Car insurance nightmare

Doodlebug1

Market value policy vs fixed value policy.

Ok so everyone n here has been super helfpful before so I want to ask for some more advice.

Long story short - car drove into my parked car, total loss , other driver ran off no insurance and now put as a fault claim under my insurance!

the insurance company sent me a initial valuation of £1200 (i think its worth at least £1500) and said they based there valuation on autotrader...can they do this? I check the ombudsman and they said to use the major motor vehicle guides which i did.

Parkers values my car under dealer as £1240 but thats for 90000 miles, i had 64000.

I emailed them back to revalue based on these major motor vehicle guides under ombudsman service to which they replied :

'[FONT=&quot]You have a market value policy which states we are to offer the lower end of the market as AXA is not a fixed value policy.[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Glass’s is a guide price and we would not use this as an assessment for the valuation, however you are welcome to independently check what these are.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If you are to dispute my offer, you will have to provide me with 3 pieces of evidence from such sites as Autotrader based on the same age, mileage and condition as your own vehicle.'[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]can they do this?? surely they have to use the motor guides provided and cant just base it on autotrader and i dnt see why i would have to do all the leg work for them to begin with for them to give me a decent evaluation.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]ps Whatcar valued it at around 1515 with 64000 miles. (under dealer).[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]help
[/FONT]

mikey72

The FOS are fairly clear on which valuations to use, give them a call for advice on how to approach your insurer.
If they won't budge, refer it to the FOS as a complaint.

Doodlebug1

I've just spoken to them and they're to send a letter out today to ask them to use those methods of valuation. Is it worth me ringing them again or at least emailing them again to ask them to use those valuation sites? I feel like I'm constantly going back and forth with these insurance people!! I apologise for the very poor grammer and spelling mistakes, one eye on child!

mikey72

Let them send the letter first, then see what the insurers offer.

Doodlebug1

Thanks mikey, pregnancy and stress don't bode well together!!

Insurance_Bod

Insurers are not obliged to pay the 'dealer' price. Their obligation is to indemnify you and put you back in the same position. If you had recently purchased the car from a dealer and it had warranty still valid then you may have an argument to the dealer value, if not, then they will value your car at 'mid book' e.g. between trade and dealer prices. They will also take the condition in the car into account and mark down for any scuffs, scratches etc that are not consistent with the age of the car.

Most insurers will use Glasses to value vehicles.

InsideInsurance

There are a number of trade books out there such as Parkers, Glass' and CAP. Insurers use a combination of these, do a sense check with the likes of Autotrader etc to get a base private sale price for the vehicle. From that they will then deduct a percentage of the repair costs for any pre existing scratches, dents etc. What percentage is deducted will depend on the age of the vehicle, the older the vehicle the lower the percentage as people are more willing to live with damage and more willing to accept back street garage repairs with 2nd hand parts etc.

Fixed valuation car insurance tends to only exist for classic cars or high net worth policies and the run of the mill policies are almost always market value. Because everyone over values their car it would be difficult to "sell" a fixed value product because the premiums have to be higher to reflect the higher settlements and traditionally claims based marketing messages haven't been particularly successful in comparison to price based ones etc

Doodlebug1

My car was pretty messed up to be honest (car was probably driving about 80mph when it hit my parked car) so I really don't think that they would be able to see if there were any dents or scratches to it, there weren't any anyway, it was a Nissan Almera E 2002 (51 plate). I bought it two years ago from a main dealership and paid around 2500, (with MOT and service) I just had it serviced three weeks ago and had the MOT done and both came out clear and was in excellent condition. My main complaint was that they refused to even use Glasses or Parkers and only used Autotrader, if they had used Glasses and Parkers and told me how much they valued it at (which is what I asked them to do) and then based there valuation on that then fair enough but they're refusing to do that.

I have checked autotrader and they vary from 1300 to 1700 but don't have the exact spec as mine did so I'm reluctant to use them as examples. I thought based on the mileage they should use Parkers at least to get some kind of valuation. After excess will only get 850 which is annoying aswell! All this hassel because the other party are untracable and uninsured!!

mikey72

Insurance_Bod wrote: »

Insurers are not obliged to pay the 'dealer' price. Their obligation is to indemnify you and put you back in the same position. If you had recently purchased the car from a dealer and it had warranty still valid then you may have an argument to the dealer value, if not, then they will value your car at 'mid book' e.g. between trade and dealer prices. They will also take the condition in the car into account and mark down for any scuffs, scratches etc that are not consistent with the age of the car.

Most insurers will use Glasses to value vehicles.

You need to have a read of
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html


"In most cases, we assess the market value as the retail price which the policyholder would have had to pay for a comparable vehicle at a reputable dealer, immediately before the date of the damage/theft.

• This may be lower than the price at which the vehicle is advertised, as the dealer may have built in a margin for negotiation.
• It is likely to be higher than the price payable in a private sale or at an auction, and higher than the trade value (which is the price a dealer would pay before adding its mark-up).

We are likely to award the policyholder the full retail value"

As an "insurance bod" I would have thought you should have known that, and that it wouldn't be "mid book"

But you are right about

"We pay most attention to valuations given in motor-trade guides, such as Parker, Glass and CAP. These are based on extensive nationwide research. "

Doodlebug1

Thanks to all those that posted, Mikey I emailed him what you had taken from the Ombudsman with a load of spiel and he immediately came back to me with an offer of £1700, £500 more than the original offer that they were refusing to budge from! so thanks again to everyone!

mikey72

Doodlebug1 wrote: »

Thanks to all those that posted, Mikey I emailed him what you had taken from the Ombudsman with a load of spiel and he immediately came back to me with an offer of £1700, £500 more than the original offer that they were refusing to budge from! so thanks again to everyone!

Good result at last.

"Utmost good faith"

"If you sup with the devil you need a long spoon" seems more accurate.