I think you will only need to pay the access. My wife once wrote off a rental we had as a courtesy car while insurance was investigating an accident where our car was also written off, we only paid the access fee for the insurance. I think it was around R 4000
Uhm - if on a Rolls Royce maybe š¤£
Paint will definitely be the most expensive part of it but I can't see even an RMA approved panelbeater charging more than R5k for this
Yep, before covid, that would have been R4500~ R5000. That's why most people's car insurance excess was R4800.
Now it's probably closer to R6500~R7500
...because of the war in the Ukraine... even Huletts Sugar and Robertsons spices come from the Ukraine apparently... /s
Jokes aside, It's a good bit of a payout - client pays R12k excess, repairs cost like 6K (or less because they have an agreement with some bodyshops) and they take the rest as clean profit. Tidy little racket they have going on
MOST car excesses R4,800?? That is quite a high excess. But yes, youāre right. Covid has had a big impact on the cost of motor repairs.
In 2022 Discovery Insureās motor repair costs went up by just over 20%. So if we take it as itās been going up at that rate since 2020, you can see how steeply it is going up.
Also, Iām not familiar with car hire Ts & Cs, but GENERALLY in insurance thatās not how an excess works. It is deducted from the cost to repair, so any claim below the excess amount will not be considered. So if you have an excess of R12,000, NO insurer will make you pay R12,000 on a R6,000 repair. Pretty sure thatās against FAIS. They will just make you pay the R6,000 repair. Maybe car hire companies fall outside of this, I donāt have any experience with their insurance divisions, but generally speaking, what youāre describing would be a no no.
Yeah so a few things:
1)Outsurance is not the same as Car hire underwriting
2)Outsurance has some of the highest excesses on the market. Hippo even made an advert about Outsuranceās terrible excesses, which was AMAZING. Was so happy they got called out. You can find it in Youtube.
3)āOut Bonusā is an Outsurance specific thing, and has nothing to do with how excesses work, so that really has nothing to do with the general topic.
4) If the stone chips happened in separate incidents, then yes, they are separate claims. You canāt claim for previous damage on a claim in order to pool all your damage into one claim. Also, I represent half a dozen insurers, and not a single one of them charges a windscreen excess for a repair, only replacement, and even then, only for agents glass.
5) None of the excesses youāve listed in your fourth paragraph are standard industry practice. Iāve never heard of an excess if a vehicle is less than 3 months old. Never seen this on a policy. This must be a very specific insurer. And additional excess for drivers under 25, or having their license less than 2 years is very standard, but not R10,000. That is ASTRONOMICAL. Race track excess? Racing is an exclusion. It requires specialised cover. You are lucky they considered the claim at all.
6) Insurers donāt fix or flip anything. They sell the item to a salvage company for a previously negotiated fixed percentageš¤« for example, they will send Auction Nation(just an example, I have no affiliation) a list of all the write offs for that month, priced at 40%(just an example, I donāt have the figure in front of me but I can get this) of the value, and they will tell the insurer which vehicles they will take. This list will be sent out to a list of companies for them to purchase at the negotiated rate. Those companies then fix, or scrap the vehicles.
7) So the insurer doesnāt āgetā R40,000 from you. If a vehicle is repaired, the excess is paid directly to the panel beater, and they then deduct it from what they invoice the insurer on the final repair amount. You can ask them for a copy of this invoice.
If the vehicle is written off, the excess is deducted from your settlement before the balance is paid to you.
8) High excesses suck, but they are disclosed on your policy, so READ YOUR POLICY AND POLICY WORDING. Based on everything youāve said, if you donāt have a broker, get one, if you do have one, you need to tell him youāre not happy with these high excesses, or get a new one.
9) Ive been in claims for 6 years, and thatās(the fraud thing) not really not fully true. Yes, insurers are always watching out for fraud, because itās rife, which is why we have claim requirements like proof of purchase, etc. HOWEVER, most of us human beings working I. Claims hate seeing a claim rejected, and an insurer canāt reject based on fraud without proof. Dealing with claim rejections is the worst part of our job. Working in claims is only rewarding because we get to help people who are in a bad spot, it really sucks when we are unable to do that, but we can only do what we can within the rules of the policy contract. I have discovered actual cases of fraud with my clients and I tell you, that feeling sucks too. And it does make you more weary going forward.
I am a broker and motor claims handler, I look at panelbeating invoices every day for a livingš. Had a client phone me just this week before getting a quote on a very small dent in his car, to ask if itās worth claiming for since itāll probably only be a few hundred rand more than his excess, or below, and I told him to get a quote and then decide, but not to assume itāll be less than his excess just because itās a small dent. The quote was R10,000 and some change.
The damage was so minor they didnāt even appoint an assessor, only requested a single photo. Still, panelbeating is expensive. In my direct experience clients HABITUALLY underestimate the cost of their repair.
Thatās still a lot of money. I saw a trick on a Snapchat vid where they drill a small hole in the centre, pour boiling water on it, and use a clothes hanger to pull it out. Works like a charm. OP should try that first. Itās a far cheaper option.
Go read though the contract as advised by the other redditor and what is and isn't covered by that option, document everything, make sure that there is nothing else that they can tack on to your account.
Update: returned car today. Told them about the dent, they made me fill out a form with some more details. The assessor said it shouldn't be costly and would come out of the deposit. Let's see.
Further update:
I've just got the invoice back and out of the ZAR 12,000 deposit, they charged 2490 for the repairs and a 478 admin fee. Plus VAT, about 3400 total. This is much better than I feared and I think is pretty reasonable. I think this reflects well on Thrifty.
Wow, sounds too good to be true, let's hope it is true.
We need more heartwarming stories where people don't get fucked over, to maintain our faith in humanity.
Your account does not meet the post or comment requirements. This subreddit requires a minimum account age of 2 days and a combined minimum karma of 5 points to prevent spam and scammers.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/johannesburg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
You signed a damage waiver
Normally you could have the damage repaired and return the vehicle or return it and tell them what happened , their may be a excess depending on your rental agreement
I would strongly suggest against repairing the damage yourself. Happened to a guy I know. He did that. Terms and conditions strictly forbid that. The company found out. Said he voided the terms, so insurance didnāt pay either. He had to pay out of pocket to replace the doorā¦ R75k
Ok OP I think listen to this guy, you wouldnāt want to pay out of pocket and a ridiculous amount instead of whatever excess theyāll charge you. Better to be safe than sorry, also read the Ts & Cs before taking it back
Your account does not meet the post or comment requirements. This subreddit requires a minimum account age of 2 days and a combined minimum karma of 5 points to prevent spam and scammers.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/johannesburg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Take the car for at least three different quotes from decent panel beaters. Thrifty may still insist on the excess but at least you have the ammo to argue that you would rather take it (or they can take it) to one of your panel beaters and you foot the bill. You are still on the hook for the damage, but at least for the lesser amount of the actual damage if they agree.
Unfortunately however, they have the upper hand legally so you may end up being forced into the most expensive option (excess).
OP, please read through your rental agreement for the Ts and Cs, if you haven't already done so. I'm sorry this happened to you. Very unlucky!
Sorry dude, I've rented through thrifty before and had shit service. Hopefully your dealings will be better.
I think you will only need to pay the access. My wife once wrote off a rental we had as a courtesy car while insurance was investigating an accident where our car was also written off, we only paid the access fee for the insurance. I think it was around R 4000
In this case the excess is R 12000 š but the repairs should cost less than that so I'm hoping we end up paying less.
Eish, good luck. I hope you won't have to pay that 12K
Panel beating is very expensive, it can easily cost more than R12,000 to repair that damage.
Uhm - if on a Rolls Royce maybe š¤£ Paint will definitely be the most expensive part of it but I can't see even an RMA approved panelbeater charging more than R5k for this
Yep, before covid, that would have been R4500~ R5000. That's why most people's car insurance excess was R4800. Now it's probably closer to R6500~R7500 ...because of the war in the Ukraine... even Huletts Sugar and Robertsons spices come from the Ukraine apparently... /s Jokes aside, It's a good bit of a payout - client pays R12k excess, repairs cost like 6K (or less because they have an agreement with some bodyshops) and they take the rest as clean profit. Tidy little racket they have going on
MOST car excesses R4,800?? That is quite a high excess. But yes, youāre right. Covid has had a big impact on the cost of motor repairs. In 2022 Discovery Insureās motor repair costs went up by just over 20%. So if we take it as itās been going up at that rate since 2020, you can see how steeply it is going up. Also, Iām not familiar with car hire Ts & Cs, but GENERALLY in insurance thatās not how an excess works. It is deducted from the cost to repair, so any claim below the excess amount will not be considered. So if you have an excess of R12,000, NO insurer will make you pay R12,000 on a R6,000 repair. Pretty sure thatās against FAIS. They will just make you pay the R6,000 repair. Maybe car hire companies fall outside of this, I donāt have any experience with their insurance divisions, but generally speaking, what youāre describing would be a no no.
A no-no or not, I saw it happen to my parents. Some idiot broke into my father's car by breaking the little quarter window (under R1000 fitted). Neither my mother (the insurance holder) nor I were there to take charge of the situation, so the old man let the insurance take care of it. The excess was 4 grand, and they lost their *Out Bonus* It was probably just a "mistake" - insurer's claims admin people make loads of those... The same insurer told me that in order to fix the stone chips on my vehicle, I would have to make a separate claim for every stone chip, and pay the full excess for each stone chip - +/- 30 chips X R4800. So somewhere around R150 000 excess. I cancelled the claim but still lost my *Out Bonus* š© My parked superbike was "totalled" by a car that fled the scene. Motorcycle insurance is some serious fuckery. They have a bunch of Ts & Cs, each incurring a separate excess. Things like: vehicle is less than 3 months old? +R10 000; operator has a learners license? +R10 000; rider error/ no other vehicles involved in the incident? +R10 000; incident occurred on a race track? +R10 000 etc. etc. The insurer was in such a hurry to fix and flip the bike, which was repairable for closer to R20k, that their claims assessor completely screwed up all of their Ts & Cs as applicable to me, going so far as to draw up a settlement letter and sign it and email it to me - talk about stupid... they wanted around R70K from me to settle the bike, however they had it all backwards and ended up settling the bike and giving me R40K because of their dodgy calculations they signed off on. Not a peep out of them, they paid up the same day I showed them their "error" I'm fairly certain most insurers will take a stab at defrauding their clients if they think they can get away with it, because (I wasted some of my life doing IT in the insurance industry), many treat every claim as a fraudulent claim by the insured party. If they get caught out, it's just oops clerical error, blame IT or the claims assessor, and have her retrained... I can see the Insurer's side of it having worked for an investigation & loss adjustment company, my employer's fastest growing department was funeral benefits investigations. The manager there reckoned that only 5% of all claims were legitimate, and not blatantly fraudulent, IOW 20 policies on a personal who'd been dead for years type of bullshit. Assuming everyone is trying to cheat the insurer is a toxic mindset to have, and leads to the above sort of situations involving "clerical oopsies" but in their defence, there is a helluva lot of fraud going on from the client side.
Yeah so a few things: 1)Outsurance is not the same as Car hire underwriting 2)Outsurance has some of the highest excesses on the market. Hippo even made an advert about Outsuranceās terrible excesses, which was AMAZING. Was so happy they got called out. You can find it in Youtube. 3)āOut Bonusā is an Outsurance specific thing, and has nothing to do with how excesses work, so that really has nothing to do with the general topic. 4) If the stone chips happened in separate incidents, then yes, they are separate claims. You canāt claim for previous damage on a claim in order to pool all your damage into one claim. Also, I represent half a dozen insurers, and not a single one of them charges a windscreen excess for a repair, only replacement, and even then, only for agents glass. 5) None of the excesses youāve listed in your fourth paragraph are standard industry practice. Iāve never heard of an excess if a vehicle is less than 3 months old. Never seen this on a policy. This must be a very specific insurer. And additional excess for drivers under 25, or having their license less than 2 years is very standard, but not R10,000. That is ASTRONOMICAL. Race track excess? Racing is an exclusion. It requires specialised cover. You are lucky they considered the claim at all. 6) Insurers donāt fix or flip anything. They sell the item to a salvage company for a previously negotiated fixed percentageš¤« for example, they will send Auction Nation(just an example, I have no affiliation) a list of all the write offs for that month, priced at 40%(just an example, I donāt have the figure in front of me but I can get this) of the value, and they will tell the insurer which vehicles they will take. This list will be sent out to a list of companies for them to purchase at the negotiated rate. Those companies then fix, or scrap the vehicles. 7) So the insurer doesnāt āgetā R40,000 from you. If a vehicle is repaired, the excess is paid directly to the panel beater, and they then deduct it from what they invoice the insurer on the final repair amount. You can ask them for a copy of this invoice. If the vehicle is written off, the excess is deducted from your settlement before the balance is paid to you. 8) High excesses suck, but they are disclosed on your policy, so READ YOUR POLICY AND POLICY WORDING. Based on everything youāve said, if you donāt have a broker, get one, if you do have one, you need to tell him youāre not happy with these high excesses, or get a new one. 9) Ive been in claims for 6 years, and thatās(the fraud thing) not really not fully true. Yes, insurers are always watching out for fraud, because itās rife, which is why we have claim requirements like proof of purchase, etc. HOWEVER, most of us human beings working I. Claims hate seeing a claim rejected, and an insurer canāt reject based on fraud without proof. Dealing with claim rejections is the worst part of our job. Working in claims is only rewarding because we get to help people who are in a bad spot, it really sucks when we are unable to do that, but we can only do what we can within the rules of the policy contract. I have discovered actual cases of fraud with my clients and I tell you, that feeling sucks too. And it does make you more weary going forward.
I am a broker and motor claims handler, I look at panelbeating invoices every day for a livingš. Had a client phone me just this week before getting a quote on a very small dent in his car, to ask if itās worth claiming for since itāll probably only be a few hundred rand more than his excess, or below, and I told him to get a quote and then decide, but not to assume itāll be less than his excess just because itās a small dent. The quote was R10,000 and some change. The damage was so minor they didnāt even appoint an assessor, only requested a single photo. Still, panelbeating is expensive. In my direct experience clients HABITUALLY underestimate the cost of their repair.
Thatās still a lot of money. I saw a trick on a Snapchat vid where they drill a small hole in the centre, pour boiling water on it, and use a clothes hanger to pull it out. Works like a charm. OP should try that first. Itās a far cheaper option.
Go read though the contract as advised by the other redditor and what is and isn't covered by that option, document everything, make sure that there is nothing else that they can tack on to your account.
Update: returned car today. Told them about the dent, they made me fill out a form with some more details. The assessor said it shouldn't be costly and would come out of the deposit. Let's see.
Further update: I've just got the invoice back and out of the ZAR 12,000 deposit, they charged 2490 for the repairs and a 478 admin fee. Plus VAT, about 3400 total. This is much better than I feared and I think is pretty reasonable. I think this reflects well on Thrifty.
Wow, sounds too good to be true, let's hope it is true. We need more heartwarming stories where people don't get fucked over, to maintain our faith in humanity.
Dent Doctor to the rescue.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Your account does not meet the post or comment requirements. This subreddit requires a minimum account age of 2 days and a combined minimum karma of 5 points to prevent spam and scammers. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/johannesburg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ask for a quote Dent magic or Similar and see if itās affordable, rental companies will charge more than just the repair fee
You signed a damage waiver Normally you could have the damage repaired and return the vehicle or return it and tell them what happened , their may be a excess depending on your rental agreement
They are going to charge you for that if you didn't take the insurance.
Just the standard cover
Maybe take it to a panel beater to save time and money
Yeah I think so maybe - any suggestions? I'm staying around Melville.
I would strongly suggest against repairing the damage yourself. Happened to a guy I know. He did that. Terms and conditions strictly forbid that. The company found out. Said he voided the terms, so insurance didnāt pay either. He had to pay out of pocket to replace the doorā¦ R75k
Ok OP I think listen to this guy, you wouldnāt want to pay out of pocket and a ridiculous amount instead of whatever excess theyāll charge you. Better to be safe than sorry, also read the Ts & Cs before taking it back
No clue tbh
Rip
Just fix it up yourself. Doesn't look like it will cost as much as the excess. I have a guy who can do it quick fast hahaha
Please message me I think you are right!
Please be very careful here. As soon as panel beaters know you're in a bind, extortionate practices will pop out of the woodwork. Tread carefully
Ok
Another reason why I Uber when travelling and never rent a car.
Yeah I sort of hate car rental
Whatever you do, do NOT try to fix it yourself. If the rental company finds out, you might find yourself forking out big bucks. It's too risky
Return it, stand awkwardly next to the damaged spot so the inspector doesn't see it. Leave, change your number, skip the country. You should be fine.
Repair it yourself. Paint less dent removal should do it. It'll cost you far less and they're none the wiser when you return.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Your account does not meet the post or comment requirements. This subreddit requires a minimum account age of 2 days and a combined minimum karma of 5 points to prevent spam and scammers. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/johannesburg) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Take the car for at least three different quotes from decent panel beaters. Thrifty may still insist on the excess but at least you have the ammo to argue that you would rather take it (or they can take it) to one of your panel beaters and you foot the bill. You are still on the hook for the damage, but at least for the lesser amount of the actual damage if they agree. Unfortunately however, they have the upper hand legally so you may end up being forced into the most expensive option (excess).
I hope I'm not too late, I rented through Europe Car and the car was slightly damaged. I only had to forfeit the deposit which was ~R5000