Insurance for licensed drivers only

By: CAR magazine

The Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that only licensed drivers may claim insurance if their vehicle is stolen during a hijacking.

The Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that only licensed drivers may claim insurance if their vehicle is stolen during a hijacking.

The reported that the appeal court had overturned a high court decision that unlicensed drivers could also claim if their vehicles were stolen during a hijacking.

The case was taken to the appeal court as insurance company Mutual and Federal refused to pay out after Manuel Gouveia’s bakkie was hijacked in Houghton in 2000.

At the time of the hijacking, Eduardo Cumbe, who was driving, did not have a driver’s licence. The insurance company said Gouveia had an exception clause in his contract that meant he could not claim for the loss of his vehicle if it was driven by an unlicensed driver.

However, Gouveia took Mutual and Federal to the high court and it ruled that the insurance company had to pay as the fact that Cumbe did not have a licence did not have anything to do with the loss of the vehicle. But this decision was overruled by the appeal court this week.

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