Letter of demand for damages

Most people write this letter twice. The first version says someone wrecked their car and owes them money. The second, written after somebody explains why the first went nowhere, says what happened, why the other side is legally responsible, and what each item of loss cost, with a receipt behind every figure. This template is the second version.

What this document does and when to use it

A damages claim is different from a debt, and the difference shapes the whole letter. With an unpaid invoice the amount is already fixed by an agreement, and our letter of demand for unpaid debt is the right form. With damages nothing is fixed. You have to persuade the other side of two things they have not agreed to: that they are at fault, and that your losses come to the number you wrote down. A letter that only asserts a total gives them nothing to concede.

So this one sets out the incident, then the basis of liability, then an itemised schedule of loss, then a deadline. Use it for a motor accident where you claim for the vehicle rather than for injury, a fall in a shop, a dog bite, water damage from a neighbour, or work done so badly you paid someone else to redo it.

Do not use it where a person was injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident. That is a claim against the Road Accident Fund under the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996, on its own forms and deadlines, and demanding from the other driver instead can cost you the claim. Read how to claim from the Road Accident Fund first.

Before you send it: get these facts straight

Who exactly you are claiming from. A shop trading as "Corner Superette" may be a company with a different registered name. Get the registered name and registration number, or for an individual, full names and a physical address. A demand addressed to a trading name is addressed to nobody, and the same error later gets a summons thrown out.

The evidence, gathered now. Photographs, the police case number, the accident report, names and cell numbers of witnesses, and any CCTV. Ask for footage in writing today, because shops and complexes routinely overwrite it within weeks.

Your own honest account of fault. Under the Apportionment of Damages Act 34 of 1956, where the person claiming was also partly to blame, the award can be reduced in proportion to that share of the blame. If you were speeding, that will come out. Price it in.

A figure for every line, with a document behind it. Quotes, invoices, receipts, medical accounts, a letter from your employer confirming income actually lost. Anything you cannot document, leave out.

Two dates decide whether any of this matters. Most damages claims prescribe three years from when you knew, or could reasonably have known, of the harm and who caused it, under the Prescription Act 68 of 1969. Claims against organs of state need written notice within six months, far shorter than people expect. If the loss came from goods or services you bought, the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 may also give you a route to the supplier and a consumer forum, so name the purchase in your letter.

Walking through it, paragraph by paragraph

The heading line carries the total and the date and place of the incident, so the recipient knows what the letter is before reading a word of it.

Paragraph 1 states that this is a formal demand. One sentence, and it sets the register.

Paragraph 2 is the incident, "in three or four plain sentences, in the order it happened, naming who did what". Keep to what a camera would have recorded. No adjectives, no motives.

Paragraph 3 adds the police case number and the witnesses, with names and numbers. It signals that your version can be checked, which is what an insurer wants to know before it pays.

Paragraph 4 is the paragraph the whole letter turns on. It says why the other side is legally responsible, and the template gives you the shape: "you drove into the rear of my vehicle while I was stationary", or "you failed to keep the floor of your shop dry and free of hazards, and failed to warn customers". Then the sentence that ties it together: "Had you [SET OUT WHAT THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE], the incident would not have happened." Fill both halves in. You are saying what a reasonable person would have done, that they did not do it, and that your loss followed. Skip this paragraph and you have written a complaint, not a demand.

Paragraph 5 is the schedule of loss, one item to a line with an amount beside it and a total at the foot. Repairs, towing, medical expenses you paid, medication, transport to appointments, income lost between two dates, the assessor's fee. Delete lines that do not apply rather than putting nil against them.

Paragraph 6 lists the attachments and matches them to the items above. Do that literally: mark the quote as supporting 5.1, the medical account as 5.3. It removes every excuse for a partial offer.

Paragraph 7 demands the total by a stated calendar date and gives banking details with a reference. Give both a number of days and the date they end on, because "within 14 days" invites an argument about when counting started.

Paragraph 8 asks them to hand the letter to their insurer and to send you the insurer's name and claim number. Often that is the most useful thing the letter achieves.

Paragraphs 9 and 10 are the ones people delete and should not. Paragraph 9 invites a written dispute of liability or of any figure, and a reply arguing about the amount has usually conceded that something is owed. Paragraph 10 states the consequence, carefully: you intend to take further steps which may include summons. It does not threaten arrest or the sheriff. Paragraph 11 offers to settle, which costs nothing and makes refusal look unreasonable.

A worked example

This example is illustrative only.

Lerato Mahlangu is stationary at a red light in Polokwane when a delivery bakkie hits her from behind. She photographs both vehicles and the plates and opens a case the same afternoon.

Her paragraph 2 gives the date, the time, the intersection and three sentences of fact. Paragraph 3 gives the case number and the number of a taxi driver who saw it. Paragraph 4 says the driver drove into the rear of her stationary vehicle, that he failed to keep a proper lookout and a safe following distance, and that had he done so the collision would not have happened.

Her paragraph 5 runs to four lines: repairs R42 300 on a panel beater's quote, towing R2 100, car hire for eleven days R6 050, and the assessor's report R1 450. Total R51 900. She claims nothing for the inconvenience, because she cannot prove it.

She addresses the letter to the bakkie's owner by registered company name, gives 14 days, and emails a copy to the company's claims address.

The mistakes that make one of these useless

Addressing it to a trading name. The company ignores it, and if you later issue summons against the wrong entity you pay for the mistake twice.

Giving a total with no breakdown. The insurer cannot assess a lump sum, so it does nothing. A schedule can be argued with line by line, and being argued with is progress.

Claiming what you cannot prove. One inflated line makes every honest line look inflated.

Threatening things you cannot do. Talk of criminal charges or blacklisting converts your letter into evidence about you.

Skipping the liability paragraph. Without paragraph 4 the recipient can honestly say they do not know what they are accused of doing wrong.

Letting the clock run while letters go back and forth. Correspondence does not interrupt prescription. Only service of a summons, or the other side's acknowledgement, does.

How to submit it and prove you did

Use two routes at once. Deliver by hand and have the recipient sign and date your copy, or send by registered post and keep the slip, and either way email a scanned copy and keep the sent item. For a company, use the registered address on its CIPC record as well as the trading address.

Send it as one PDF, letter first and attachments in the order of your schedule, and copy the insurer if you know who it is. Then diarise the deadline.

If it does not work

Send one short follow-up recording that the deadline has passed, then move.

If you claim as an individual and the amount fits, the Small Claims Court has no attorneys and no legal costs, and the clerk helps you complete the summons. That process under the Small Claims Courts Act 61 of 1984 requires a written demand delivered at least 14 days before summons, which is why this letter matters even when ignored. Check the limit with our Small Claims Court calculator.

Above that limit, or where the claimant is a company or a trust, the matter goes to the Magistrates' Court. Our court fees calculator gives a sense of the cost and how does no-win-no-fee work in South Africa explains contingency arrangements. Legal Aid South Africa is on 0800 110 110, and university law clinics assist at no charge. For the shape of the claim itself, see what can I claim for in a personal injury case.

LawMatch is not a law firm and this article is general information, not legal advice about your situation.

Frequently asked questions

Does sending this letter stop prescription running?

No. A demand, however firmly worded, does not interrupt prescription under the Prescription Act 68 of 1969. If your three years is close, issuing summons is the answer, not another letter.

How many days should I give them?

Fourteen, if the Small Claims Court is a possibility, because that court requires the demand to have been delivered at least 14 days before summons. Longer is fine. Shorter looks unreasonable.

The accident was partly my fault. Is the claim dead?

No. Under the Apportionment of Damages Act 34 of 1956 an award can be reduced in proportion to your share of the blame rather than refused outright. See can I claim from the RAF if the accident was partly my fault where a motor injury is involved.

Can I claim for the stress and the inconvenience?

Not in this letter. Keep paragraph 5 to losses with documents behind them. Claims for pain and suffering are possible in some cases, but they need advice and evidence, and an unsupported figure here weakens the rest.

Should I deal with the other side's insurer directly?

Yes, in addition. Insurers usually process a documented claim faster than their policyholder will. Send the same letter and schedule, quote the claim number, and copy the policyholder.