No reason to repudiate a claim

According to Ben Rossouw, executive director of SAIA has agreed that failing to renew a plastic card driver’s license is not grounds for insurers to avoid paying a claim.

The driver is licensed; it is merely the evidence of the license that has expired.”

There have also recently been some cases reported in the media where a motor vehicle claim is repudiated by an insurer because the license disc on the windscreen has expired, apparently rendering the vehicle ‘unroadworthy’.

Rossouw stresses the importance of using an intermediary who will alert you to any invalid reasons for not paying a claim.

“It is an intermediary’s job to ensure that his or her clients understand the terms and conditions of the insurance policy fully, before there is a claim,” says Rossouw, “because by then it is too late.”

An intermediary will also, in collaboration with the consumer, ensure that sums insured are revised from time to time and kept adequate.

The insurance industry’s commercial policy, Mutlimark III, clearly states that the driver will be deemed to be licensed to drive the vehicle if non-compliance with any licensing law is solely because of failure to renew any license that is subject to periodic renewal.

Rossouw warns consumers to beware of those insurers who feel that by not renewing your license you are breaking the law and, of course, the insurer can't possibly pay a claim for a law-breaker.

“If you fail to see a stop sign or absent-mindedly drive through a red traffic light, the traffic police can fine you because you have broken the law. However, if an accident results from your action, insurers not only pay to fix your car, but they pay for other party's car as well, even though it was your fault.”

Insurers can decline claims for certain incidents involving breaking the law, ie, drunken driving, driving without a license (you have never had a license or it has been endorsed) and driving an unroadworthy vehicle - as long as the accident was caused by the unroadworthiness, such as very smooth tyres skidding on a wet road.

It nevertheless remains an offence to drive with an expired driver’s license, and you are at risk of a traffic fine if you do so.