‘Lawyers are going to hate this the most’ – RAF CEO on newly launched claims platform

The Road Accident Fund (RAF) has launched a new contact centre to simplify claims for road accident victims – eliminating the need for legal practitioners.

The newly launched Customer Relationship Management (CRM) call centre was launched as part of RAF’s attempt to become claimant-centric – enabling claimants to contact the Fund directly to lodge their claims.

According to the Fund, the solution is geared to “push back against legal practitioners, who’ve turned RAF into a cash cow for the longest time.”

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Lawyers will hate this

Speaking at the launch on Monday, RAF CEO Collins Letsoalo said the new system would resolve recurring issues regarding the claims process and the amounts paid out, adding that legal practitioners might not be accepting of the new changes.

“I think lawyers are going to hate this the most, and we understand why…because they tend to take more than what they’re supposed to take [from] the claims,” he said.

Letsoalo said lawyers had been taking advantage of party-party costs for many years due to claimants not being fully aware of the intricacies of the costs.

“They actually don’t give back the party-party costs back to the claimant, as is expected,” he added.

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How it works

The newly launched CRM contact centre is aimed to simplify the claims process with its three departments – here’s how it works.

1. Inbound centre receives calls from claimants or attorneys – focused on first call resolution and providing updates on claim status.
2. Admin & outbound: following up on claims and keeping claimants updated – this includes callbacks on calls that were disconnected due to network difficulties and ensuring that supporting documentation is in order.
3. Claim finalisation: making sure the claim is successfully resolved.

RAF’s contact centre can be reached on 087 820 1111.

Cutting out the ‘middle man’

Deputy Minister of Transport Lisa Mangcu welcomed the new CRM contact centre.

“It’s one of the most encouraging steps that the RAF has taken towards greater responsiveness to customer needs,” he said.

He said the contact centre would enable the RAF to centralise customer interactions, keeping claimants updated on the claims process until it’s complete.

“This empowers claimants to take control of the claim process without the need of an attorney or a middle person,” Mangcu said, commending the RAF’s ‘Know Your Rights’ campaign.

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‘Improving service delivery’

Speaking at the launch, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said RAF had become a money-making platform plagued with many issues around claims.

“The CRM is a platform to improve service delivery,” she said, emphasising a claimant-centric approach.

Chikunga also said the CRM had already yielded positive results.

“Since the implementation of the CRM solution, on 3 July 2023, the RAF recorded a total of 78,447 enquiries, with an average resolution rate of 90% across all active customer platforms,” she said.

“The RAF has been able to successfully track and resolve over 90% of queries and complaints received,” she added.

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