Pineapple is the worst insurance

I genuinely regret insuring my car with Pineapple.1 star is generous, their service is way below average.

I was involved in an accident on 27 August 2026. Pineapple arranged through First Help for my vehicle to be towed to Renew-It Randburg, and the experience since then has been an absolute nightmare since then.

It is now 10 September and my car has still not been repaired. In fact, at this point I do not even have any confidence that anyone knows exactly what is happening with my vehicle.

Every time I contact Renew-It, I get a different story. Sometimes they cannot see my vehicle on their system. Other times I am told they are waiting for something from Pineapple before they can proceed. I then contact Pineapple and am told that, once the claim has been processed, it is my responsibility to communicate with the repairer. I go back to Renew-It and am told that they cannot proceed because they are waiting for additions, authorisation or some other requirement from Pineapple.

So where exactly does that leave me, the paying customer, other than being sent back and forth between two companies that are apparently incapable of communicating with each other?

What makes this even more frustrating is that NOBODY calls me with updates. I have to constantly follow up myself, making multiple calls in a day, using my own airtime just to try to find out what is happening with my own car. Meanwhile, I am spending money I genuinely do not have on Ubers to get to and from work because I have no vehicle.

The lack of communication is honestly shocking. This is not some insignificant item sitting in for repairs. People rely on their cars to work and live their lives. If there is a delay, tell me. If Pineapple needs to authorise something, tell me. If Renew-It needs something from Pineapple, then communicate with each other. Why am I being forced to act as the middleman between an insurer and the repairer that the insurer arranged?

This is also unfortunately not my first terrible experience wwith Pineapple. After a previous accident involving a vehicle that hit me and fled, I was told I would have to pay approximately R12,400 (double my excess) becausesimply because it was a single vehicle accident. Mind you, this was damage under R3000,00. I cancelled that claim. I should have cancelled the policy then (which I will as soon as I get my car back, if I ever get it). I should have cancelled when a friend told me that they paid her in takealot vouchers.

I have now lost money on transport, airtime and the sheer amount of time I have spent chasing people for information that should have been communicated to me without me having to beg for it. They also lie about calling you back, both them and Renew-It. Yes I am faulting them for the terrible service from Renew-It as well since that is their pick, which makes ut frustrating when they tell me that I am responsible for checking with Renew-It. Renew-It is not my mechanic, they work with Pineapple and Pineapple should be responsible for ensuring my car gets fixed and comes back to me as it was when they towed it.

The most infuriating part is that the damage to my car is relatively minor. At this rate, am I supposed to wait a year for minor accident damage to be repaired?

I am beyond frustrated. I pay for insurance precisely so that when something goes wrong, I have assistance. Instead, this entire process has created an additional financial and emotional burden for me.

Based on my experience, I cannot recommend Pineapple. If you are considerining insuring your vehicle with them, please think very carefully about what happens when you actually need to claim. Selling an insurance policy is easy. The real test is how an insurer treats you after an accident, when you actually need their help.

Right now, I simply want someone to take responsibility, tell me where my car is, tell me exactly what is outstanding, and give me a realistic date for when I am getting my vehicle back.