Kredo Mobility is taking a step to assist motorists in making more informed decisions when buying previously used vehicles that have potentially been accident damaged and misclassified.

South Africa records more than 800 000 vehicle accidents a year, with 70% of the vehicles not insured, while about 100 000 vehicles are written off by insurers every year.

While a write-off is not always a death sentence for a car, and often just a financial decision based on what an insurer is willing to pay to repair a vehicle, many of these vehicles are reconditioned and resold, often without clear disclosure of their accident history, says Kredo Mobility founder and CEO Kriben Reddy.

“Some salvage cars can be safely repaired by reputable repair shops, while others have no business being back on the road. But without a clear record of what happened to the vehicle, even experienced dealers are often left guessing,” he says, noting that buyers also rarely know the difference.

“One of the key issues lies in how salvage vehicles are coded.”

In South Africa, a brand-new car is classified as Code 1 and a used one as Code 2, while Code 3 is meant for vehicles that have been written off but could still be repaired.

Code 4 means the car is a complete loss and should be scrapped.

Reddy explains that the biggest grey area is between Code 2 and Code 3: when a vehicle is salvaged, it will often be kept listed as Code 2 because it can obtain a better resale price, even if the damage technically qualifies it as Code 3.

This leads to many written-off cars ending up misclassified and back on the market with little to no disclosure, and while it might pass a basic roadworthy inspection, it could have hidden structural issues, especially if it was repaired by a less reputable service provider.

“Dealers, too, are vulnerable. Without access to reliable, detailed accident history data, they risk reputational damage and legal exposure. To complicate matters further, the data ecosystem in South Africa is fragmented,” Reddy continues.

One widely used supplier provides basic information such as the date of an incident and the general area of damage. While helpful, this only paints part of the picture.

“It does not tell you how severe the damage was, who repaired the vehicle or what the repair entailed.”

To mitigate this, Kredo Mobility recently signed a landmark agreement granting the company access to 26 years of accident and salvage data from one of South Africa’s largest vehicle auction houses.

The dataset includes the damage location or date and images of the vehicle at the time of the incident.

While not a silver bullet, it is a significant step forward.

“When you can actually see what a car looks like after an accident, you are no longer guessing. It gives dealers and buyers a real chance to judge the damage for themselves,” he says.

“If someone wants to buy the car anyway, that is their choice. But nobody should have to make that decision in the dark.”

As the data comes from one source, it does not cover the entire market; however, it is a big step forward in a space where visibility has been almost non-existent, he explains.

“Our goal is to bring this kind of transparency to more suppliers over time, so everyone in the market can make better decisions.”