At least it’s insured. That’s the thought Pertunia Mokwena of Midrand consoled herself with when she emerged from a shopping centre last month to discover that her car had been stolen from the parking lot.
She’d switched from another insurer to King Price just two months earlier to reduce the premium on her paid-off 2007 Toyota Yaris.
But her claim was rejected because she hadn’t had a tracking device fitted to the car, as stipulated in the policy.
The policy – e-mailed to Mokwena the day she took out the cover over the phone – states: “It is a condition of cover to install an approved security device. It must be in full working order at all times, and the subscription payments must be up to date. If you don’t adhere to this condition, you will have no theft or hijack cover.”
“But King Price told me when I was taking out the policy that they have a company that they use to fit the tracking devices and they will arrange for them to come and fit one,” Mokwena told In Your Corner.
“Unfortunately when my car was stolen, the tracking device had not been fitted yet.
“I find it unfair that they reject my claim on that basis because I was waiting for them to come fit it as I was advised – they failed to do so, and now they are putting all the blame on me.
“Yes, I didn’t follow up; that was my mistake, but they should have done it without me calling them.”
I took up the case with King Price’s head of legal Wynand van Vuuren, asking for the call recording to be retrieved in order to find out what Mokwena was told about getting that tracking device fitted.
He got back to me just more than an hour later – hugely impressive! – to say that he’d listened to the call recording and that the company had decided to overturn its decision “because of the fact that the impression could have been created with the client that we will take responsibility for the arrangement and installation of the tracking device”.
King Price does not, in fact, offer to arrange the installation of a tracking device, Van Vuuren said.
If a client didn’t already have one fitted to the vehicle in question, “we ask their permission to forward his or her details to Car Track or Matrix – with whom we have negotiated special rates – for them to call the client to arrange the contract and fitment of the device”.
“We do, however, warn the client that it remains his or her responsibility to have the device fitted and to ensure that it is always in working order.”
And the call recording reveals that Mokwena was indeed given that warning.
At the end of the call, the consultant said: “They will come and install it for free, you won’t have to pay.”
Mokwena has since been paid R54 000 by King Price – R60 000 minus a R6 000 excess: R2 500 standard excess and an extra R3 500 for claiming within the first three months of the policy.
She has chosen to share her husband’s car rather than replace the Yaris, for now, as she will be retrenched from her administrative job at the end of next month.
THE LESSON: Always take time to read through your policy document to make sure that should you need to claim, it won’t fail because of your failure to comply with a clause.
CONTACT WENDY:
E-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za
Twitter: @wendyknowler
Take time to read insurance policy to prevent rejection of your claim
She’d switched from another insurer to King Price just two months earlier to reduce the premium on her paid-off 2007 Toyota Yaris.
But her claim was rejected because she hadn’t had a tracking device fitted to the car, as stipulated in the policy.
The policy – e-mailed to Mokwena the day she took out the cover over the phone – states: “It is a condition of cover to install an approved security device. It must be in full working order at all times, and the subscription payments must be up to date. If you don’t adhere to this condition, you will have no theft or hijack cover.”
“But King Price told me when I was taking out the policy that they have a company that they use to fit the tracking devices and they will arrange for them to come and fit one,” Mokwena told In Your Corner.
“Unfortunately when my car was stolen, the tracking device had not been fitted yet.
“I find it unfair that they reject my claim on that basis because I was waiting for them to come fit it as I was advised – they failed to do so, and now they are putting all the blame on me.
“Yes, I didn’t follow up; that was my mistake, but they should have done it without me calling them.”
I took up the case with King Price’s head of legal Wynand van Vuuren, asking for the call recording to be retrieved in order to find out what Mokwena was told about getting that tracking device fitted.
He got back to me just more than an hour later – hugely impressive! – to say that he’d listened to the call recording and that the company had decided to overturn its decision “because of the fact that the impression could have been created with the client that we will take responsibility for the arrangement and installation of the tracking device”.
King Price does not, in fact, offer to arrange the installation of a tracking device, Van Vuuren said.
If a client didn’t already have one fitted to the vehicle in question, “we ask their permission to forward his or her details to Car Track or Matrix – with whom we have negotiated special rates – for them to call the client to arrange the contract and fitment of the device”.
“We do, however, warn the client that it remains his or her responsibility to have the device fitted and to ensure that it is always in working order.”
And the call recording reveals that Mokwena was indeed given that warning.
At the end of the call, the consultant said: “They will come and install it for free, you won’t have to pay.”
Mokwena has since been paid R54 000 by King Price – R60 000 minus a R6 000 excess: R2 500 standard excess and an extra R3 500 for claiming within the first three months of the policy.
She has chosen to share her husband’s car rather than replace the Yaris, for now, as she will be retrenched from her administrative job at the end of next month.
THE LESSON: Always take time to read through your policy document to make sure that should you need to claim, it won’t fail because of your failure to comply with a clause.
CONTACT WENDY:
E-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za
Twitter: @wendyknowler
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