Ombudsman Urges Consumers to Check Car Insurance

The offices of the ombudsman for short term insurance has been flooded with hundreds of complaints against insurance companies who are not willing to pay out on car insurance because the insured cars did not meet the security requirements demanded by the company.

Ombudsman issues warning to consumers Make sure you read up on, and comply with, your insurance company's security requirements or your claim might not be paid.

As a result, the ombudsman himself, Brian Martin has issued a statement urging consumers to check their car insurance policies carefully to ensure that all requirements for security measures are met. Martin said that consumers should take special note of the measures required to cover hijacking and theft as stipulated by the car insurance companies.

"Where cover is conditional upon the fitment of specified security or tracking devices, the onus is on the insured to ensure that the stipulated devices are fitted within the designated time period," warned Brian Martin. "They should also be familiar with the operation of any installed security measures."

Martin also said that consumers should make double sure that the security devices that they had installed in their vehicles were acceptable to the standards set by the car insurance companies. Many insurers required that cars be fitted with devices that met the standards set by VSS (Vehicle Security Systems) or VESA (Vehicle Security Association of South Africa). Again, the onus was on the consumer to ensure that the devices were up to these standards at least, otherwise they could find themselves without sufficient coverage.

As a general rule of thumb, all vehicles manufactured after 1996 traditionally met with VESA standards. However, the ombudsman said that this fact should not be seen as a reason for consumers not to read up on the requirements. Some car insurance companies, for example, insist that a vehicle - especially one worth over a certain amount - be fitted with a tracking device as well.

Insurance companies were also obligated to provide the necessary information to consumers before a policy was taken out, said the ombudsman.