Under R100m recovered for insurance policyholders

Johannesburg – Just under R100m was recovered for short-term insurance policy holders by the ombud. This is according to the annual report of the Ombudsman of Short term Insurance.

More than half (R59.2m) of the money returned to insurers was related to vehicle insurance complaints.

Less money (R99.1m) was recovered in 2016 than the previous year (R100.7m) because fewer complaints were resolved, explained the ombudsman Deanne Wood.

The ombud received 14 916 complaints, of these 10175 were considered. A total of 8 631 cases were closed during the year.

The average turnaround time to resolve complaints was 91 days, Wood said this was “commendable”. More than a third of complaints were resolved in less than 60 days. Only 6% of complaints took longer than 180 days to resolve, according to the report.

The report also listed the number of complaints it received for each of the industry players. “No adverse conclusions should be drawn against any insurer based purely on the number of complaints against them,” the ombud cautioned.

The ombud explained that the proportion of complaints received by the office relative to those received by the insurer was a more accurate expression of how complaints are dealt with by each insurer.

For this reason, the report tables the number of complaints received by the OSTI per 1000 complaints received by the insurer.

In light of this, among the highest complaints received by the OSTI include Compass Insurance Limited with 30.09 complaints, of these 9.38% were overturned, or the decision of the insurer was changed with some benefit for the insured, the report explained.

Western National Insurance Limited followed with 14.04 complaints, 29.36% of these complaints were overturned.

Oakhurst Insurance Company Limited recorded 8.46 complaints, of which 29.21% were overturned.

King Price Insurance Limited followed close behind with 7.86 complaints with 20.49% of complaints overturned.

The New National Insurance Company limited recorded 7.29 complaints and 29.60% were overturned.