Car Written Off - What To Do?

keith969

pinkpauline34 wrote: »

However, my biggest concern is firstly I am without a car. Secondly, my car is still on finance. I will be asking for a settlement figure today but I'm not going to be able to afford to keep paying the finance on this car for another two years while financing a new car.

Sadly, you need to make sure your insurance covers you for a car at all times it's off the road, rather than just the time the vehicle is being repaired. And secondly take out gap insurance (most of the time cars on finance have to have this - did you check if you took this out when you bought it?).

almillar

Only issues are, the cheque goes to the finance company and the OP is still left with an outstanding balance and no car. They then have to go and get more finance on a car with no deposit and the first finance still needs to be paid.

And that's what GAP insurance is for...

(most of the time cars on finance have to have this)

Did a salesman tell you that to get himself some commission?

dacouch

maddogb wrote: »

neither of you arguments hold any water, fixed value policies are in existence, if they increased fraud or reduced profits by any actual amount they would not exist.
Really you two are so "programmed" and fixed in your way of thinking it's very sad.
eg how many insurers have left the UK market and what was their profit the year before, 150million not enough? aww that such a shame..
still nothing to backup your arguments apart from opinion and "conspiracy theories"?

The type of fixed value policies you're thinking of are almost always on vehicles that either hold their value or appreciate in value each year

dacouch

maddogb wrote: »

hey what a wonderful world it would be if insurers tell us the "write off" value when we take out our policies and then maybe they could consider keeping it at that for the life of the policy, might encourage people to not switch so much eh? and no more "my car was written off how much will I get?"

As others have explained, agreeing a value at the start of a policy is not attractive for three reasons.

a) They would be "Selected Against" by the customers, this is basically that they would tend to attract a (relatively) high proportion of customers who would commit fraudulent claims.

b) It would increase their premiums pushing them down the comparison websites tables resulting in them losing business.

c) How would they administer valuing Joe Bloggs three year old Astra without creating a huge amount of admin. Without a proper valuing process at the start of each year it makes a) even more likely to happen.

I used to have a huge account with Guardian Royal Exchange who were infamous in the insurance world for having a lax claims process (In favour of the customer), paying out over the odds, giving driving any car to any driver irrespective of age of claims / conviction history and unlimited audio cover.

Their premiums were about 20% over the market rate but they tended to attract a huge amount of customers whose cars were stolen and / or were set on fire. The majority of these cars supposedly had car audio equipment of £2000+.

We were entertained at the Southampton Office on numerous occassions as we had an unrelated motor scheme with them. They told use their claims ratio was they paid out £1.90 for every £1 in premium they received.

Understandably they in effect went out of business and were absorbed by Axa who put an end to their lax underwriting and claims.

That's how being selected against by customers works, if you offer something unusual and are not careful, you tend to attract a large amount of the type of customers you don't want. This pushes your premiums up which in turn means the good customers you want on your books to balance it out avoid you meaning you end up with an even higher proportion of undesirable customers.

If you want an Insurer who agrees the value of the car when you take it out and at each renewal and pays over book value. Have a look at Chubb or Hiscox but you will pay very very handsomely for the benefit of this cover along with the other extras they include

takman

maddogb wrote: »

neither of you arguments hold any water, fixed value policies are in existence, if they increased fraud or reduced profits by any actual amount they would not exist.
Really you two are so "programmed" and fixed in your way of thinking it's very sad.
eg how many insurers have left the UK market and what was their profit the year before, 150million not enough? aww that such a shame..
still nothing to backup your arguments apart from opinion and "conspiracy theories"?

Yes and like others have said they are priced to reflect the highers risks they are taking by offering those policies. Have you ever actually tried to take one out and found out a price?.

Plus blindly quoting the amount of profit a company makes per year without saying the percentage or turnover shows how little you understand business. The profit margin is the important number! Which for insurance companies is very low due to how competitive the market is.

maddogb

dacouch wrote: »

blah blah blah

oh yes the old chestnut, better to have all insurers stealing a little off everyone in the country than have 1 person stealing off an insurer. but wait can't you get cover for that....

maddogb

takman wrote: »

Yes and like others have said they are priced to reflect the highers risks they are taking by offering those policies. Have you ever actually tried to take one out and found out a price?.

Plus blindly quoting the amount of profit a company makes per year without saying the percentage or turnover shows how little you understand business. The profit margin is the important number! Which for insurance companies is very low due to how competitive the market is.

please restrict your posts to things you actually know about, it makes you look a little less silly you know nothing of me or my life and what you do feel impelled to post is so far from the truth....


The reason fixed value policies are expensive is because
a. they focus on highly desirable items which people like to steal, look at the car theft statistics for this country..
b. small market means less competition and in itself burdens those involved in it with higher ratio of associated costs


If they were made compulsory in every policy these objections would be removed.

AdrianC

maddogb wrote: »

please restrict your posts to things you actually know about, it makes you look a little less silly you know nothing of me or my life and what you do feel impelled to post is so far from the truth....

The reason fixed value policies are expensive is because
a. they focus on highly desirable items which people like to steal, look at the car theft statistics for this country..
b. small market means less competition and in itself burdens those involved in it with higher ratio of associated costs

If they were made compulsory in every policy these objections would be removed.

How odd. The three agreed value car insurance policies I currently have are all around £100/yr premium.

<re-reads first sentence of quoted post>
Well, there we go...

dacouch

maddogb wrote: »

oh yes the old chestnut, better to have all insurers stealing a little off everyone in the country than have 1 person stealing off an insurer. but wait can't you get cover for that....

Interesting you don't actually properly reply.

You forget that Insurers are businesses and like any other business, they can offer whatever cover they want to whoever they want providing they don't breach any statutes.

Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and insure your car with Hiscox or Chubb. Your problems with the valuation of your car won't be an issue then

takman

AdrianC wrote: »

How odd. The three agreed value car insurance policies I currently have are all around £100/yr premium.

<re-reads first sentence of quoted post>
Well, there we go...

What age are the cars? How much are they insured for? And how did you get the value?, is it simply the market value of the cars?.
Also what company is this with?

I am surprised the price is so low to be honest because what I have seen they are usually higher than normal.

But I hope these arnt classic car insurance policies you are referring to because that's a entirely different ballgame and they have a much lower risk of fraud than modern car policies.