Several prominent car insurers in South Africa have said that being involved in a vehicle accident with an expired driver’s licence does not automatically invalidate your claim.
Rather, all claims have to be assessed on their individual circumstances, and there are other factors that are considered far more important when deciding whether an insurer will pay out.
Determining factors in a car insurance claim
King Price, Momentum, and OUTsurance recently confirmed to MyBroadband that an expired driver’s licence card is just one of several factors that will determine the merits of an insurance claim.
Wynard Van Vuuren, client experience partner at King Price, told the publication that holding an expired card will not affect a client’s coverage, but that motorists should still renew their licence as soon as possible.
Motor vehicle accident claims are established via a causal link or direct link to the resulting accident, which means that roadworthiness is scrutinized far more than something like licence validity.
Things like worn tyres, unresponsive brakes, or non-functioning lights can all affect the roadworthiness of your car, which plays a major role in determining whether you were indirectly at fault for an accident by not attending to these issues.
On the other hand, if your tyres have little tread and someone else crashes into your parked car, this will not affect your claim as the state of the tyres does not constitute a causal link in that situation.
Similarly, if you are in an accident or your car is stolen while your licence is expired, an insurer must still pay for the claim as the validity of the card is not material to the incident, said Van Vuuren.
As for other insurance companies, Momentum’s executive head for claims and claims support, Funeka Ngewu, said that the firm uses TransUnion’s eNatis data to validate its clients’ licences and when they expire.
“We would register and validate the claim to confirm how the accident occurred and get details around why the licence has not been renewed to assist us in validating the claim,” said Ngewu.
A licence card will only affect a claim if its expired status is considered material to the accident, and the insurer weighs considerations such as whether the individual was driving during the expiry period, whether the card can be renewed, or if it will have to be re-issued.
As for OUTsurance, it abides by a general rule that an expired licence is not a valid reason to reject a claim, particularly when it has no direct relation to the loss, which echoes the sentiment shown by King Price and Momentum.
According to the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa), a licence is considered valid for three months past its printed expiration date, provided that the owner has applied to renew their card within this grace period.
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