Santam Insurance refusing to settle the damages in my car Caused by Link Me Transport their Client

To all Santam Client’s

I was involved in a motor vehicle accident on the 29th May 2019 where a bus “LINK – ME Bus Services Client of Santam reversed into my vehicle causing various damages to the front side of the vehicle. From there I was requested to obtain two quotes from the Panel Beaters which I did, see below quotes.

o Quote 1 = R46,404.55. o Quote 2 = R48,300.49.

After submission of the above quotes no one come back to me, until at the end of July I started to enquire whereby I was referred to Jacobus from Santam at Pretoria, see below correspondence. On the 7th August I received an e-mail from Mogamat with payment offering of R 21 002.76, and I immediately logged a complaint to the payment pay-out which was not even close to the quotes I submitted. After few days Jacobus come to me and advised me that I must take back the vehicle to Classic Panel beaters to strip the car again and they will immediately pay the balance.

With my faith I took the vehicle back, and as instructed second quotes for the balance was send back to Santam but was rejected and I was told that they will need to strip the vehicle again. My Car was then damaged more and more due for being stripped time and again, and I had no choice but to comply as my wish was to get my car repaired. After a week I called their office again and I was instructed that someone will come to assess my vehicle which he did and never come back to me nor the panel beater Team, and after enquiring again I was referred to someone else “Anton” from Santam cape town who send me the feedback mentioning that Santam will not pay the balance. And the tone of his e-mail was having this word they will defend, that means there was no considerations of the damages on my car, as I take it I was played so that I must lose hope and forget about my claim. But I followed it up until now hence the outcome is really not fair and displaying Santam as a misleading business.

With regret, sad and frustrated – I would like to appeal to you all outside there that before you join Santam think about my story. How will you feel if it was you, there is a lot of Insurance companies to consider, I really thought Santam will treat my claims fairly but this proofs to me that nothing can stop them from treating anyone like this as well. see below all communication from Santam as well.

Regards.

Jongy Mathebula.

*** ........................................................................................................................................................... the below e- mail came from Anton - Cape Town Office.

W.O.P. Dear sir, We refer to above matter and our discussion of today. Please be advised that we will not be making any further payments for damages to your vehicle, due to the following: 1. The damages to the parts being replaced, was not only due to the incident above, but was there already old damages, due a previous incident; 2. Most of the parts that was replaced in our previous payment, was not accident related, but due to a previous incident. Your claim for further damages in denied and therefore can we not entertain any further demands. All actions will be vehemently defended. Kind regards, ***.

GPS = -26° 04'39.2 27° 55'00.5 From: Jacobus Grobler (Santam) <***> Sent: Wednesday, 14 August 2019 10:12 To: Jongy Mathebula <***>; Mogamat Marlie (Santam) <***> Cc: Levina Levendall (Santam) <***> Subject: RE: *** - Link Me Passenger Services

Good Day all,

As discussed and explained telephonically , vehicle needs to be booked in at the MBR where quote was discussed after settlement was done to 3rd party , properly stripped , proper photos taken of all the additional damages , separate manual quote done on all the additional at once(NO DRIPS AND DRABS ADDITIONALS) ,and send to me for a re-assessment . No additional will be assessed if this procedure is not followed. This was explained to MBR when assessment was discussed.

OR

The 3rd party can claim through his own insurance as all other Insurance companies WILL NOT authorize anything on any vehicle if they can see the parts or damage . Why Must Santam do that?

Kind Regards

Jaco

From: Jongy Mathebula <***> Sent: 13 August 2019 04:17 PM To: Mogamat Marlie (Santam) <***> Cc: DPC Legal <***>; Levina Levendall (Santam) <***>; Jacobus Grobler (Santam) <***> Subject: [EXTERNAL] RE: *** - Link Me Passenger Services

Dear Mogamat,

As per my discussions with Jacobus from your offices, I wish to obtain clarity and confirmation regarding a third party claim submitted to Sanlam. To provide you with some background, I would like to advise as follows.

I was involved in a motor vehicle accident on the 29th May 2019 where a bus reversed into my vehicle causing various damages to the front side of the vehicle. I reported the accident at the Protea police station with the bus driver present. I was then referred by the Manager from the bus services (Link Me) to Santam. At the time of lodging the claim, I engaged Levina from your offices who supp**** me with all the necessary documentation to initiate the claim. All required documentation was submitted to Levina who then processed my claim. Part of these documents were quotations obtained from 2 panel beaters who were recommended by Toyota, i.e. 1. ****r’s Panel and Paint Shop; 2. Classic Panel Beaters (accepted quotation from Santam);

After submission of the documentation, Levina provided me with an e-mail advising that the claim would be submitted to your legal division. As I understood the process, my claim was referred to yourself after which I received a revised settlement and found that the cost to repair my vehicle reduced by R 25 401.79. Upon further investigation on my side, I discovered that some of the items originally quoted for was removed hence the reduced settlement figure.

I wish to at this juncture raise my concern that due to this, I have no doubt that my vehicle will not be fully repaired as some items were taken off the quote. As a result, I would like to call on your urgent assistance to review my situation and clarify why this reduction was made to the initial quote. I further want to raise my frustration with the time it is / has taken to get to this point and in the process, my vehicle is just deteriorating further.

If I could obtain a response by no later than COB on the 14th August 2019, I would really appreciate it.

Regards

Jongy Mathebula