It is an all-too familiar situation. Another driver causes damage to your car and you have to go through seemingly endless red tape to claim from the offending party’s insurer to get your car repaired.
To ensure that insurance companies receive all the relevant information as quickly as possible, and to speed up the claims process considerably, Santam recently launched a new app, free of charge and for everyone, not only Santam clients.
The Accident and Incident Reporter, a feature on the Santam App with Be Safe, guides you through a simple, step-by-step process to report, document and submit an accident or incident report to any insurer.
“When you are in an accident, you may be too flustered to remember all the information required by an insurer. The Accident and Incident Reporter will ensure a structured process, so you don’t leave out crucial information that may be difficult to obtain later,” Fanus Coetzee, Santam’s head of claims assessment services, says.
“There may be conditions that could lead to the repudiation of a claim. It is important to remember that insurers often have conflicting views of an accident or incident – yours and that of the other driver. It may be found that, even though you did not cause the accident, you may have contributed to it by not taking appropriate evasive action.
“In all these cases, our task of deciding how to apportion damage will be greatly facilitated if you can provide us (or any other insurer) with as much relevant evidence as possible.”
The Accident and Incident Reporter on the app will enable you to scan the barcode of your vehicle licence disc (and those of other vehicles involved), take photographs, capture the details of all parties concerned, record audio statements from witnesses, and describe the accident.
All this information can be sent to the insurer within a matter of minutes. In addition, the app will help you find the nearest police station to submit an accident report.
The Santam App is available for both Apple and Android devices. For details, visit www.santam.co.za