Subsequent to a recent court decision being reported on in the media, short-term insurance clients have rightfully raised the question as to whether they are required to report all losses and damages which they have incurred subsequent to taking out an insurance policy. The issue at hand is whether OUTsurance requires such reporting from our clients and whether failure to do so may result in us repudiating subsequent claims, which are otherwise valid.
We certainly do not expect a client to report each and every minor incident suffered after inception of cover. In fact, the premise of an excess (payable in the event of a claim) and the opportunity to be rewarded with an OUTbonus (after three claim-free years) serve as incentives for clients to take care of minor damages and losses themselves. Given the substantial saving in administration costs this will produce, we are in return able to offer our clients lower premiums.
In the normal course of events, the following would typically happen:
- When a client has a minor incident where the damage caused is clearly below the chosen excess, he/she may well elect to arrange and pay for the repairs him, or herself (without notifying us).
- Clients often do report such minor incidents to us regardless, understanding that in order to accurately estimate the full extent of the damage, normally requires the skill of an expert accident assessor. We would then gladly perform this assessment (at our cost), after which the client can then still decide whether he/she wants to claim from us or not.
- Often when a third party has been involved in an accident, our client will report the incident in order for us to take care of any third party claims.
Our advice on the disclosure requirements is therefore simple:
- We do not require clients to report incidents where the damage is less than your excess.
- Clients are always welcome to report such incidents though, and we will gladly assist with estimating the damage.
- Where a third party was involved, we advise clients to report the incident to us in order for us to assist with any possible third party claims.
We would therefore like to give OUTsurance clients peace of mind that the particular case mentioned above, with its unique circumstances, should not be cause for any concern. We take our claims payment reputation extremely seriously, and we see our duty to settle valid claims as quickly as possible and to the highest possible client satisfaction levels as our primary reason for our existence.
For any enquiries, please contact Ernst Gouws at gouwse@out.co.za