In the course of this year, I sold my car and then had a period where I hadn’t yet bought a replacement. During that time I was driving my husband’s car which is insured with Outsurance when I had an accident on 12th May which caused damage to the other car, which was parked and is owned by a sweet woman whom we will call Sherry (not her real name). I left a note for her and she contacted me, explaining that she’s insured with Santam and will claim from them.
Sherry didn’t have an excess on her policy, but she was left without a car while Santam had her panelbeating done, so I made a payment toward her transport costs while her car was in the shop.
A month later, a debt collector called me saying he represents Santam and that I will need to claim from Outsurance so that Outsurance can reimburse Santam since I caused the accident. I did so in June and then heard nothing further.
In the meantime I bought a car and insured it with Santam.
Then in October, an employee of Outsurance called me and told me that Outsurance would not be paying the claim since I had other insurance. I explained that I did not have any other vehicle insurance at the time of the accident, and that they must pay the claim. Then all went quiet. Late in November I again received a call from a legal advisor at Outsurance, Kulani Maluleke, who insisted that Outsurance would not pay the claim since I was insured with Santam. By this time it was clear to me that Outsurance are trying to dodge honouring their obligations, and that they would be willing to stoop so low as to try to make up false reasons to justify their dodginess. I ended up shouting at her on the phone, insisting that they pay out the claim unless they email me proof of this allegation that I had other insurance in respect of my husband’s car in place at the time. She said they had a voice recording from Sanlam, but I insisted on written proof.
Let’s say I did have my own car at the time and it was insured, that doesn’t provide an excuse to Outsurance in any event as the other insurer won’t cover an accident in a vehicle other than the one they insured.
What the Outsurance policy actually says is:
“Dual insurance
If there are any other insurance policies giving the same cover as in this policy we will pay our pro-rata portion of any claim. This does not apply to Personal Accident cover. E.g. If you insure an item for R200 000 elsewhere and the same item is OUTsured for R200 000, we will only pay half and the other insurer will pay the other half when you claim.”
So it’s clear that you are still covered even if you bizarrely decided to insure your car with both Outsurance and another insurance company- then Outsurance will just pay out half.
To return to my experience, predictably Ms Maluleke did not email me. So I sent an email to her and the CEO of Outsurance confirming for the third time that I didn’t have a car at the time and that my husband’s car was covered only by Outsurance not by Santam, complaining that they were acting unethically and should just honour the claim.
Outsurance then only approached my broker and got exactly the same information from them. Even after that, they still have not honoured the claim- they are now “investigating”.
Hot off the press- I’ve just received written confirmation that the claim is “overturned”- I’m hoping that means they will honour their duty to pay it out.
Tips for dealing with insurance:
- Insist on communicating by email- they like doing everything on the phone which makes it very hard for you to keep a record of what was said and when. You will likely have to insist at every step in the process. It’s useful to have a call recognition app on your phone because most insurance companies’ numbers are already identified as spam and you can easily block them if you prefer not to receive calls.
- Don’t fall for rubbish excuses from your insurance as to why they won’t honour a claim- insist they honour it.
- If they come with up with an excuse to avoid paying, make them put the excuse and the proof that you fall within that exclusion (if it even exists) in writing to you. Check the policy and see what it really says. If you’re unsure, speak to a consumer attorney so that they can advise you. It’s likely to be a quick job for the attorney if you put all the relevant info in an email to them, and so won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
- If the employee who’s communicating with you is not listening to you, insist on speaking to their Head of Legal or their CEO’s office. What I did was to google “Outsurance CEO” and “Maluleke legal Outsurance” and I found both of them online, could confirm the spelling of their names, and then use the existing format of Outsurance’s emails (surnameInitial@out.co.za) to email them.
- If they behave unethically e.g. by making up a lie to avoid paying, threaten to expose them on social media and report them to the ombud for short-term insurance. Ask for a written apology and confirmation that they will honour the claim. If they don’t provide you with at least the confirmation, tell the story on social media- be careful that everything you say must be 100% true and that you can prove it with an email or other written document. You can say things like “I was horrified to discover that Outsurance is willing to use a fiction to avoid paying out a claim”. “It took an email to the CEO and threatening them with the media before they buckled and agreed to pay the claim they are contractually liable to pay out”.
- If they’ve irritated you sufficiently, don’t hesitate to report them online at https://www.osti.co.za/lodge-a-complaint/- it’s free.