If there’s a tracking device in your car, I have a few questions for you.
What technology does it use? What’s your monthly tracking fee? Does your contract require you to make contact with the company at set intervals to have it tested? Are you absolutely sure you’re paying your premiums every month? When last did you check whether you’re paying a competitive price?
These are especially crucial questions if your tracking device was installed some time ago, and if your insurer has made your theft and hijacking cover conditional upon compliance with your tracking contract’s Ts&Cs.
There is a lot at stake.
In the space of about a week I received e-mails from two Netstar clients — both of them, coincidentally, from KwaZulu-Natal, and both of them (former) owners of Toyota Etios. The two cars were stolen — one from outside a Westville church and the other from Durban’s CBD — within two weeks of each other (late August and early September).
Both claims were rejected by their respective insurers — Dotsure and First for Women — on the grounds that the owners had failed to comply with Netstar’s Ts&Cs.
Siobhan Baker bought her Etios in September 2016 and signed her Netstar contract at the time, paying her monthly tracking fee to Netstar and her insurance premium to Dotsure all these years in the belief that her car would be recovered or at least covered by insurance should it be stolen.
But her claim was rejected by Dotsure on the grounds that she had failed to proactively contact Netstar every six months and ask the company to check that the tracking device hidden somewhere in her car was still working, as her Netstar contract required.
Baker could have cancelled it with a month’s notice, without being made to pay a cancellation penalty, and signed up for a superior tracking package that didn’t expect her to diarise six-monthly checks
After her initial 36-month contract expired, Baker could have cancelled it with a month’s notice, without being made to pay a cancellation penalty, and signed up for a superior tracking package that didn’t expect her to diarise six-monthly checks to ensure that she’d be covered if her car was stolen.
“Netstar took my money every month without flagging that I was in breach of my contract and without any further advice about the superior tracking technology they now offer,” she said. “Had I been provided with the option of upgrading to one of the better packages, this insurance claim may have had a happier outcome,” Baker said.
“I find it hard to accept while I have in good faith paid premiums to both companies that I should now have no form of recompense.”
In the other woman’s case, her insurer also relied on her being in breach of her Netstar contract to reject her claim. In her case, though, she’d stopped paying her tracking fee at the time of the theft and it was for that reason that her insurer didn’t pay out.
I put it to Netstar that it was very likely that thousands of South Africans have tracking devices in their cars that are no longer working and have not been tested for years, and thus the fees they pay year after year are being wasted because if their cars are stolen, their claims will be rejected.
“What steps, if any, is the company taking to reach those people and make sure they have the best tracking tech in their cars — based on what they are currently paying — and that it is actually functional?” I asked.
Responding, Netstar’s COO Jeandre Koen said there had been a delay in Baker reporting the theft to the company, “providing perpetrators with further opportunity to compromise the unit, which could very well be the reason why we did not receive any signals from the unit”.
As for the Ts&Cs, Koen said they were conveyed to customers at the time the contract was signed. “We specifically explain the testing and functionality of the unit to the customer: obligations such as testing are drawn to the customer’s attention in the contract.”
Baker had the obligation to test her unit every six months, which she failed to do.
“While we have introduced measures to make this process simpler and easier — using the Netstar app or web portal to view the functionality of the unit, or requesting a test certificate via the Netstar bot on WhatsApp — this does not detract from the customer’s own contractual obligations.”
Netstar had a range of different products, from entry level to advanced, Koen said, which were priced accordingly, “and the election of the product will depend on the needs and requirements of the customer”.
“Affordability remains a big factor in this decision. South African customers tend to default to the cheapest product, but choosing an entry-level product does not in any manner detract from the service we commit to provide in relation to that product and its related functionality.”
RF (radio frequency) technology was still current and “extremely valuable” in the recovery process, Koen said, because it filled the gap if there was no GSM (cellphone) signal or only a poor signal, which was often the case during load-shedding.
Baker’s unit combined RF and GSM technology, requiring her to call in and report the vehicle stolen. As for informing clients of their options, Koen said Netstar ran “proactive communication campaigns” from time to time, informing customers of the status of their units and giving them an opportunity to upgrade.
Baker said she’d not been contacted about any such thing in six years.
No matter how long ago you signed your tracking contract, those “contractual obligations” are still binding. As are those of your insurance policy. So please check to make sure you aren’t unwittingly contravening them, exposing yourself to substantial financial risk should your car be stolen.
• Contact Knowler for advice with your consumer issues via e-mail consumer@knowler.co.za or on X (Twitter) @wendyknowler
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