Ryperd V8 Defender Damaged After Collision While Driver Claims They Were Fine

Tim Chadwicks

“Someone drove into me,” he said. “I’m fine. Ryperd (Attie’s new V8 Defender) is not.”

“Anything I should know. Like were you on your phone?” I said. Not thinking where that came from, but knowing exactly where it came from. Attie had previously shared that he suffered from a bad condition called “intexticating” or “DWT”. Driving while texting.

A pause. The kind with monkey gland marinade on it.

“I was at a complete standstill,” he said. “Stationary. In traffic.”

“Attie.”

“Reading,” he said. “Not a call. A message.”

Like there is a difference, I mused.

Attie is a property developer from Stellenbosch. Mid fifties. Methodical in the way some men are methodical, as a personality rather than a strategy. He keeps his vehicle service records in a lever arch file organised by date and tabbed, which either says something admirable about him or something concerning, depending on your own filing system. We know each other from the Durbanville golf club. Golf buddies. Kindred spirits, not soul mates.

He had been with the same large broker for 11 years. One of those corporate broker type firms, you know, the ones with a glass lobby, shiny logos and hold music worse than elevator music. The kind of corporate broker with a receptionist who calls you Mr Stemmet and a client executive who is reliably available, except during the specific occasions when you really need him. And never after hours, heaven forbid.

No complaints on Attie’s side (yet). The premiums were competitive. The debit order ran with military precision. The policy schedule in his neat lever arch file behind the February 2022 service record, unread and mildly intimidating, which describes the insurance policy schedules of most people reading this.

14 months before the backstop Tuesday, his broker had suggested a telematics option. A real value add he said.

Telematics is a small device. It plugs into the OBD port under the dashboard. OBD stands for On Board Diagnostics, the socket mechanics use to read your car’s fault codes. It can usually be found under the steering column and registers your driving habits. In exchange for sharing this driving data with the insurer, one receives a monthly premium reduction. Sounds lekka.

Attie said yebo and then yes as an afterthought. The device arrived in a white envelope. He plugged it in on a Sunday evening, after Carte Blanche and glowingly told Elsa at dinner he had saved around R75 per month on their car insurance. Probably around half a Cattle Barons steak, without the mushroom sauce. Elsa said lekka Attie. But what is for supper, skattie.

What Attie understood, since it was what he had been told, was that the device tracked speed and braking. His driver score arrived by email every month, a small document with large logos, confirming he was a good boy. Usually.

I wished this story had a happy ending, but this is where risk advisors come in, as life is full of surprises and often bad ones, especially for those who suffer from optimism bias.

A man in a black Hilux, too close to the rear of Attie’s Ryperd, had not thought about much at all that on backstop Tuesday, including the traffic that had abruptly stopped in front of him. Probably as he was on his phone at the time. He arrived with aplomb into Attie’s rear bumper. Like any decent Saffer oke, he admitted, at the scene, that he was whatsapping on his iPhone when he was informally introduced to Attie’s Ryperd.

Attie photographed everything. Filed the police report. Submitted the claim the following morning with the confidence of a man whose version of events was now in a folder labelled “Backstop Tuesday”. He gave himself 100% for a job well done.

Confoundedly, the insurer responded, not with a payment, but with questions about his phone driving habits.

He read the email twice. Called his broker. He was in Plett. With the kids. The backup, a pleasant chap named Riaan, who strangely confirmed three times during the call that he was just covering, suggested cooperating fully with the insurer’s questions and mentioned that the full team would be back Monday. It was Wednesday.

Attie called me. Mildly irritated.

The telematics device had performed beautifully he said. And it had duly filed its report. Accelerometer and gyroscope data. It showed a signal pattern it associated with a phone being held at the time of impact. Timestamped. Registered.

Attie had not known the device captured this as nobody had bothered to mention it, possibly as nobody had thought to mention it and probably since the conversation 14 months earlier had been about the monthly R75 premium discount and not about the full onerous insurance consequences.

I asked him to email me the policy schedule and wording. It had a “reasonable care” condition. Standard insurance mumbo jumbo. It did not mention phones. The Hilux driver drove into the back of a stationary vehicle (Ryperd) while on his own phone and admitted this at the scene. Attie’s phone behaviour did not summon the Hilux to alter its direction and drive into Ryperd’s rear. Cause and effect I deduced, there was no direct link to Attie being on the phone and the rude rear end visit from the black Hilux.

Game, set and match, with strawberries and cream. Attie’s claim was paid.

He called to tell me. He sounded like a man who had been holding his breath for three weeks, which he no doubt had been. Baie drankies, he said. I laughed.

Before he hung up, I asked him a question.

“If you were an insurer,” I said. “Covering a R2m car called Ryperd and their telematics proves the driver was on his phone when he smashed into the car in front of him and he writes off his car and two cars in front of him. Would you pay that?”

He started to answer.

I gently told him not to bother, it was a rhetorical question, meant to alert him to always question agreeing to arbitrary premium discounts.

Read and understand your policy, I said. Then, pausing for dramatic effect, I continued. The point is not that insurers will always reject your claim, it is that once they have the telematics data, they will have evidence and will then most likely investigate, with vigour, whether you acted recklessly. You do not want to give them an easy way out of your claim. And maybe rethink your choice of Risk Advisors, I added for good measure.

More than half of Saffer drivers admit to phone use while driving and telematics data confirms it is now the single biggest contributor to motor claims, ahead of speeding. Frightening stuff. I wonder how many of these drivers have read their insurance policies.

The Hilux driver’s claim was declined. Fair enough. But he walked away from the N1 in one piece that backstop Tuesday afternoon. Not everyone does. That WhatsApp message can always wait.

Disclaimer:

This article is for general informational purposes and does not constitute insurance, financial or legal advice. The scenario is fictional, and used to illustrate real insurance principles and common industry practices. It does not refer to any specific insurer or claim.