KZN woman's car stolen from a carwash in Ballito

It is alarming to us how quickly crimes evolve, leaving the victims with a headache in having to pick up all the pieces. 

We spoke about a recent crime trend in which criminals are posing as vehicle owners and calling service centres or carwashes to release 'their' cars to a person who would be collecting them. 

Hansel shared on social media how his vehicle was stolen from a service centre in Pinetown and warned people about this new upcoming scam. Recently, Caroline Woodley, a KZN woman, shared her experience of falling victim to this heinous scam. 

Watch the video below which she posted on TikTok earlier this month. 

Read more: KZN man arrives at Pinetown service centre to find his car is gone

In the video, we see a man approach another man, who happens to be the manager of a carwash in Ballito. The man pays the manager, and then they return to the cash desk. The manager hands the man the keys to a Ford Everest and a receipt for his carwash. 

The owner of that Ford Everest, Caroline Woodley, shared how she purchased her new car in February 2024 and has been frequenting this carwash since then. She said that she finds the carwash convenient as it is situated in the building where her workplace is. 

But in September 2024, things were different; she returned to collect her car only to find that it had been 'already collected'. When she informed the manager that couldn't be the case, he said a person had called, informing him that a guy would come to collect her car, so he handed the keys over. 

This incident had opened up a whole can of worms for Woodley, who immediately contacted the tracking company. She was told the tracker had been removed and the Ford app reset. 

Watch the video below - courtesy of TikTok. 

Read more: South Africa’s used car scams: How to spot a faulty deal

Things were still not looking up for Woodley. Her insurance company let her down when they rejected the claim because of a tiny clause on page 177 of a 200+ page policy. She referred to it as a "trickery clause".

After hitting a dead end with her insurance, her broker contacted the carwash and attempted to claim from their insurance. After some back and forth, the carwash company's insurance paid her out, but only a portion of what they believed the car was worth. Woodley didn't share the amount but said she was still short on the total owed to her motor finance company. 

You can avoid the stress and sheer defeat that she has gone through by simply reviewing your insurance policy. She has since left that insurer and says that her current insurer informed her that the 'trickery clause' doesn't generally coincide with the understanding behind what happened.

Watch her second video below - courtesy of TikTok. 

Woodley posted an update yesterday. She filed a complaint with the Ombudsman, and things did not go her way. 

It was said that she took the risk by leaving her keys with the carwash for several hours, and they were unwilling to reimburse her for that risk. 

In short, the insurer said that you are not covered if you hand your keys to a third party. Please take a look at the video below for this one from TikTok. 

Take a look at the video below, which is courtesy of TikTok. 

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Image Courtesy of TikTok