SAIA allays policyholder fears resulting from expired driver's licences

Johannesburg - Following the driver’s licence card printing machine breakdown at the Department of Transport (DoT), the backlog of licence renewals has kept increasing. With a backlog of almost 400 000 cards, the DoT is undoubtedly under extreme pressure to ensure that the fixing of the machine is expedited.  

The driver’s licence issuing (new) and renewals backlog has been going on for some time, made worse by the covid-19 pandemic. This has also worried some insurance policyholders who are concerned about not being able to produce valid driving licences should they unfortunately be involved in an accident. 

“This is indeed worrying,” says Sanele Dlomo who works as a driver for one of the global parcel delivery companies. “My driving licence is due for renewal in a month, and I am not sure if I will even be allowed to drive a company vehicle if I am not in possession of a valid licence,” he adds pensively. 

However, the South African Insurance Association (SAIA) has allayed all the fears stating that “SAIA and its motor members have experienced this before and all motor related claims during such periods have been handled quite well. This was also the case when Covid 19 started, and back in March 1998 when the card licences were introduced in RSA, where there were huge backlogs in the issuing and renewal of driver’s licences.”

The association said that although each insurer would treat each claim in accordance with their rules and procedures, generally and in principle, their motor members are expected to look at the full merits of the claim, holistically, before reaching a decision and not reject claims solely on the basis that a driver’s license had expired. 

For example, the insurer will examine the following :

• Is the claim because of an insured event? (Accident, fire water damage etc), 
• Is the damaged vehicle insured? 
• Who is the regular driver? 
• Use of vehicle (Private er business), and 
• Any other material matter, information that could have prejudiced the insurer  

The association also cited a 2007 ruling made by the Ombudsman for Short Term Insurance (OSTI) which stated: “To determine an equitable outcome, the insurer would need to demonstrate prejudice because of the failure to be in possession of a valid licence, therefore materiality is a critical factor for consideration”.

SAIA said, in essence, the insurer would need to prove if possession of a valid licence was material and is directly relevant to the claim. 

“Therefore, we believe the motor claims that happen during the broken driving licence card machine would be treated in the same way as the ones mentioned above. However, we urge policyholders affected by this delay to proactively contact their broker and insurer and inform them about their predicament,” the association concluded.