VW dealership goes cold on Durban man whose uninsured R1 million VW Amarok was stolen from their wash bay

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bwana

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A KwaZulu-Natal man who took his new VW Amarok to a dealership for dashboard light repairs was shocked to learn that his R1 million vehicle had been stolen from the premises on the same day he went to collect it.
Darrel Shanmugam, of Phoenix, had taken his Amarok Aventura 3.0 TDI to the Edwin Swales branch of Barons VW in Durban on 20 September 2024, just a month after purchasing it.

The 32-year-old said he went to the dealership unannounced on 28 October 2024, as he hadn’t received updates on the repair progress. Upon arrival, he was told his vehicle wasn’t ready as a new battery still needed to be installed, and that he would be called once all work was complete.
...
Unfortunately, Shanmugam’s car was uninsured and not fitted with a tracking device.

“I hadn’t insured it or installed a tracker because I was waiting for the dashboard lights to be fixed. I had already arranged with Matrix Vehicle Tracking to install a tracker and assist me with insurance quotes once repairs were complete,” he explained.

 
1. Would a disclaimer of "we accept no responsibility yada yada" cover the dealership here?
2. WTF buys a R1 mil car and does not have insurance, unless he bought it cash?
 
kolaval said:
1. Would a disclaimer of "we accept no responsibility yada yada" cover the dealership here?
2. WTF buys a R1 mil car and does not have insurance, unless he bought it cash?
Click to expand...
2. The same person that stays in Copperleaf/Waterkloof/Silver Lakes, drives a +R1mil car, doesn't have medical aid and then p*sses and moans about the state of government hospitals and clinics.

Priorities aren't the same for everyone it seems...
 
Middle class South Africans doing middle class things. A R1 million-rand car?? Who would buy something like that? I certainly wouldn't even if I had the money for it. Middle class South Africans are a strange breed - they spend so much money on insignificant things (expensive holidays, cars, credit cards) but have no emergency funds/savings, no investments and go around borrowing money from people.

Yeah, driving around with no insurance, even if you are awaiting insurance to be sorted out was a big mistake. If the car is not insured, and the dealership premises make it known that they accept no responsibility for loss, damage or death at the premises, they should be covered... right?
 
Yeah, this idiot can only have bought this car cash. Irresponsible and selfish. Dealership likely has disclaimers protecting them - shitty that they didn't look after his car (and probably an inside job).
 
I mean apart from the silly not having insurance bit, I have wondered what my insurance would say were my car to be stolen from one of these car washes place where I literally toss someone the keys and wander off.
In other words, I wonder what would happen if I wandered.

Also I get the dealership shirking responsibility but also surely as a dealership you'd go out of business pretty quick if folk know you cannot guarantee the safety of their vehicle?
 
Sepeng said:
I mean apart from the silly not having insurance bit, I have wondered what my insurance would say were my car to be stolen from one of these car washes place where I literally toss someone the keys and wander off.
In other words, I wonder what would happen if I wandered.

Also I get the dealership shirking responsibility but also surely as a dealership you'd go out of business pretty quick if folk know you cannot guarantee the safety of their vehicle?
Click to expand...
They aren't shirking responsibilities, you as the owner need to insure your vehicle.
 
kolaval said:
1. Would a disclaimer of "we accept no responsibility yada yada" cover the dealership here?
2. WTF buys a R1 mil car and does not have insurance, unless he bought it cash?
Click to expand...

Apparently plenty of people....and many with finance.

I've seen literal brags on Twitter from people about how they "save" by not having insurance while driving a financed car and thinking that it's fine because as long as they drive carefully it's all good.

No concept of understanding that if someone rams into them they are ****ed double up because the bank will likely sue them with interest for not having insurance and then force them to pay and they'll have to buy another car...which nobody will give them because of this fail.
 
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