car insurance offer

croyland87

Hi had a accident and my car insurance Tesco have said its wright off and have offered me £2450 for it which I totally disagree with as I have looked on Autotrader and the cheapest my car is going for is £2650 with higher mileage that mine and only 1 months Mot when my car has 6 months mot there are many others with higher mileage going for £3200.

I have said to Tesco and they say this what we are going to offer you because its the market value we are not going to pay you nothing more I have spoken to Tesco twice now about this and they don't seem to care what should I do.

InsideInsurance

Register a complaint about the valuation and escalate to the FOS if you arent happy with their response.

The guide on how the FOS expect vehicles to be valued is http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

forgotmyname

The prices on the autotrader are teh advertised prices. You should expect to haggle them down.

I can put my 11 year old 170,000 mile car on the autotrader site for £2000, But i wont get it.

Its worth what someone is willing to pay.

OnanTheBarbarian

Tell them to send a payment for what they are offering but that you do not accept the valuation and you will look upon it strictly as an "interim payment"

You need to demonstrate to them with as many classified adverts of identical make, model, spec, mileage & condition vehicles as possible that are in a reasonable distance of you.

Bear in mind that nobody really ever pays the screen price and so to expect that argument back from them, namely that you would be a cash buyer with no part exchange and in a position to negotiate a discount with any trader/ retailer.

To be honest, the difference between what they are offering and where you are at is not massive, so maybe suggest a compromise as a last ditch attempt, or make a formal complaint to them - details of how to complain will be on your policy booklets.

If they don't respond in the allotted time or not to your satisfaction after the process has run, then you can go to the FOS as advised.

sheramber

When ours was written off they offfered what was basically the trade in price.

We disagreed and offered adverts for the same make and model and year showing a higher price. We also quoted that the FO expected you to be able to purchase an equivalent car.

Tesco came back with an increased offer of the amount we had in mind.

They also advised that if we replaced the car withing thirty days they would cover it under the existing policy.

Strangely, when our renewal came in it was for less than we had paid the previous year, despite the write off claim.

croyland87

I have emailed Tesco insurance 3 adds 2 from Autotrader and one from Parkers car sales which show the same car as mine for sale. Lets see what they come back with tomorrow.


Will it be worth going to Citizens Advice Bureau?

InsideInsurance

croyland87 wrote: »

Will it be worth going to Citizens Advice Bureau?

Personally I'd argue its a total waste of time.

You already have the link to how the Ombudsman states things need to be valued. You just need to follow that advice, come up with a number and register a complaint and follow the process for complaints as per your policybook.

The CAB means well but for many things they are a waste of space. Have had many idiotic conversations with them when they've tried to deal with things other than debt management or housing issues.

OnanTheBarbarian

I agree with InsideInsurance

The advice you have received on here will be better than you will get a CAB as those posting work within the industry, so don't waste your time on CAB for this type of problem.

Buzby

Forget AutoTrader - Glass's (Trade) Guide is the only one that reflects the actual cost, anything else will have a profit margin built in which they will not pay for

fairdealhunter

Just moved house and changed the address on my car insurance. I have now been charged a £26 admin fee which I think is disgusting! Do I have a leg to stand on?

InsideInsurance

fairdealhunter wrote: »

Just moved house and changed the address on my car insurance. I have now been charged a £26 admin fee which I think is disgusting! Do I have a leg to stand on?

You probably have two but are unlikely to get anywhere with challenging the admin fee.

People buy insurance 99% on price and so to get the lowest headline price insurers cut the initial premium but increase their administration costs.

As this is a "pay on use" idea the ombudsman is actually supportive of charging those that make changes £25 a time rather than charging everyone £10 irrespective of if they make changes or not.

The ombudsman does require the fees to be proportional to the total cost incurred, obviously this isnt just the cost of a call centre agent's 10 minutes of salary but all the support and infrastructure that goes around it. I've never seen anyones calculations on how they get to their admin fee but I've certainly seen the ombudsman uphold higher fees as reasonable.

Ultimately if you arent happy then register a complaint and escalate to the ombudsman if you arent happy with their response but unless they make an econmic decision not to fight it you are likely to lose.

Going forward, spend more on your policy and you will find a few insurers that still dont charge fees or their fees are lower.