Cartrack clients aggrieved at rejected warranty claims

Sowetan Consumer is receiving a number of complaints from Cartrack regarding R150,000 warranty claim that was rejected because the customers did not check their vehicle tracking devices every three months. In the last two weeks, we have received more than a dozen angry Cartrack customers who were disappointed with their claims being rejected after their tracker fitted cars were stolen or hijacked. The vehicles could not be found despite their tracking devices. Cartracker has a limited warranty for recovery that offers up to R150,000 in compensation if the vehicle is not recovered. To get the warranty, customers must call the company at least every three months and check that their tracker is still in good working order. If they fail to do this, the compensation is forfeited. This requirement is at the centre of many customers’ complaints, with some claiming it is a burden for customers to be expected to contact the company for a device it legally owns. Others complain that Cartrack’s own record-keeping of logged calls is poor. Nicholas Thwala’s story, in which his warranty claim was initially denied, sparked the complaints that we received. The company reversed its decision after Sowetan Consumer questioned whether the requirement was fair. Thwala’s compensation has been received. However, some Cartrack customers are aggrieved because their claims have not been as successful as Thwala’s. Sowetan provided a sample four complaints. Aulben Apollis and his son claimed to have been hijacked by gunmen in Mamelodi (Tshwane) last month. The perpetrators took away their wallets, phones, bakkies, guns and other equipment from the vehicle. He called Cartrack in less than 10 minutes, but it was not able to recover the vehicle. “We logged a claim with Cartrack, and within 48 hours it was declined on the grounds that we did not call them every three months to check the tracker. Please, can you assist to get my money from these scammers,” Apollis said. In another case, David Mogatusi’s vehicle was stolen in February and never recovered. The warranty for his vehicle was also denied. He claimed that the company was only able to verify two of the test calls he made since September 2023 when his account was created. This claim he denies. He asked for the company to verify his mobile applications.“I can therefore confirm that the investigation was inconclusive as my Cartrack app was not verified, and they did not check if I did test/check for the unit in the past months with them. “It is disingenuous for Cartrack to rely only on telephone contact with them when they could have generated a convenient system that one can simply log in and check if the unit is working,” Mogatusi stated. Cartrack responded to the complaints by stating that the car owners who complained did not comply with the requirement to ask it to test the device at least every three months. Cartrack spokesperson Lauren Human stated that the purpose of this warranty is to reward those customers who help them reduce the risk of not recovering a stolen car.“We are not an insurance company and only reward customers who comply with our terms and conditions,” She said “Customers are requested to periodically test their tracking devices as they are best positioned to know the operational status of their vehicles. At times, vehicles may be unconnected to our [data storage] cloud for extended periods for reasons beyond our control. “When a vehicle is out of network coverage, preventing us from contacting the tracking device, we will not know whether there is a technical issue. This requirement is therefore critical for us to establish whether uncontactable vehicles are due to [poor] coverage or another cause,” Human said.Phetho Ntaba, spokesperson for the National Consumer Commission, said they were investigating Cartrack’s conduct and encouraged unhappy consumers to contact her office for intervention.“The NCC’s investigation into Cartrack is at an advanced stage and will provide an update at an appropriate time. The NCC is also looking into the conduct of another tracking company,” Ntaba said. The NCC can be contacted on www.thencc.org.za or inquiries@thencc.org.za or by telephone at 012-065-1940. Sowetan
2025-11-17 06:03:15