Motorcycle stolen and undervalued

Pleb

Hi
My motorbike was stolen and I'm a bit concerned that it is undervalued. When I took out the policy last year I was asked for an estimated value (through gocompare) to which I answered £5000. I'd been considering selling the bike at the time and had kept an eye on bike sales. Bikes with similar mileage to mine were up for about £5400 but none seemed to be selling on the main websites, looking on Ebay they were only reaching about £5000 so I took this as a rough estimate (it's only worth what people are willing to pay).

I rang my local dealer last week to get an idea of value: £5920:eek: It seems as though used bike prices have increased alot due to the fact that new prices have risen hugely, outpricing many people. Prices on the main bike selling sites seem to be between £5600 and £6200 so I'm a long way short of this mark, especially considering my excess is £500.
My policy states that the insurers will pay market value but not above the declared value, but I made the estimated value in good faith and couldn't have predicted that prices would actually increase rather than decrease. Also, the use of the phrase 'declared value' is a bit misleading. At the application, I was asked for an estimate, on the policy it is referred to as 'value', only in the T&Cs booklet is it referred to 'declared value'.

I'm fairly sure I could replace the bike for less than £5920, though now that we're into Spring bikes will selling alot better so bargains may be hard to come across. But do I have any chance whatsoever of getting a higher payment from the insurance company, given that the premium is unlikely to have changed much/at all had I valued it at, say, £5700 for example?

Thanks

dacouch

Here is the Ombudsmans guidance on the matter

"We are likely to award the policyholder the full retail value, even if he/she inadvertently under-estimated the value of the vehicle when filling in the proposal form or luckily bought the vehicle for less than it was worth. And we have seen exceptional cases where a vehicle’s value genuinely rose between the date it was bought and the date of the damage/theft"

Please read the whole of the link so you read it in context, in addition there is other helpful advice for you.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

triticale

They don't pay any attention to the value you gave when taking out the policy.

They will make an offer, likely below market value.

NEVER accept the first offer. They will go higher. You may need to send them examples of similar models - use Autotrader or similar, eBay prices are erratic and unpredictable.

Sorry for your loss, btw (had two bikes stolen in the past, thankfully got them both back intact!)

Pleb

Thanks for the replies, very helpful:T

Pleb

I received an offer for £5,000 minus the £500 excess which I rejected, quoting the ombusdman and explaining that the replacement value of the bike is £5920.
The insurers have replied and stated that they will not be upping the offer and if I'm not happy with the offer I should contact the Insurance Ombudsman.
Basically I'm screwed. I have a holiday booked in July (biking) and I desperately need a bike for commuting to work, I can't afford to wait the 6 months being quoted for the Insurance Ombusdman to deal with the case.
I've got 2 choices, buy an old banger or get a new bike and pay the remainder with finance. Given the amount I've paid in Insurance over the years without ever having a fault claim, I don't see why I should have to get an older bike. Does anyone know if I can accept payment (which I will use as a lump sum on a new bike with the rest coming from finance) and then persue it with the Ombudsman? Or does accepting the offer mean that I cannot take it up with the ombudsman?

Thanks

Pleb

I contacted the Ombudsman this morning. They have advised me to accept the offer but only as an interim payment pending their enquiries so I can at least get back to commuting, though the shortfall will have to come from a loan.