Motorists who've been forced to drive on expired driving licences due to the eNatis fiasco can relax a little - auto insurance companies have been warned against rejecting claims simply on the grounds of an expired licence.
Short-term insurance ombudsman Brian Martin said insurance companies would have to dig deeper to convince him why they had to reject a claim solely on the basis that a motorist's licence wasn't current when the accident took place.
He added: "Should we receive a complaint where an insurer has rejected a claim because the driver did not have a current driver's licence, or a vehicle was not roadworthy due to an expired licence disc, we would not necessarily support that decision."
Nevertheless, Martin advised motorists to renew their licences well in advance.
Dave Breskal of insurance brokers Katz Breskal told motoring.co.za although insurers would look "more sympathetically" on claims when the driver could prove a renewal application had been submitted in good time, that was still no guarantee that an auto insurance claim would be paid if the either the car or the driver was unlicensed.
A lawyer we asked pointed out the ombudsman would only be able to overrule the insurance company's decision in a case where the person's driving licence had expired due to circumstances beyond his or her control and all that was at fault was the licence card itself.
In the case where the driver didn't have a driving licence at all, no claim would be paid. - Sapa