After the insurer has paid you for a claim for the loss or damage to your vehicle, the insurer will assess whether there is a possibility of claiming back the amount of the loss or damage from the third party. The insurer will only consider this if the third party was responsible for causing the loss or damage. The insurer may decide whether or not the insurer will claim from the third party as explained below.

Your responsibilities

You must never admit guilt, offer to pay someone else, or accept an offer from anyone else to pay for the damage, or to pay you for your excess. You must give us all information and assistance that the insurer needs to claim from the third party. If you do not keep to your responsibilities, it may mean that the insurer cannot claim back the amount of the loss or damage from the third party. You may lose all benefits under this policy and you may need to pay back any payment or benefit that you received from us, plus any costs.

If the insurer decides to claim from the third party

The insurer will claim the total amount of the damage, including your excess, from the third party, or the third party’s insurer, and the insurer will cover all the legal costs. The law allows three years from the date of the accident to claim from the third party. This could be a long process and there are no guarantees that the insurer will be successful.

If the insurer decides not to claim from the Third Party

The insurer may also decide not to claim from the Third Party for any of the following reasons:

The amount of the full damage or loss is less than what the legal costs would be if the insurer claimed from the Third Party.
In our opinion, the insurer does not have reasonable prospects of success.
The insurer cannot trace the Third Party, or you did not give us the third party’s details.
The third party is not insured and does not have any income or assets.

When will the insurer pay back your excess?

The insurer will pay you back the amount of your excess if the insurer is successful in recovering the full amount of the loss or damage (including your excess).

When will the insurer not pay back your excess?

The excess is the uninsured portion of a claim that you must pay, regardless of whether you are responsible for the accident or not. The insurer will not pay back your excess if the insurer is unsuccessful in claiming from the third party, if the insurer only recovers part of the amount of the loss or damage, which is less than your excess, or if the insurer decides not to claim from the third party. You may ask us to take back your rights to claim from the third party.

You may then claim from the third party for the amount of your excess.
You may not claim for any amount that the insurer has already paid to you.
Claiming from the third party could take a long time, especially if the other person is not insured or does not have any income or assets.
If the amount of your excess is less than R15 000, then the Small Claims Court is the cheapest and most effective method of claiming your excess from the third party.