Santam Insurance vs Outsurance

cavedog said:
Any panel shop owner will tell you to AVOID Santam and Old Mutual at all costs!!!!!

They don't pay. Their rates are lower. They prefer used parts or pirate parts on all cars that are out of warranty.

Outsurance assessors HAS to approve or provide feedback on additionals new parts within 8 working hours. Santam it takes weeks. They are so seriouse about saving money on claims they let used part dealers and pirate part dealers bid to supply parts at the lowest price. Who ever wins the bid usually area specific gets the deal and as a panelshop you have to buy from them OR write a letter explaining why you can't if it's valid they will go to the next in line. Meanwhile you car is parked at the panelshop for 2 weeks while this back and forth is going on.

Outsurance pays panelshops within 48 hours after work completion. Santam and Old Mutual don't. Claims gets handled by Metal for Santam and Old Mutual. A 3rd party company that basically "buys" claims and pays panelshops for work done then claim the money from Santam or Old Mutual.

Outsurance takes a % of the claim amount on each claim for example of the repairer quote is R1000, outsurance pays R1000 less the excess less a small percentage depending on the panelshop rating and CLI scores.
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This is flat out not true.
I've had many vehicles repaired under Santam with no issues whatsoever.
I'm the general manager for the company and have to handle all the vehicle repairs.
Santam is a dream to deal with.
Outsurance is cheaper yes.... because they never pay out on anything.
 
I just moved from Outsurance to Santam for 2 cars. The policy was about R1050 a month but after a claim a couple of months ago, Outsurance increased the policy to R1850 a month with no notification and I only noticed after 2 months of payment that the debit order had increased. I immediately cancelled it, they tried to sweet talk me round and offered to go back to original policy, but I told them to go and **** themselves and went to Santam who my house insurance is with. They charge me R850 a month for the same excess etc.
 
LazyLion said:
This is flat out not true.
I've had many vehicles repaired under Santam with no issues whatsoever.
I'm the general manager for the company and have to handle all the vehicle repairs.
Santam is a dream to deal with.
Outsurance is cheaper yes.... because they never pay out on anything.
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Maybe it's a area thing idk. Why would I lie? What possible agenda or benefit will I have? I can't even say I'm pro Outsurance because my car is insured by Indwe Risk underwritten by Santam..... I'm just saying what I deal with every day dealing with Santam assessors that are just not willing to come to the party. We do a sh** load of santam jobs because half loaf is better than no loaf.

2005 corsa. Owner wants new original parts. Santam declined and approved for repair. We repaired it and the client went on and on about how useless we are even after showing him the docs assessor said no. Car is still standing at the shop 2 months later while the dispute is ongoing. Santam approved original replacement parts now but refusing to pay for the repair already done. They reckon we must take the loss.
 
Well from a client claiming's point of view they're great.
 
Hamster said:
Well from a client claiming's point of view they're great.
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Never dealt with them directly but Indwe Risk services has been really good too even when Santam wanted to reject my claim for hitting a pothole. I can really recommend Indwe Risk.
 
cavedog said:
Never dealt with them directly but Indwe Risk services has been really good too even when Santam wanted to reject my claim for hitting a pothole. I can really recommend Indwe Risk.
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Interesting that many Outsurance assessors have left to rather work for Santam. I know of at least 5 just in our area. Work environment, culture and way of doing things just completely different.
 
cavedog said:
Maybe it's a area thing idk. Why would I lie? What possible agenda or benefit will I have? I can't even say I'm pro Outsurance because my car is insured by Indwe Risk underwritten by Santam..... I'm just saying what I deal with every day dealing with Santam assessors that are just not willing to come to the party. We do a sh** load of santam jobs because half loaf is better than no loaf.

2005 corsa. Owner wants new original parts. Santam declined and approved for repair. We repaired it and the client went on and on about how useless we are even after showing him the docs assessor said no. Car is still standing at the shop 2 months later while the dispute is ongoing. Santam approved original replacement parts now but refusing to pay for the repair already done. They reckon we must take the loss.
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Repairing a 14 year old car with new parts? There's not many insurers that I know of where that would be 1st option. Would anyway quickly make the car "uneconomical" to repair.
 
cavedog said:
Maybe it's a area thing idk. Why would I lie? What possible agenda or benefit will I have? I can't even say I'm pro Outsurance because my car is insured by Indwe Risk underwritten by Santam..... I'm just saying what I deal with every day dealing with Santam assessors that are just not willing to come to the party. We do a sh** load of santam jobs because half loaf is better than no loaf.

2005 corsa. Owner wants new original parts. Santam declined and approved for repair. We repaired it and the client went on and on about how useless we are even after showing him the docs assessor said no. Car is still standing at the shop 2 months later while the dispute is ongoing. Santam approved original replacement parts now but refusing to pay for the repair already done. They reckon we must take the loss.
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More tham likely a regional issue. A friend in the Paarl part owns and runs a large panel ahop in Paarl and he's never complained about Santam not paying or their rates.
 
Katelknaap said:
Interesting that many Outsurance assessors have left to rather work for Santam. I know of at least 5 just in our area. Work environment, culture and way of doing things just completely different.
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Yeah they are so different. I don't know about Santam but I do know Outsurance is quite strict. Assessors have very strict deadlines. Different software being used. I like their software more and procedure is nice. Samtam uses Audatex not really a fan of it and the assessors I deal with here is challenging.
 
cavedog said:
Yeah they are so different. I don't know about Santam but I do know Outsurance is quite strict. Assessors have very strict deadlines. Different software being used. I like their software more and procedure is nice. Samtam uses Audatex not really a fan of it and the assessors I deal with here is challenging.
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What area are you in? From my understanding Santam does nearly all car claims on a "desktop" basis meaning an assessor hardly ever goes out physically to a panelshop / car. There thus should not really be a reason for 3/4 day delays.
 
Daruk said:
The issue I had with Outsurance is the company they used was very new and had no reputation in town. I didn't like the work done, it went back twice and eventually I gave up on them. I had an argument with the dealer about parts that had been damaged that weren't replaced. They claimed the parts were not damaged in the accident. I knew for a fact they were. Not a new car but a well looked after car.
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Outsurance is quite strict with those kind of things and I would say very unfair towards panelshops. Once a client complains Outsurance stops sending new work to that shop until the complain is resolved. That panelshop would need 5 awesome reviews to counter that 1 complaint. Having just 4 complaints means your Outsurance jobs stop whether the client has valid complaints or not does not matter. Also seen a case like this with a Subaru. Air guide/duct broken and after logging it to be replaced 3 times and all 3 times removed by the assessor we refitted the broken one. Client complained work from Outsurance stopped until complain is resolved. Now after the client started complaining it got approved.

Katelknaap said:
What area are you in? From my understanding Santam does nearly all car claims on a "desktop" basis meaning an assessor hardly ever goes out physically to a panelshop / car. There thus should not really be a reason for 3/4 day delays.
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Centurion. Yes same with Outsurance. The issue is hidden damages. Every claim has additional/hidden damages it's because if the car is drivable it gets assessed from pictures. When logging additionals you end up sending pictures after pictures to get approval. This is usually where delays come in. That or when it's out of warranty having to wait for aftermarket replacement parts which are usually of poor quality. Old Mutual actually tells you where to buy them Autoboys or Intercity and you have to get them from there if not they want in writing why you can't stock issue or whatever the case may be. This causes delays compared to Outsurance where they assess and approve repair for example and you log for new you get an answer within a few hours and it gets approved.
 
Tried to insure my car with santam , as they did not have a book value for it on record had to get car valued. No car dealership wanted to give a amount, cost my a whole day driving around.
Called outsurance half hour on phone car fully comprehensive insured.
 
thehuman said:
Tried to insure my car with santam , as they did not have a book value for it on record had to get car valued. No car dealership wanted to give a amount, cost my a whole day driving around.
Called outsurance half hour on phone car fully comprehensive insured.
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So, no car dealership will give a value. What is this car, and what did you insure it for?
 
Splinter said:
So, no car dealership will give a value. What is this car, and what did you insure it for?
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1986 bmw e30 , tried all the dealerships they want to look it up on the computer
One place gave me a value of 20k , with santam excess of 5k will only get 15k out.

Outsurance insured for 25k.

Still ridiculous as street value of the car is 60k.
 
cavedog said:
I'm talking from a Repairer point of view not whether they are approving or rejecting claims.

And yes from the repairer point of view I know what I'm talking about I work with it every single day.
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Even if true...would be irrelevant to the consumer. :)
 
cavedog said:
Maybe it's a area thing idk. Why would I lie? What possible agenda or benefit will I have? I can't even say I'm pro Outsurance because my car is insured by Indwe Risk underwritten by Santam..... I'm just saying what I deal with every day dealing with Santam assessors that are just not willing to come to the party. We do a sh** load of santam jobs because half loaf is better than no loaf.

2005 corsa. Owner wants new original parts. Santam declined and approved for repair. We repaired it and the client went on and on about how useless we are even after showing him the docs assessor said no. Car is still standing at the shop 2 months later while the dispute is ongoing. Santam approved original replacement parts now but refusing to pay for the repair already done. They reckon we must take the loss.
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Is it the same assessor? Maybe the problem is there and not Santam at all?
 
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