Smarter moves to protect your wallet and your wheels
Protect your money and your car: spot dodgy sales calls, avoid car loan traps, jump-start your vehicle solo, guard pensioners from fraud, and check exactly what your car comes with before buying.
1. Small businesses, listen up: if somebody calls you wanting to sell you discounted cleaning materials, just say no!
Lynne works for a government primary school north of Durban. She got a sales call about a bulk order of cleaning products and agreed to it, but the repeat orders that she swears she never agreed to just keep coming, along with very large payment demands.
The small school neither wants, needs, nor can afford the volume of cleaning products which has been forced upon it, and Lynne has, in desperation, resorted to paying for some of the detergents herself.
If a company can’t prove that you explicitly consented to repeat bulk orders, they have no hold over you. Just refuse to pay.
2. Your car loan debt may have prescribed, but you aren’t entitled to your car’s registration certificate
If your car loan debt prescribes - in other words, you have not, in the previous three years, made a payment towards it, made some kind of promise to pay it, or been summoned in respect of it - it has legally prescribed, and you are not liable to settle it.
But in such cases, the banks have the last laugh. They do not have to release the car’s registration document to you without full payment, so they remain the titleholder of the car.
And without a legal document, you can’t sell the car.
3. Do you have a power bank for your car?
Jumper cables are so last decade.
A handy alternative is a compact car jump starter power bank, such as the Gizzu Jump Starter.
These portable battery packs can jump-start a car without needing a second car, making them ideal for emergencies. They're super easy to use – you just connect the included clamps to your battery and press a button. Many models also charge phones or laptops and include built-in torches. Choose one with sufficient peak current (at least 800A for most cars).
And keep it charged in your boot or cubbyhole – yes, they are small enough to fit in your cubby!
In short, it’s a smart, compact, schlep-saving tool to have.
4. Brazen in-person impersonators targeting KZN pensioners
We’ve all heard of fraudsters tricking people into giving them access to their bank accounts via “click on this link” emails, and vishing - phone calls in which they pretend to be employed by the fraud department of the intended victim’s bank.
But I’ve heard from a couple of people, both elderly, and both in KwaZulu-Natal, who fell for a very in-your-face form of bank fraud - visits to their home, by con artists pretending to be bank officials, in the one case, and a policewoman in another.
In both cases they convinced their victims to hand over their bank cards and their passwords and PINs and then cleaned out their bank accounts.
FNB confirmed that it is seeing a growing number of similar fraud modus operandi cases -in KZN specifically - “and has been working closely with the relevant law enforcement authorities to successfully prosecute unlawful conduct.”
Don’t let in strangers wanting to enter your home without prior arrangement, no matter what uniform they are wearing.
And please warn your elderly friends and relatives.
5. Don’t let AI tell you what features a car has
Lawrence saw a Chinese brand car advertised online at a good price. When he asked the salesperson about its features, he was told to look online.
He bought the car based on a long list of excellent spec, including a 360-degree camera, front park distance control, electronic stability control, cruise control and more.
But he later discovered that those nice-to-have features were only on the more expensive models. The dealership agreed to swap his car for one of those - if he paid them an extra R100 000.
The lesson: cars may look the same, but features you can’t see make a massive difference to the price – and the car’s capabilities, of course.
So make very sure that you get the salesperson to specify, in writing, what you are and aren’t getting in your chosen model.
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