MGWAZI Mahlangu's protracted battle with Hollard Insurance overshoddy repairs on his vehicle has ended, thanks to Consumer Line.

Last Thursday, the insurer finally agreed to write off their client's damaged vehicle and offered him a settlement amount of R233000.

The settlement amount should at least allow Mahlangu to pay off the amount owed, R156000, on his Toyota Quantumand still afford to put forward a deposit on a new vehicle with the balance.

A week ago, Consumer Line published an article highlighting the problem of two policyholders, including Mahlangu. The article stated that both the client's vehicle engines blew up after they were repaired with fake parts.

Unlike Mahlangu, Fezile Gama of Spruitview, on the East Rand, and his mother say they will now battle it out in court after rejecting what they say is an insufficient settlement from Hollard.

The Gamas complained that the insurer's assessor omitted to note that the radiator of their car, its brakes, booster and master cylinder needed repairs.

They say their vehicle was repaired with damaged and counterfeit parts which caused the engine to blow up.

Hollard offered the family an ex-gratia (given as a favour where no legal obligation exist) payment of R100000 which they rejected.

Mahlangu, 59, of Derdepoort - in Tshwane - has a similar story to tell. After his Toyota Quantum was involved in a crash in September last year, Hollard accepted his claim but he says the assessor conducted a poor assessment on the vehicle . He adds that the mechanic used parts that are not Toyota-approved .

Mahlangu says he later found out that Hollard had used second-hand and counterfeit parts after taking his vehicle to a Toyota dealer for reassessment.

Helped by his son, Jabulani, to find a better solution on the matter, Mahlangu says when he forwarded the reassessment report to Hollard, the insurer ignored him.

But after Consumer Line's intervention, Hollard has since offered to write-off the vehicle.

"Without my son, the financier would have long attached this vehicle," says Mahlangu.

He says he continued paying the R6300 instalment after the engine blew up 13 months ago.

Responding to queries on the matter, Hollard has objected to Sowetan's headline which referred to replacement parts as fake.

Hollard spokesman Warwick Bloom says they only use "alternative parts" that are certified by the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) or an equivalent body.

Bloom adds that they decided to write-off the vehicle as a "generous compromise solution".

Bloom says Hollard will not refund instalments paid during the period the vehicle was stationary because Mahlangu will pocket the difference between the write-off value and the amount owing.

Retail Motor Industry's Twala Boco who represent car manufactures says the next best parts to original parts are those manufactured by companies like GUD and LUK.

These parts, he says, meet the required standards as regulated by the National Regulatory for Compulsory Specification.

Anything not manufactured by these companies is nothing else but fake, he says. "Counterfeit products are fake replicas of the real product whether certified or not."

Boco also warns that not everythingthat bears the SABS stamp necessarily means that it meets the required standards as some fake goods also carry fake SABS stamps.

l Consumer Line urges policyholders to establish if their policies allow the insurer to use counterfeit parts should an insured vehicle be involved in an accident. Our investigation reveals that most insurers stipulate that "alternative/generic or used parts will be used if necessary and appropriate".

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