Motor claims rejected for unroadworthy vehicles
When a South African insurer may reject a motor claim because the vehicle was unroadworthy, and what a broker should tell clients before a claim arises.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Insurance businesses in South Africa
A client's delivery bakkie skids on a wet road and hits a wall. The claim seems straightforward until the insurer's assessor notes that the rear tyres were worn smooth. The claim is rejected. The client is furious, the broker is caught in the middle, and the question everyone asks is the same: can the insurer really do that?
Often it can. But not every defect justifies a rejection, and a client who kept good records is in a far stronger position than one who did not. This piece explains what the National Financial Ombud Scheme South Africa (NFO) has said about unroadworthy vehicles, what a broker should tell clients before a claim, and how to help them build and share the evidence when one is disputed.
The roadworthiness requirement
An NFO press release of 1 October 2025 says the law requires all vehicles on public roads to be roadworthy, and that insurers are within their rights to reject a claim when a vehicle's unroadworthiness causes an incident.
Two parts of that sentence matter. The first sets the standard: the vehicle must be roadworthy, and a client's policy wording may repeat that as a condition of cover. The second sets the test for rejection: the unroadworthiness must cause the incident.
The link between the defect and the incident
The word "causes" is where many disputes are decided. A vehicle can have a defect that has nothing to do with what happened. A cracked rear light lens did not cause a car to be rear-ended at a robot. Worn front tyres on a wet bend, or failing brakes in a collision at an intersection, are a different matter.
When a claim is rejected for unroadworthiness, the first question to ask the insurer is how the defect it relies on caused the incident. The client is entitled to understand the reasoning, and the answer decides whether a complaint has any prospect. A broker who asks this early, in writing, often resolves the matter before it becomes a dispute.
Records a client can keep
Prevention is cheaper than argument. Encourage clients, especially businesses running fleets of vans, bakkies or trucks, to keep:
- service records and invoices from the workshop, with dates and mileage;
- tyre purchase invoices, noting which wheels were replaced and when;
- brake inspection and repair records;
- any roadworthy certificates issued when vehicles changed hands;
- a simple pre-trip checklist for drivers, signed and dated.
Fleet owners can keep these by vehicle, so that the evidence for any one vehicle can be produced quickly. For businesses whose own workshop bills insurers and clients, billing insurers and excesses covers that side.
Raising the dispute with the insurer before going to the NFO
The NFO is recognised as an industry ombud scheme by the Ombud Council (OC/001/24) and resolves consumer complaints against participating banks, credit providers, non-life insurers and life insurers at no charge to the complainant. It says it can only look at a complaint after the consumer has first lodged it with the insurer concerned.
So the complaint goes to the insurer first, in writing, setting out why the defect did not cause the incident, with the service and tyre records attached. If the insurer's answer is unsatisfactory, the client can then take it to the NFO without paying for it.
The NFO also says that when a complaint is lodged, every attempt is made to establish and record whether the complainant should be identified as a "vulnerable complainant". If your client is elderly, unwell or otherwise at a disadvantage in dealing with the process, say so when the complaint is lodged.
A signed acknowledgement at renewal
Clients often learn about the roadworthiness condition only when a claim is rejected. A broker can change that by explaining it at renewal and asking the client to sign a short acknowledgement: that the vehicles must be roadworthy, what that means in practice, and that a defect which causes an incident may lead to a rejected claim.
In Achekam, any document can be sent for electronic signature with signature and initials fields placed on it, signers in order or all at once, an expiry and reminders. The signed PDF and a completion certificate are filed back into Documents. An envelope with a signer from outside the business must be linked to a client or a CRM lead before it is sent, so the acknowledgement sits with the client's record. If a dispute arises later, you can show the condition was explained.
Sharing the evidence pack with the insurer
When a claim is disputed, put the evidence together in one place. Achekam's Document Centre holds files in folders, uploaded one at a time or a whole folder at once, and lets you preview, download, rename, move, tag, archive and search them; a replaced file keeps its earlier versions. A folder per claim, holding the client's service records, photographs, the assessor's report and the correspondence, keeps the file complete.
To send it, a document can be shared by e-mailing a personal link with an expiry, an optional one-time code and download allowed or not, and the share can be revoked. Share with the insurer's claims handler, or later the NFO, and revoke the link when the matter closes. Sharing claim documents by secure link covers the practice in more depth.
The National Financial Ombud Scheme's website explains how to lodge a complaint about an insurer and publishes its press releases and guidance on claims.
At the next renewal, explain the roadworthiness condition to every motor client, ask for the signed acknowledgement, and suggest the records they should keep. The claim you prevent will never need arguing.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
