What Happened After Our Vehicle Accident in Morocco

Ask any overlander: what is your worst nightmare? Many would tell you that it’s having an accident in a foreign country with your own vehicle. In most cases your overlanding vehicle is not just transport, it’s your home. When we had a vehicle accident in Morocco, which wasn’t our fault, but damaged our own vehicle, it really did become a living nightmare for the following 10 days.

I want to tell you the story, in all its detail, of what happened and what didn’t happen; how we were told to wait and the waiting didn’t help; how we struggled with the language barrier and our ignorance of local process; and how we finally resolved the situation.

If you don’t have time for the details, you can jump here and read our tips for you, if you unluckily find yourself in an accident with your own vehicle in a foreign country – in particular, Morocco.

Day 1 – Wednesday 20 March – Overlanding nightmare

With just 8 days left of our allowed 90 days in Morocco, we arrived early at the gas plant outside Meknes to have our German cylinders filled. Our plan for the day was to go from there to a supermarket to stock up for our last week; then on to the World Heritage historic centre of Meknes and spend the afternoon exploring.

Our cylinders were taken inside and we sat quietly in our truck, waiting for them to be filled. Suddenly there was a loud bang and the truck shook. We looked at each other – we’ve been hit. A gas truck full of empty bottles had reversed into the back of us, tearing the bottom aluminium sheet with its frame.

We stood horrified. Then we got upset.

People gathered around, but nobody was very much help. Juergen yelled at the young truck driver a bit, and I just got hysterical. Our plans for the day, and also for our last week in Morocco were in shreds – much like Bertita’s backside.

Juergen went to the office and asked them to call the police. The truck driver wandered around looking shell-shocked – as he should. There is no way he could have missed seeing us, if he’d only looked in his rear-view mirror.

People came and went. The language barrier was a big problem. In Morocco it’s Arabic or French, and we speak neither. One guy spoke some English and helped out a bit, although he had disappeared, just when we needed him, several times. A black car arrived with a young man driving. He seemed to be talking to everyone – except us. Later we found out that he was representing his father’s company, which owned the truck. He didn’t look old enough for the responsibility. His name was Salim.

Finally the police arrived – in a battered little hatchback, but impressive uniforms. Juergen had asked for an English speaking officer, but neither of them spoke any. They collected documents from both parties, and took photos of the scene. And then we should follow them, and Salim, to the police station in Boufekrane, which was in the opposite direction to Meknes.

At this point, the main question seemed to be what we wanted. At least, we thought that was what they were asking. There was an uninvolved police officer, who spoke quite good English but, for whatever reason, nobody asked him to translate. So we were constantly in the dark about what was happening. People involved were having long conversations, but nobody was available to tell us what they were saying. We wanted our camper repaired, back the way it was before it was hit.

In the course of the afternoon they brought a Spanish speaking guy, who couldn’t understand us and we couldn’t understand; then an English speaking young woman, who was somehow related to Salim. She was very friendly, and tried to be helpful, but she seemed a bit reticent about directly translating what was going on.

We were taken to a workshop, where they wanted to patch the hole with a compound, and paint over it. Salim would pay. At this point he had disappeared (to his job, we think) and we were dealing with another man. Juergen had his doubts that it would stick to the aluminium. There was a long call between Juergen and the workshop owner’s brother in Germany, who knew about the compound. That person agreed that it wouldn’t work with aluminium.

So we were led back to the police station, where we must wait for Salim. It was late afternoon. We were frustrated, exhausted and still quite angry. When Salim arrived, he brought his boss. This suited bank manager proceeded to address us in German and English. Finally someone we could understand, and who understood us. They took us inside. This time we were taken directly into the commander’s office instead of out the back of the station. We were offered coffee. We were assured that help was at hand.

Ibrahim, the bank manager, would call our insurance company and organise everything. He explained that we should have contacted the insurance company ourselves, after the vehicle accident. But nobody told us that this was the way to do things and we didn’t know how to contact them. By this time, nobody was answering the phone at the insurance company, so we had to give up for the day. Nothing was achieved, except that we had a hole in our camper and it looked like rain was threatening. If the exposed insulation got wet, we would have a much bigger problem.

But first, we had to complete accident forms for the police and the insurance company. These were produced, and Juergen and Salim completed them and signed. After that, we were finally handed back our papers (drivers license, registration, etc).

Then our most pressing problem was where to sleep: the commander suggested in front of the police station and couldn’t understand why the steeply sloping street wouldn’t work. Salim offered to lead us to a service station he had connections with, and we could park there. So, we followed him up the highway towards Meknes. When we arrived, it didn’t really look like a place we would normally stay, but it was getting late and we were totally worn out from the frustrating day. Ibrahim was still with him, and explained that Salim wanted to arrange for us to have dinner and breakfast at the station’s restaurant – and he would pay. We accepted. Ibrahim promised to call us in the morning after he had spoken to the insurance company. We ate well and slept ok – considering the circumstances.

Day 2 – Thursday 21 March – The ‘expert’ comes and goes

As promised, Ibraham called us the next morning. The insurance company would be sending an ‘expert’ to assess the damage to our vehicle. We were relieved that finally something was happening. The expert called, and then came to us at the service station. After taking photos, he told us we should hear from him soon – maybe before lunch, maybe in the afternoon. We had the impression that he would contact us with an address of a garage to have the damage repaired. We decided not to wait around where we were, but to carry on with our plans from the previous day, and go shopping in Meknes.

By 3.00 we had finished all the shopping we needed to do, and had heard nothing from anyone. We tried calling the ‘expert’, 4 times in the space of an hour. He didn’t answer our calls. Eventually we called Ibrahim, who said he would call the insurance for us. When he called back, he told us we would have to wait until tomorrow.

2 days now with little to show, except an ‘expert’, who is unreachable!

Day 3 – Friday 22 March – Where have all our helpers gone?

And now it was Friday. We should leave Morocco next Thursday and nothing seemed to be happening towards getting our truck repaired.

We called Ibrahim and he told us he would call the insurance. He called back telling us we would have to wait a couple more hours – back to waiting again. The most frustrating part was not being able to do any of this ourselves, and relying on the information and help from others.

We decided to drive into the old city and take a look at it. We were still hoping for a call that would send us to a workshop, but thought we could easily see something of this historic site while waiting.

We wandered through the medina, which was mostly closed up for Friday prayers. When we came to the Bou Inanaia Madrasa (Koran school), we found it open to visitors, and spent some time there. It was truly an awesome example of intricate Islamic architecture.

But, when we returned to the world outside the medina and stopped for a coffee, the reality of waiting was still there. It was now after 4 in the afternoon. We messaged Ibrahim saying we had heard nothing and he replied saying he would call the insurance – then we heard nothing more. We tried the ‘expert’ and received no answer, yet again. It seemed that all the offered help had dried up – for reasons completely unknown to us.

Juergen approached the café owner or manager, who spoke some English. He offered his help. He brought in an English-speaking tourist guide, who offered her help. She took Juergen to the ‘tourist police’, who offered his help. All tried to make contact with the insurance company. The result of their efforts was the advice that Juergen would have to call the insurance company himself on Saturday morning.

3 days now, with the weekend looming, and still no progress!

Day 4 – Saturday 23 March – Defeated by voice recognition

Juergen attempted to call the insurance company, and discovered that language was a complete barrier to getting through. It was totally automated: first in Arabic, then an option to choose French. Juergen has a little French from long ago, but when he stated his business in his broken French, the voice recognition technology spat out a polite thank you for your call and disconnected.

We tried Ibrahim again – no answer. He was definitely ‘in the wind’.

Someone Juergen had spoken to on Friday had suggested going to any insurance agency office and asking them what to do. We found one, where a young woman tried to be helpful. Although, I had the impression that she would have preferred to send us on our way, but she was too polite. She called the insurance company and told us we would have to wait until Monday morning for a solution.

We grudgingly admitted defeat. We then had to think about what we could do between midday Saturday and Monday morning. The UNESCO World Heritage Archaeological Site of Volubilis was not far out of town, so we drove out and played tourist for the afternoon. It was a good distraction from our vehicle accident in Morocco, and the total lack of progress since.

Day 5 – Sunday 24 March – Rest day after 4 days of waiting

After a long afternoon of walking around the roman ruins on Saturday, we found an abandoned quarry to park for the night. It was so quiet and peaceful that we decided to spend Sunday there as well, and drive back to Meknes on Monday morning.

Day 6 – Monday 25 March – The long drive to…

We arrived back at the insurance agency and the nice young woman had already been in touch with the insurance company. That seemed like good news.

• But her next question was: “Do you have a bank account in Morocco?”
  We gaped and said, “NO!”
  “Do you have any Moroccan friends who have a bank account you could use?”
  “We’re tourists here – NO!!! Why?”
  “The insurance company wants to give you some money.”
  “How much money?”
  “That’s up to the expert.”
  “But we don’t want money. We want it repaired. And anyway, the expert doesn’t answer his phone.”
  We called him from the office just to show her that it was true.

In between, I tried phoning the Australian consular assistance. I got a nice woman, who couldn’t really do anything and suggested we needed to contact the insurance company. I explained what we’d done, and that language was our biggest problem. She gave me her private number and said we should call her if we needed a translator to get something done. I appreciated the gesture.

Finally, the people at the agency asked if we could go to Casablanca, where the Head Office of the insurance company is situated. Strangely enough, Juergen and I had discussed that as a final solution, if we didn’t get any further in Meknes. We didn’t really want to go to a big city, but the solution this helpful young woman had from the insurance company was really no solution. She had done all she could.

So we got into Bertita and headed for Casablanca – a detour of over 400 kilometres!

Day 7 – Tuesday 26 March – I’m not leaving until we have a workshop to go to

6 days had passed since our accident; I was determined not to leave the insurance company’s head office without a solution.

On arrival, once we had explained our problem by putting our paperwork in front of them, we were greeted almost immediately by an English speaking woman. She took us to her desk and started collecting information. We stuck to our position that we wanted our vehicle repaired in Morocco to its condition before the accident.

After some time, we were taken into a larger office where several people waited. Some spoke English and some not. We were getting used to people asking questions and giving them simple answers, and then waiting while the locals conducted a long conversation that we didn’t understand.

They also went through the routine with the bank account and knowing someone in Morocco etc. We stated again that we didn’t have any access to a bank account and what we wanted was to get our vehicle repaired in Morocco now, to its pre-accident condition – and we would really like to be out of the country as near to our Thursday deadline as possible.

Finally they found a workshop, which would do the job and try to get it done by then. We were finally getting somewhere. Of course, when we arrived at the workshop just before 12.30, it was time for lunch. We were greeted by the boss and a young woman, named Rita. She spoke very good English and was our go-to person for the duration. She explained that we should park across the street, and said they’d be back at 2.00. We had lunch, and waited. At last, we were just a little hopeful.

After lunch, we were moved into a large shed with lots of crashed cars, and eventually they started removing the aluminium sheets from the back of Bertita.

Sometime during the afternoon, we were surprised by a visit from 3 people we had met with at the insurance company that morning. They had come to see that things were progressing and an English speaking woman explained a bit more to us. They would be working later into the evenings to try to get us finished as quickly as possible. We might be able to leave by Friday lunchtime – 1 day late for our visa end. We were quite pleased to see them, and were encouraged that it was a good sign.

By the end of the day both sheets were removed, the top one in a state that meant it could be re-used.

Day 8 – Wednesday 27 March – Experts come and go, but we wait forever

1 week since our vehicle accident in Morocco, and we spent almost the whole day waiting – again. Had we known, we could have gone sightseeing – perhaps.

In the morning another ‘expert’ came. He had to ok the job. Since the aluminium sheets were off the camper, we had to assume that he wouldn’t say no…

After he left, we were told that someone was out looking for a new aluminium sheet to replace the damaged one. We decided to go shopping. One of the management at the workshop kindly offered to drive us to a nearby supermarket and explained how to get back by taxi.

Except for some preparation of the surface by removing the old glue, that was all that happened that day…

Day 9 – Thursday 28 March – What part of ‘no silicon’ don’t you understand?

In contrast, today was all action. Almost before we were up and had breakfast, they were putting glue on the back to attach the new aluminium sheet.

Juergen had repeatedly said that they shouldn’t use silicon because it degrades in sunlight and doesn’t stay waterproof – the most important thing to consider with these sheets on the back of the camper. By lunchtime, both sheets were attached. Juergen decided to go on the roof to check the seal between the aluminium sheet and the roof.

What he saw made all other disappointments and frustrations of the past week just about seem like minor disturbances. They had used bathroom silicon, and had done it from their work platform by reaching up, and running their finger along it. There was no seal and all the silicon needed to be removed from the gap before the proper sealant could be applied. What made it worse was that Juergen had a tube of Sikaflex for the job – he’d showed it to them and explained, repeating ‘no silicon’. He spent most of the afternoon cleaning out the half set silicon, and finally applying the Sikaflex himself.

The most frustrating thing was that nobody seemed to understand our problem. It was only much later that we realised they use the word silicon to apply to all sealants. When we finally showed them the empty bathroom silicon tube and said again, no silicon, someone got the point.

That evening they worked late again, preparing the aluminium for painting the next day.

Day 10 – Friday 29 March – On the road at last, if a little late

Just a little more preparation and masking the rest of the camper, then Juergen moved the truck to the spray painting booth just before 10.30. An hour and 2 coats of paint later, Bertita was back in her original spot to dry off.

The ‘expert’ would be coming at 3 to check the work and then we could leave. That was a bit optimistic. We were sitting in Rita’s reception area waiting for this to happen. The camper was all packed up and we were keen to get on the road again. At 4 we asked Rita to see what was happening. She checked and discovered: Oh, the expert has been and everything is ok…

We had to sign papers, which let us know that the repair cost more than 1300 Euros! By the time we did that and said our goodbyes, we were driving out of there around 5. We were keen to get out of Casablanca, if only a short way. 60Km north of the workshop, we stopped for the night. This part of the ordeal was over. Tomorrow we would face the fact of overstaying our visa by 2 days.

Day 11 – Saturday 30 March – Good-Bye Morocco

This proved to be a very long day. We only had 250Km to get to Tanger Med port – and it was all highway. Still, we didn’t arrive until 4.00.

Then the chaos began. Long lines as a result of many cancelled ferries in the last couple of days due to high winds.

We had a brief discussion with the border police because of overstaying, but after a call to his supervisor we were allowed to leave. Then customs lost our vehicle permit paper, which we then spotted in their pile of trash. Instead of an apology, the final goodbye was a loud F@ck You from the responsible officer – okay, goodbye Morocco from us too! After sitting in a long line to be x-rayed and to board we were on the crowded ferry by 6.45.

Unloading and immigration in Algeciras was fairly chaotic, and we finally arrived at our parking lot for the night at 10pm – with no energy left!

Our Tips for You

What we learned from what happened after our accident in Morocco with our own overlanding vehicle:

• Always call the police if there is damage that needs repair.
• Make sure you have an accident report form completed and signed by the other party.
• If it’s not your fault, don’t take an offer of payment – it always costs more than you think.
• When you buy your compulsory insurance on entering Morocco, try to get a telephone number for the insurance company that is answered by a living, breathing person – preferably who speaks English, unless you speak French or Arabic. (Several people had suggested that we should contact the agent who sold us the insurance. Ask them for their number.)
• Contact the insurance company as soon as you can after an accident, even if the accident is not your fault. If all other efforts fail, walk into any insurance agency and ask for help.
• If your vehicle is driveable, and you haven’t managed to contact them in the first day or so, don’t hesitate to drive to their head office and present yourself (and your vehicle) in person.
• We understand that the compulsory insurance for Morocco is only for 3rd party. Even so, your insurance company will take care of the details. We had assumed the other vehicle’s insurance should cover our repairs, and that they would work things out. A woman at head office told us a law had been passed recently in Morocco that ruled, if the repair is under 20000 Dirham (around 2000 Euros), your own insurance has to pay. We assume that’s only if the accident isn’t your fault and your own vehicle is damaged. Seems strange to us. No wonder we were confused!

Final Tip – don’t expect your extra expenses to be reimbursed

We drove a 400Km detour, and paid tolls for all of it, to reach the Head Office of the insurance company in Casablanca. When we suggested we should be reimbursed, they looked at us in amazement and shook their collective heads.

When they asked us where we were going to stay while the repairs were done, we asked if they’d pay for a hotel. They looked at us again and shook their heads. We asked them to organise for us to stay in our ‘home’ while the work was being done. Thankfully the workshop agreed – but there are probably some who wouldn’t.

Our insurance policy expired the same day as our visa. We asked the insurance company if they would extend the cover until we left Morocco. Another group of head shakes. We had to buy a new 5 day policy – the minimum possible. It cost almost a quarter as much as our original 90 day policy.

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Please excuse the bad image quality. We took most photos (in a hurry) with our mobile phones to collect evidence, not for publication.

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Have you had a vehicle accident in a foreign country?
How did it go? Was the process as chaotic as our experience?
Please let us (and our readers) know in the comments below!