Santam does not care about third party claimants

On the 22nd of February 2019, I had a car accident with an employee of a client of Santam. The guy bumped into my car with an 18 haul truck, and damaged my right side mirror. On the 23rd of February 2019, I went to the police station to report the incident, and was given a case number.

I was in talks with the guy, until I realized that he did not want the employer to know of the incident. It was then that I stopped communicating with the guy, and contacted and informed his employer directly.

The employer asked me to provide details of what transpired, as well as pictures with evidence of the damage, as well as a third-party-claimant form. This I completed and sent back to the employer.

I thereafter was informed that my case had been forwarded to the broker, who thereafter informed me that my case was forwarded to Santam and I was given the details of who would assist me. His name is Andre Louw.

I expected him to communicate with me as he was copied in the email I received from the broker. He did not. Whenever I would all his number, it would ring unattended. I thereafter contacted him after a week via email, and only then did he inform me of what was needed for my case to be dealt with. He requested I complete the Santam third party claimant form, provide a brief description of what happened, send pictures of the car, and obtain 2 quotations, which I did. I tried a countless number of times to get a hold of Andre, to no end. I ended up being in contact with a lady from Santam who was attending to my case on behalf of Andre Louw (Glenn-Cia Maggot). She asked for documents that I had already sent to Andre, and was also asking for information on a piece-meal basis. When I write an email following up on the progress of my case, she would ask for a certain document. Eventually, on the 29th of August 2019, she confirmed that all documents needed had been received by them, and they would forward my case to an assessor. The assessor also did not communicate anything with me, until I followed up on 01 November 2019. The assessor informed me that "Please be advised that we have closed our file, after informing the broker that your damages falls within the client’s excess applicable. We therefore suggest you discuss this with the broker or client."

What was the run around for? Why did they not make any contact with me, except when I was following up? Why would they close my case without informing me?

I am very disappointed in the manner in which Santam treated me as a third party claimant, and to date my case has still not been resolved. Nine months later!!! I will never consider Santam as an insurance of choice, as they treated me like I did not matter. Had I known they would give me the runaround, I would have rather gotten my insurer to fix the damage and then claim from Santam. I am not impressed, at all!!!