Last year, I was involved in an accident, and my 2002 car was written off. At the time, my car wasn’t insured. The driver at fault was an Uber driver, and he assured me his employer, the vehicle’s owner, would handle it. We reported the accident, exchanged details, and he said everything would be sorted through their insurance with a well-known company. I had my car towed to a panel beater of my choice and, since I needed it for work, I went ahead and got it repaired for about R40 000.
I kept all the receipts and shared them with the driver to speed up the process with the insurance. It’s been over a year, and despite following up directly with the insurer, I haven’t had any luck. I’ve been told they can’t reimburse me because the car owner hasn’t paid the excess. How can I recover my money and hold them accountable?
Mabs Answers
I understand this is frustrating, especially since the accident happened over a year ago. The wait has been far too long, and it seems unlikely that the other driver’s insurance will reimburse you for the money you spent fixing your car. However, you can still hold the other person accountable. To recover your money, you can do the following. You can take the Uber driver responsible for the accident to small claims court. However, the maximum claim is R20,000, meaning you may have to forgo half of what you spent on repairs.
Even if the court orders repayment, the driver could opt to pay a small amount over an extended period, leading to frustrations. The second option is to hire a lawyer to claim from the other driver. However, this will involve extra costs, and there’s no guarantee of success. I wish you the best in resolving this issue.
