Outsurance complaints department does not care to resolve complaints!

We bought a brand-new Nissan Magnite in July 2022. On 14 August 2022 the vehicle was in an accident where a taxi skipped the light. Outsurance approved for repairs to be done and sent our vehicle to Laborius for the repairs. There was minimum body damage, but the sump was badly damaged. I noticed on Hello Peter that Laborius had many bad reviews and we mentioned this to Outsurance, they assured us that the repairs will be done in a professional way.

The repairs took quite long, over a month (in which time we received the courtesy vehicle from Outsurance as per our policy) as they were waiting for parts on back order. On follow ups from our side, Laborius kept on finding “new” problems just as they received the parts. This happened a few times. I raised concern with Outsurance as to how it is possible for them to keep finding new faults every time they receive more parts. I questioned if Laborius is doing proper inspections and fault finding from the get-go, or do they just repair as they go? This also caused the claim amount to grow as the extra parts was not quoted for in the beginning.

In the meantime, we had to return the coutesy vehicle as outsurance insisted that our policy covers a courtesy vehicle for 30 days only and they do not take responsibility if there is a delay in delivery of parts. I mean, if their suppliers (Laborius) did a proper job as to what needed to be repaired, the parts could have been ordered long ago, they also ordered wrong parts and had to wait again for the correct parts. I had to take unpaid leave and had no answers as to what timeline we are looking at. Eventually after many fights, Outsurance gave us some discount on our access in order to assist with Uber.

Eventually we got our car back from Laborius. I went to fetch the car, they showed me the car and sent me to do the paper work while they pulled my car up in front of the gate. I left and went straight home. When my husband came home, we decided to take the car for a test drive. The minute the car was in reverse gear there was an extremely loud vibration. We took the car back to Laboruis early the next morning, they said an engine mounting was loose and later on they said that the engine mounting was bent, and they needed to once again order parts and we waited another week for the repairs to be done. Just as a side note, when I went to fetch the car, it was parked with the nose facing the inside of the repair shop, they reversed the car in order to park it in front of the gate for me. When I asked them how they did not hear or feel the vibration, they simply said someone else in the workshop took the car out.

So, we got the car back for the second time and all seemed well, we drove the car for 1 day and while driving on the highway a bolt came loose and shot off of the car along with some plate. We phoned Laborius and they sent a lowbed to come fetch the car. Now, no one is able to say what happened or how that bolt came loose. Laborius is taking responsibility for this, and Nissan will repair the vehicle.

Laborius gave us a courtesy car that overheats and constantly needs oil. Nissan ordered the parts and said that whatever is on back order may take up to 21 days before they receive the parts. We are now on day 20 and Nissan informed us that they are still waiting on some of the parts. I informed Outsurance that we have a family vacation from the 25th of this month and we need our car back before then as the vacation was paid for long in advance.

Outsurance is blatantly ignoring us. I have phoned, emailed, left messages but no one is getting back to us. When you do get hold of someone, they always want to refer you to the next person and the one you are dealing with is never available. What gets me the most is that we are paying R1000 pm for the last 3 months, now going for the fourth month, to Outsurance for a vehicle that is stripped down to parts and nothing is being done. They cannot even give us a timeline on how long the repairs can take once they do have all the parts.

I have even begged them to rather do a write off so that we can just get a new car and go on with our lives (this car was only driven for 5 weeks!) They insist the claim is too low, but get this…The claim started on almost R80k on original quote from Laborius then it grew to R130k from all the additional parts that Laboruis ordered. Now the last incident with the bolt that came loose is not even added to our claim, Laborius is claiming that from their insurance who is, guess who…OUTSURANCE!!! This claim is already on R50k for the parts alone as confirmed by Nissan. The engineering costs is still undetermined. If it was added to our claim, the amount would have been sufficient to declare a write off. When I asked them how this even makes sense, they said that they will do a full inspection after the repairs and then decide if they will declare the vehicle a write off or not. This made even less sense and I asked them how do they want to pay over R200k for repairs and parts and then only decide to write off the car??? Lebo Magase, the agent handling this matter stated that it’s not making sense to her either, but this is the process that they need to follow. Even on my Outsurance app it shows the claim is finalized but noting is finalized or done!

Outsurance is making me and my husband out as fools. This is completely unacceptable. They use unreliable suppliers and then they hide behind policies and weak excuses!