Car Write-off

Thealos

Hi,

I had my car written off and although the insurance company paid up quickly and with no quibbles, they did not pay me enough to buy an exact replacement. I found a car for sale which was the same model, age and similar mileage and sent them the advert but they would not increase their offer. I do not understand what I am paying for as insurance companies usually ask for the value of the car when getting a quote.

Advice please!

Quentin

Probably too late for you to appeal (did you bank the cheque?).

gregd_3

Most people just hazard a guess at what their car is worth when they insure it.

The Insurance co will have had the car valued using a motor engineer.

Bear in mind that the price you see in the forecourt for a car or privately isn't always the price you end up paying and even more so with a garage if you have no trade in you can normally negotiate a better deal.

You would need to provide at least 3 or 4 examples to show the value of the car being worth more, one would not suffice and even then, they might not increase the offer.

vusys1

when they ask for the vehicles value this is just to check that it meets certain criteria i.e over £50k must have tracker,over £5k must be on comp cover etc.

If the vehicle value is entered onto the policy documents this can be misconstrude(spellcheck) that this will be value that the insurers will payout in the event of a TL, thats why we some insurers do not enter the figures.

gregd_3

Also, a policy runs for 12 months (usually) so you could have an accident in the 12 month of the poilicy, the car could have done another 10k miles so the value of the car isn't the same as when you first insured it.