Refilwe Moloto speaks to Richard Green, National Director of SAMBRA about the urgent need for more transparency from the insurance sector.
Write-off vehicles are being sold as good value second-hand cars to unsuspecting buyers. This is more prevalent than most know and can be a true safety concern for South African drivers. And, SAMBRA are calling for transparency from the insurance industry on this topic.
When an insurance claim is made, insurance companies have the final call when deciding if a vehicle is economical to repair, or not. If deemed uneconomical to repair, the car will be written-off. These ‘write-off’ vehicles are sold to salvage yards, with a code-2 class. Code 2 vehicles are officially recognised as second-hand cars, regardless of the state of repair.
Vehicles with this coding can be bought at a salvage yard auction and repaired, possibly in sub-standard fashion. And then, returned to the second-hand car market, for South African second-hand car buyers to purchase.
This information may or may not deter some buyers. For those that would wish to know before signing on the dotted line, at this moment in time, there is no viable way of getting it. Not from your second-hand car dealership or your insurance company. So, the rights of the buyer to gain this information is very limited.
SAMBRA hopes this will change in the future and needs the support of the public.
Listen now to Refilwe Moloto and Richard Green discuss this in more detail.
If you have experience on this topic as a buyer, motor body repairer, or second-hand car dealer, why not share it with the SAMBRA community? Or, if you would like to support the campaign to make a SA vehicle write-off register join us, here.
