Key evidence — do you know what secrets your car key holds?

Insurers will find any reason to decline a claim. Many consumers believe that, and it’s certainly true that insurers have been found to have rejected claims without the necessary justification — last year 29% of complaints lodged against insurers by their clients were resolved by the Ombudsman of Short-Term Insurance either totally or partly in the consumers’ favour.

But clearly many claims are rejected on solid grounds, ranging from misrepresentation and failing to abide by the terms — such as fitting a car tracking device or arming an alarm system — to dishonesty.

But it’s the “insurers look for any loophole to dodge paying claims” perception that pervades, with the result that anyone who takes to social media alleging that their claim was unfairly denied is sure to be met with responses sympathetic to them and scathing of the insurer.

That’s despite only the complainant’s version of events having been ventilated.

And that’s exactly what happened recently when a young woman posted a TikTok video lambasting Budget Insurance for rejecting her claim after her Ford Ranger was stolen from the Makro Woodmead parking lot in July. 

The case boils down to a key piece of evidence — is the microchip capable of recording when the key was last used in the ignition of the vehicle in question?

“They are telling me that the same original key that I provided to them is the very same key that was used on the vehicle after I reported it stolen,” she said.

“I went to Ford and even they said it doesn’t make sense; how do you determine with a key that an ignition of a car was on at a certain time. It doesn’t make sense, guys!”

Hundreds of people posted versions of the “insurance companies are cheats” narrative, and suggested that she lodge a complaint with the ombudsman, which she has done.

Many suggested that the bakkie, bought in January this year, with a value of around R750,000, must have been stolen by means of a relay station attack or key cloning, meaning signals captured from the owner’s key by electronic devices were used by thieves to enter and start the car, rather than the key itself. 

That was my initial thought, on being repeatedly tagged when that video was shared by an influencer on X. 

So I invited the woman to e-mail me with the details, which she did.

“A third party company, Waidler, determined that two hours after the car was stolen, the car’s ignition was on with the car key I had when the vehicle was stolen”, she said.

“At that time I had the key either at Makro or already at the police station,” she said. “When I opened the case, the police officer asked if I had the car key with me. How is it then that the very same key was used to switch on my vehicle if I was with it at the police station?”

Having weighed up evidence provided by CCTV footage of the parking lot at the time of the woman’s arrival at Makro with her partner, and the theft of the vehicle minutes later, with a detailed report by Sandton-based automotive forensic company Waidler and the input of a vehicle theft expert, Budget concluded that the women’s version of events was not factual, and the claim was denied.

The footage shows the couple parking at 12:13pm on July 7 and entering the store.

At 12:33 two men are seen walking directly to the bakkie — having emerged from an area some distance from where the couple had entered the store.

Within seconds they enter the bakkie and drive off. 

On July 11, four days after the reported theft, the woman handed the bakkie’s two original keys  - the main key and a spare - to Budget and both were sent to Waidler for forensic analysis.

That company concluded that the spare had never been used — which the woman disputes — and that the main key was last used in the bakkie in question at 2:17pm: two hours after the couple parked it in that parking lot.

Neither key cloning nor a relay attack were possibilities in this case, according to Matthew Parker, who was interviewed by Carte Blanche in an episode on keyless car theft earlier this year and viewed the footage of this incident. 

As for the woman protesting that she had presented “the key” to the police shortly after the theft, Budget says that key could have been any key, including the spare. There was no way the police officer could have verified her version.

Waidler director Michael Faltermeier is adamant that it is “impossible” for the main key — the one presented to Budget by their client after the theft — not to have been used in that bakkie two hours after it was stolen.

The case boils down to a key piece of evidence: is the microchip in that Ranger key and others of its kind capable of recording when it was last used in the ignition of the vehicle in question?

The woman at the centre of this story believes not.

“I have called a number of engineers and companies, including Ford, and they are telling me they know nothing about a diagnostic machine that can determine the last ignition of a car by just using the key without the car itself,” she told me.

Pressed on this, Ford South Africa told me that while they have no means of and no interest in extracting such information about a vehicle from the key, that is not to say that an electronics engineer, using sophisticated equipment, would not be able to do just that.

Faltermeier says it is indeed possible, using an oscillograph or Batronix Reader — specialised forensic technology used by hardware programming engineers.

To prove that he was able to provide such information about a vehicle, including the VIN, odometer reading and when it was last operated with the key, Budget asked the company to demonstrate that with another vehicle this week, while being videoed.

I have seen those videos, and the correct information about that vehicle was indeed extracted from the microchip in the key.

Faltermeier concludes: “The key readout is accurate, and the vehicle key was used after the alleged theft on the vehicle with the given VIN. 

“Just because someone doesn’t understand the technology, doesn’t mean it is wrong,” he said. “It’s up to her to counter prove it.”

So did that smart key outsmart the bakkie owner, or will her “truth”, as she puts it, prevail somehow?

“I know my truth and being subjected to this for the past three months has been so draining,” she said. 

“I understand that the insurer has a strong case, but my truth is my truth.”

Budget, meanwhile, says it’s awaiting the ombudsman’s ruling, “which we will abide by”.

CONTACT WENDY: E-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za X (Twitter): @wendyknowler Facebook: wendyknowlerconsumer