Your claim
Four questions.
That is the whole test.
If you can say yes to all four, you have a claim. If you are not sure about one of them, that is what the phone call is for.
1
Was somebody hurt?
A person, not a car
The Fund pays for injury and for death. Not for your bakkie, not for your phone. That is your insurer, and it is a separate thing entirely.
2
Was a vehicle being driven?
Any vehicle, anywhere
A car, a taxi, a bus, a bike, a truck. On a road or off one. It has to have been moving under somebody’s control.
3
Was somebody else careless?
Even a little bit counts
If it was entirely your own doing there is no claim. Partly is normal. You get less, not nothing, and less is a great deal more than nothing.
4
Are you still in time?
Three years. Two if they ran
This is the one that cannot be argued about afterwards. Phone today and we will tell you your date in about a minute.
Four yeses? Then phone today.
Not sure about one? Phone anyway. Almost every “I probably do not qualify” we hear turns out to qualify.
Being straight with you
Four times we will tell you no.
We would rather lose the file on the first call than take it and let it drift. That is how this part of the profession got its reputation.
It was all your own doing
One vehicle, nobody else involved. If there is any argument that somebody else played a part, phone anyway. That argument is worth having and it is not yours to judge.
Nobody was hurt
A bent car is an insurance matter. We will tell you that on the call rather than open a file.
The time ran out
Three years, or two. There are narrow exceptions for children and for people who cannot manage their own affairs. If that might be you, do not assume. Ask.
No vehicle was involved
A fall at work, a dog, a bad operation. Those may still be claims. They are just not against the Fund, and we will tell you who they are against.
Helpful, not required
Bring what you have. We will find the rest.
Do not put off the call because something on this list is missing. Most of it we can get ourselves. The one thing we cannot get back is time.
The case number
Or just the station and the date. We can find the rest.
Where you were treated
The hospital or clinic name is enough to start.
An ID
Yours, or the injured person’s.
Something showing what you earn
A payslip, a letter, a bank statement.
Any photographs
From the scene, from the car, from your phone.
A witness name
A first name and a number is plenty.
Ten minutes settles it.
Tell us what happened and roughly when. That is usually all it takes.