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Stolen Car vs Insurance Valuation
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tablesbuster
Posts: 5 Forumite
Hello All,
I wonder if anyone can offer some advice.
About three weeks ago we had our car stolen. We had only had it a month and had bought it from a recognised and established main dealer. It was just under a year old.
Having sat on the claim for the last two weeks, despite their promises of an engineer evaluation call, nothing came. I eventually called and after some fussing around they rang me back with a ridiculous offer considerably LESS than what I paid for it one month ago.
I was warned this would happen and that insurance companies always try this on.
Over the weekend I have repriced the car through various magazines, internet and approached my dealer again. To all intents and purposes, the car still costs just about the same as what I paid for it last month.
Having never gone through this ugly process before, I wonder if anyone can advise on how far I can push my claim and what my rights are if I think their offer is totally unrealistic with the cost of re-newal.
Very Best Wishes,
Tom
I wonder if anyone can offer some advice.
About three weeks ago we had our car stolen. We had only had it a month and had bought it from a recognised and established main dealer. It was just under a year old.
Having sat on the claim for the last two weeks, despite their promises of an engineer evaluation call, nothing came. I eventually called and after some fussing around they rang me back with a ridiculous offer considerably LESS than what I paid for it one month ago.
I was warned this would happen and that insurance companies always try this on.
Over the weekend I have repriced the car through various magazines, internet and approached my dealer again. To all intents and purposes, the car still costs just about the same as what I paid for it last month.
Having never gone through this ugly process before, I wonder if anyone can advise on how far I can push my claim and what my rights are if I think their offer is totally unrealistic with the cost of re-newal.
Very Best Wishes,
Tom
0
Comments
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1) (most) Insurers do not "try it on"... it costs more to faff about debating prices than it does to actually just give a fair price to start with
2) The price an insurance company pays is the private sale price which is less than the price a garage would sell it for but more than trade in. The second you buy any vehicle you immediately devalue it which is even more so for the case of vehicles bought off a garage as you pay a premium for their checking the vehicle, cleaning, repairing minor scratches/ stone chips etc and for the warrenty
Having said all that it is a very emotive subject and does come down a lot to personal opinion.
To price the vehicle you really need to find out what the SOLD price is for private sales rather than looking at 1) advertised prices (after all I could put my car in autotrader for £100,000 but that doesnt mean it is worth that) 2) at what dealers are charging.
The Glass guide is the industry standard (both insurance and motor trade) and you can obtain a detailed valuation from their website for £2.50 - think there are one or two places that have a link to do one for free
Another old trick that our motor engineers used to do was to look at a month or two old issues of autotrader and then telephone the relevant adverts.... if the vehicle is still for sale say you need to think about it but if they say that it has already gone then sound disappointed and ask if they would mind telling you how much they got for it.... these are the prices that are of interest.
Your insurance company should have an published complaints process if you are still not happy with their offer. Once this has been exhausted and the company has issued you with their final written response you are then entitled to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service for them to rule on if the valuation is fair or not. If the FOS rules on the insurers side then the last course of action is to issue court proceedings against the insurance company but I have to say I am yet to see a case where the court has ruled against an FOS decision (not that it cant happen).
Remember however that if you reject an offer the insurance company is under no obligation to honour it if you then change your mind... have known cases where people have been greedy, rejected offers and then received a lower one and the FOS upheld the lower offer as being fair.All posts made are simply my own opinions and are neither professional advice nor the opinions of my employers
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I've never had a car stolen but have had two 'damaged beyond economical repair'. I have always refused the first 'try it on' offer, then provided as much evidence as possible to show the true value of the car.
Unfortunately IMO you always loose out somewhat in this situation as a car is always worth more to you than it's market value.
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Thank you both for taking the time to reply your comments have been very useful. Since creating this thread, the company has in fact come back to be and considerably upped their first "try it on" offer by £1500! I think it's at a point where I can find myself accepting their offer but am currently waiting for their final bid.
Knowing the probable steps to take however was very useful and I shall keep you posted with the final results.
Very Best Wishes and Thank you for taking the time to reply.0
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