Stuff South Africa

Report minor car accidents online instead of going to a police station: Here’s how

COVID has been tough, but it is also responsible for a few conveniences. Grocery delivery is now a thing we hadn’t even dreamed of in 2020. At least some of us are still working at home. Even car accidents are a little easier to deal with, as long as they’re minor ones.

A minor car accident is when nobody is injured (or killed) and fewer than five vehicles are involved in the collision. If that’s you, we’re sorry about that. But you can sort out your car accident report online. Just head over to the NATIS (National Traffic Information System) website and file the report from home, once you’ve had a chance to calm down. Just make sure you do it within 24 hours of your fender bender — or on the next working day, if it’s a weekend or public holiday.

Step by step

Car accident report complete

That’s it. You’re done. All that’s left is to give it one more look to ensure everything is correct. It doesn’t help to check it after you hit ‘Confirm’. Which is what you should do next. A crash report number will be on its way to your chosen email address, which you can then forward to your insurance company. Probably.

We found that some insurance companies will only accept police report numbers, despite NATIS maintaining that it’s giving you an “…automatically generated Crash Report Number (CRN) for insurance claims”. Check with your insurance company before submitting your report online. If they’re not amenable, you’re headed off to the police station — even if there’s an easier way.

Exit mobile version