Northern businessman Johannes Andjamba has dragged King Price Insurance to the High Court and is suing the company for N$500 000.
According to court papers filed by the businessman’s lawyer Ellis Shilengudwa, King Price has refused to settle an insurance claim after Andjamba’s long-haulage truck was involved in an accident in Zambia.
Andjamba is now demanding a cash pay-out or a replacement of the vehicle that was damaged beyond repair.
A bone of contention between the two parties emanates from King Price’s refusal to honour Andjamba’s claim after the businessman cut his accident-damaged Scania G460 truck into pieces to enable him to ferry it back to Namibia, rendering it impossible to assess and determine the damage.
King Price Chief Operations Officer Adriaan de Waal said the company’s policies do not allow clients to conduct any replacement or repairs that have not been authorized by way of written approval, and that such failure may lead to the insured’s claim being rejected.
“These terms are material to the insurer for reasons that it enables King Price to adjudicate the claim by having the insured item independently assessed to determine if it is repairable or beyond economic repair and also to determine how the accident occurred, to see whether an insured has a valid claim and if so, how to settle an insured’s claim,” de Waal said.
However, Andjamba insists that King Price is reneging on its promise after it told him to bring back the wreckage to Namibia.
“Nothing in our agreement prevented me from dismantling or cutting up the truck for purposes of transporting the wreckage for assessment by King Price. The actions I undertook to authorize the cutting up of the wreckage into easily transported parts was the only reasonable one and did not prevent King Price from assessing the damage caused by the accident,” he told The Brief.
According to Andjamba’s particulars of claim, the agreement was that he shall pay a premium of N$ 3333.33 payable monthly or annually in advance, which in respect of the Truck, excluding stamp duty and Namfisa levy per month.
The truck, according to the businessman, was insured for travelling to Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Angola and Zambia. The agreement, Andjamba says, is that he shall pay repatriation costs of N$ 15 000 from any country where an accident arises, to Namibia.
The matter on Tuesday appeared in the Windhoek High Court before Judge Eileen Rakow for allocation of trial dates.
