Of the 14-million registered vehicles in South Africa, fewer than a third are insured. That means the owners of those more than 9-million uninsured cars are exposed to massive financial risk every time they get behind the wheel.
Your best hope, if you’re involved in an accident with another vehicle, is that you weren’t to blame and the other motorist is insured. But even then, that insurance company will no doubt apportion some of the blame to you — for “failing to keep a proper lookout”, for example — and reduce your payout accordingly.
Nineteen-year-old Aluwani Phungo, whose Kia Picanto is not insured, collided with another woman’s car on August 16, the latter having emerged from a side road into the road on which she had right of way, she says.
The woman spoke to her insurer, Discovery Insure, at the scene, and arrangements were made to tow her vehicle.
Here’s where it gets tricky. Phungo says the insured woman handed her her phone to arrange for the Kia to be towed along with the other vehicle by a Randburg-based tow truck operation.
“She told me that a man from Discovery was on the phone, and he told me that the towing company at the scene was authorised to tow my car.
“I was asked to sign a form with a checklist of my car’s equipment, which I did.”
She later discovered the tow was for her account — Discovery had not authorised the towing, much less the storage fees.
The day after the accident, she was presented with an invoice for R12,293, including a towing fee of R6,200, “administration” of R950 and two days’ storage amounting to R790.
“We don’t have that money,” Phungo’s mother, Mologadi, told me. “Please help me, I am desperate.”
At the time of writing, with the car having been sitting in that yard for more than three weeks, at R395 per day for storage fees, the bill has grown to about R21,000.
The company’s reference for the job is “Accident Tow Capture”.
As for the accident damage, Phungo said Discovery had sent her third party claim forms, which they had filled in, “but we are unable to get two assessment quotes because we don’t have access to the car”.
I have heard from consumers who have been duped by tow truck drivers at the scene of an accident into releasing their cars to them.
Notably, where Discovery Insure has no contract with the third party, it has no authority to authorise for the vehicle to be moved
It’s an old trick — they will ask the accident victim if their car is insured. If they say yes, they ask them to name the company. When they provide it, the operator undertakes — with an air of doing them a great favour — to call the insurer for them to get authorisation to tow the car.
Then they make a show of “phoning the insurer” and getting authorisation — when, in fact, they are not in contact with the insurer at all, much less getting authorisation.
So the victims relinquish their cars after signing whatever is shoved in front of them, and off their cars go.
Later, they discover that the insurer was not contacted by the tow truck operator, did not authorise the tow — the operator is not on their “panel” — and therefore the tow will not be covered.
This case is a variation of that, given that Phungo was not the insured in the matter.
Discovery Insure’s head of marketing, Precious Nduli, said Discovery had proactively contacted their client on the day of the accident, “having detected an impact alert on her vehicle”.
“She confirmed she had been involved in a motor vehicle accident with another vehicle and that a tow truck was on the scene.
“Our service consultant arranged with the tow truck company’s control room for the towing of her vehicle, as the company is a Discovery Insure approved provider,” she said.
But while there is a recording of the call between the towing company and Discovery Insure, “there is no call record of Discovery Insure authorising the towing of the third party vehicle”, she said.
“Notably, where Discovery Insure has no contract with the third party, it has no authority to authorise for the vehicle to be moved.”
Nduli said Discovery Insure had seen the towing authorisation form Phungo had signed with the towing company.
“This matter does in fact rest between the third party and the towing company,” she said.
“We urge all motorists to liaise directly with their insurer in such incidents, to arrange for the authorised towing of their vehicle. Motorists must ensure they do not allow for any unapproved towing of their vehicles.”
Well, yes, Phungo did not have her own insurer to liaise with, and thought she was liaising with the other woman’s insurer. That turned out to be a very costly assumption.
What to do if you’re involved in an accident and your car needs towing:
If you have insurance, save the name and number of your insurer’s towing hotline on your cellphone, and call them. Do not let a stranger at the scene make that call for you.
If you aren’t insured, save the South African Towing & Recovery Association's (Satra) 24-hour line — 0861-072872 — on your cellphone and call them for details of a Satra member in your area. The same goes for the United Towing Association of SA (UTASA): 0861-188272.
Read the company’s form carefully before signing. It must disclose the towing fee, along with all the extras, plus — and this is crucial — exactly where your car will be towed. That storage fee will escalate alarmingly if you take days to locate and collect your car.
• Contact Knowler for advice with your consumer issues via email consumer@knowler.co.za or on X (Twitter) @wendyknowler
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