Will I lose on car insurance again?

frederick1950

As above ....
if it cost £7000 five years ago then today its probably only worth about £2500 and that is all you can expect.
They are not going to pay what you paid for it 5 years ago ...
just its  market value today.

jimbo6977

milliefive said:

jimbo6977 said:

5k to 2k is a big discrepancy. Is there more to this?
Also don't forget your excess is, by definition, uninsured* and will be deducted from your insurer's valuation when they settle the claim. 


*unless you have excess insurance in which case it is insured probably by another insurer entirely. 

Not that I was aware of. They didn't take into account the original car's very low mileage, nor the added towbar. They didn't allow for me taking days off work (self employed, so no £) to drive my injured husband around. We eventually found a close-enough replacement at £7k 200 miles away & they wouldn't pay for travel or delivery, said we should have found one closer to home. It was our first experience of dealing with car insurers & we were shocked at how we were cleaned out!

Others have replied to the other elements of the post, but I would add that for "normal" cars, the marginal effect of low mileage on a car's value diminishes with each mile further from the average and tends to zero pretty quickly.

Eg A 10k mi car won't be worth loads more than a 30k mi car where the average is 40k mi. 

It can be argued that excessively low mileage is detrimental to a car's condition and therefore value, but I've never known the FOS agree with this.
 

milliefive

Of course I don't think that a car I bought for £7k 4 years ago is worth £7k now! I am saying that to buy a replacement car now, similar mileage, I am looking at around £5-9k still. That's what they are selling for when I have looked this week. So, never mind the injuries we've got, 8 days ago I owned a very good Volvo that I planned to keep for many more years. I won't be able to get back into the same position after this with a £2k payment. Meanwhile, the other driver cracked the bumper of his company van, and that's it.  How is this fair?

rs65

milliefive said:

I owned a very good Volvo that I planned to keep for many more years. I won't be able to get back into the same position after this with a £2k payment. 

The reality is you had a car that is worth say £2k.  The insurance will put you in the same position as you are currently in.
The fact you paid £7k for it 4 years ago is irrelevant

Sandtree

milliefive said:

I am looking at around £5-9k still. That's what they are selling for when I have looked this week.

Selling for or being advertised at? There is a critical difference between the two... I could advertise my old Mark1 Fiesta GL for £30,000 if I wanted but that doesnt mean its going to sell for that or its worth it.

As already stated, if you arent happy with the valuation log a complaint with your insurers and submit the adverts as evidence of it being an unfair valuation. 

Takmon

milliefive said:

Of course I don't think that a car I bought for £7k 4 years ago is worth £7k now! I am saying that to buy a replacement car now, similar mileage, I am looking at around £5-9k still. That's what they are selling for when I have looked this week. So, never mind the injuries we've got, 8 days ago I owned a very good Volvo that I planned to keep for many more years. I won't be able to get back into the same position after this with a £2k payment. Meanwhile, the other driver cracked the bumper of his company van, and that's it.  How is this fair?

So out of interest what car is it exactly that you paid £7k for it 4 years ago that you say is worth atleast £5k now?
What was the mileage when you bought it and what is it now?

nottsphil

frederick1950 said:

As above ....
if it cost £7000 five years ago then today its probably only worth about £2500 and that is all you can expect.
They are not going to pay what you paid for it 5 years ago ...
just its  market value today.

A car is going to retain most of its value after 5 years if, as the OP states, it has covered few miles in that period - unless it was a new, cheap car 5 years ago. 

jimbo6977

nottsphil said:

frederick1950 said:

As above ....
if it cost £7000 five years ago then today its probably only worth about £2500 and that is all you can expect.
They are not going to pay what you paid for it 5 years ago ...
just its  market value today.

A car is going to retain most of its value after 5 years if, as the OP states, it has covered few miles in that period - unless it was a new, cheap car 5 years ago. 

Unfortunately, for "normal" cars, this is not true - Age is a far greater determinant of value than mileage. 
For classics and exotics, different rules apply.