Insurance claim for car left on road rejected

An uninsured motorist has been dealt a blow after his third party insurance claim was rejected on the grounds that he did not switch on the hazard lights, and place a warning triangle when his vehicle broke down on the side of the road. Moletsane Makhate’s BMW vehicle had been left on the side of the road while he went to buy fuel when another motorist crashed into it in November last year. Makhate who is not insured, thought his car was safe as the road was flat and had a speed limit of 80km/h.

It was also around 11am and there was a clear visibility which limited the chances of someone ramming into his stationaryvehicle. The lady that had hit my car must have been speeding because the impact was too much, my car was almost pushed into thebushes, After he left his car to buy fuel, he found it completely damaged as another motorist had rammed into it from behind on the Swartkoppies Road in Alberton, Ekurhuleni. “I could see lots of cars near where mine was.

I thought it must have been a car accident between other cars. But I was shocked to see my car was involved. The lady that had hit my car must have been speeding because the impact was too much, my car was almost pushed into thebushes,” said Makhate.

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He said an eyewitness, a security guard, confirmed the other motorist had been speeding. “Police were called but the tow truck arrived first and I could see these people [tow truck] were in a hurry to remove the woman’s car from the scene before the police came. The tow truck driver was also blaming me for parking next to the road but I told him that only 10% of my car was in the road and that I could not push my car as it is automatic,” said Makhate.

The woman’s car was towed away and the police only arrived later and could not immediately establish how the accident happened. Makhate was advised to make a third party claim to the insurance of the otherdriver. However, his claim was repudiated on the grounds that he failed to place a warning triangle behind his vehicle when it broke down, failed to put the hazards on to alert other motorists and that the portion of his car was on the road.

“I admit I did not put the triangle, I don’t remember switching on the hazards and even in that, there was clear visibility because it was daylight and the speed limit was about 80km/h. Also, 90% of my vehicle was behind the yellow lane,” said Makhate. He tried to protest the insurance decision but his plea fell on deaf ears, with the company discharging its lawyers on him. The company further said it would not send an assessor to view the accident scene as the information and pictures Makhate had supplied made him liable for the accident, according to its assessment.

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