst Moolman"

I feel that if this matter cannot be resolved in a professional manner, I will have to enlist the services of the OSTI to resolve this as I feel that being told that I must simply except the repairs and that I have no right to decide how these repairs are done is unacceptable.

Please update me as a matter of urgency.

Thank you, Regards Ernst Moolman”

22/03/2021 15:46pm Received this email from OUTsurance

“Good day Your mail below refers Management is busy with your query. I will give your feedback as soon as I get feedback, it should be tomorrow before 12 Regards

Farisani Mulidi *** ***

23/03/2021 13:47PM I mailed OUTsurance again.

“Good Afternoon Farisani

I have not received any feedback as yet.

Thank you Regards Ernst “

Received no response.

26/04/2021 07:13am I emailed again.

“Good Morning.

I have not received any calls or emails as you stated I would last week.

Please could you update me on this?

Thank you Regards Ernst” Received no response again so I called and spoke to Farisani. And this time I was informed that OUTsurance intends to penalize me because the repair shop had already started “repairing to panels” that should not have been repaired with body putty in the first place and that I will be held responsible for the costs incurred thus far. This all seems very wrong as I had clearly stated to both OUTsurance and the Repair Shop that I did not want body putty on my car. This car is made of aluminum alloy and as such will last for years to come and I insured the car as such. Using putty on the car will not last and I intend to drive the car for many years to come.

28/04/2021 12:48pm Call to Farisani --- unavailable will call me back

***

Wed 2021/04/28 16:22 Sent another email.

“Good Afternoon Farisani.

I phoned and left a message for you to call me, but I have not received one nor have I received a response to my email requesting an update.

Please can you update me on the progress?

Thank you Regards Ernst “

2021/04/29 07:53 Received a call from Farisani informing me that they have received the quotation on the panels (that should have been in the quotation from the repair shop originally) and will update me on how we are to proceed from this point onwards.

2021/04/30 07:33 No update received yet. Another week has now passed and I don’t know where we stand at this point.

2021/04/30 16:15 +- Received a call that the Panels have been approved and that the panel beaters have been instructed to order the Panels

2021/05/05 Requested an update on the progress of my car. Got no response.

2021/05/06 Requested an update again. 2021/05/06 Received a response from the Panel Beaters that indicated that they only ordered the panels that day “A week after they got the go ahead from OUTsurance” And that it will take a further 5 Working days to get the Panels.

2021/05/14 Received a call from the Panel beaters to inform me that they had received the Panels the day before and would like me to bring my car in on Monday for them to work on. “They did not even know that my car had been standing with them for over 2 Months already” 2021/05/18 10:02am Requested an update on the progress of my car. Also called Farisani Mulidi and requested an update. He said he would call them and find out what is going on and call me back with an update.

2021/05/18 11:06am Received a call from Farisani informing me that he had contacted the repair shop and that they should hopefully be completing my car sometime this week.

2021/05/20 07:59am Sent Email to find out if we are still on track for my car to be completed this week.

2021/05/20 16:06pm Sent another email requesting the status as I did not receive a response.

2021/05/20 16:08pm Received a response that my car is in painting and they will update me further tomorrow. I can only assume that yet again they have delayed the repairs as it has been an entire week since the panels where received. I sent an email enquiring what further work was still outstanding as by now they most certainly should have completed all the other work on the car as those parts were received weeks ago and the car has been with them for months.

IN THE END I REVEICED MY CAR BACK IN SUCH A BAD STATE THAT NOT EVEN WIPER BLADES WORKED, THEY WERE BENT AND INOPARATIVE AND THE CAR WAS IN A STATE, EVEN THE BACK SEAT THAT WAS NOWHERE NEAR DAMAGED, WAS BROKEN. THE CAR WAS SO BAD AND UNSTABLE ON THE ROAD THAT IN THE END, AFTER ANOTHER INSPECTION BY ANOTHER ASSESSOR, THE CAR WAS SC****D. I LOST YEARS OF DOWNPAYMENTS NOT TO MENTION THE DOWNPAYMENTS I MADE WHILE THE CAR WAS IN FOR REPAIRS.

I HAVE SINCE CANCELED ALL POLICIES (CAR, LIFE AND HOUSEHOLD) WITH OUTSURANCE AND WILL NEVE AGAIN RETURN TO OUTSURANCE.