Insurance Write Off Valuation Dispute

tabitha1111

Hi - can anyone help me please.  I recently bought a car and unfortunately 2 days later had an accident and the car was a write off.  I had been looking seriously for the car for over 3 months so had searched extensively and was well aware of the going market price.  I paid £5700, private sale, very low miles and full main dealer service history, 2 keys etc.  The insurance company have valued the car at £4,600 despite the fact that I paid £5700 2 days previously - I have online valuations from a number of companies including Parkers which give a value between £5300 and £6000 so my £5.7k purchase price is in the middle but the insurance company have disregarded this and are insisting on Glasses which I think is very low.  They also say they dont accept other adverts such as autotrader as proof of value. There is no way I could buy an equivalent car for that valuation.  Any advice gratefully received, it is really painful to be looking at losing £1100 in value in 2 days!

TELLIT01

Unfortunately what you are experiencing is a common problem.  Maybe the insurers, with their financial muscle, should actually source the replacement vehicles if they can get them so much cheaper than the general public.

rs65

I was sure there was an ombudsman decision that said insurers should value recently purchased cars at what you paid for them but I can't find it now

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/insurance/motor-insurance/vehicle-valuations-write-offs

Vehicles recently purchased second-hand

If you bought your car second-hand just before you made the claim, we’d still expect your insurer to have used the guides to make a valuation. 

The guides should give an accurate valuation, but it may be that you paid more than the guides suggested it was worth

jimbo6977

What make/model/year etc is it? Anything unusual?

olgadapolga

If you're not happy, make a complaint and if you're still unhappy after the insurance company's final response then complain to the ombudsman.

We had a very low valuation for a write-off a few years ago. There was no way we could replace the car for the amount the insurance company gave us so we complained to the ombudsman, sent them copies of adverts and valuations from Parker's guide etc. The ombudsman found in our favour and decided that the insurance company had to pay us much more (I think it was another 150% on top of what they'd already paid). 

Aretnap

rs65 said:

I was sure there was an ombudsman decision that said insurers should value recently purchased cars at what you paid for them but I can't find it now

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/insurance/motor-insurance/vehicle-valuations-write-offs

Vehicles recently purchased second-hand

If you bought your car second-hand just before you made the claim, we’d still expect your insurer to have used the guides to make a valuation. 

The guides should give an accurate valuation, but it may be that you paid more than the guides suggested it was worth

The policy seems to have changed recently; this old version of their guidance said the opposite.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150320001942/http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

However the old guidance explained that the insurer should look at several industry guides rather than just using the figure from a single guide; AFAIK this is still the case. 

Sandtree

First of all, is their offer pre or post your excess? If it is after your excess than how much is that? Presumably it is also with them keeping the salvage or is that with you keeping possession of the car?

Ultimately your route is to complain and escalate to the FOS if you do not agree with their final response (or its not received within 8 weeks)

jimbo6977

TELLIT01 said:

Unfortunately what you are experiencing is a common problem.  Maybe the insurers, with their financial muscle, should actually source the replacement vehicles if they can get them so much cheaper than the general public.

Imagine the scene, 3 years after the insurer supplied their policyholder with a replacement car, and the ball joints/exhaust/cv boots/whatever need replacing, every numpty claimant would be badgering the insurer to pay for them.

(NB In the distant past when I worked in motor claims, we did actually buy cars for policyholders on a tiny handful of occasions, and it worked ok but I wouldn't have wanted it to be a generalised scheme)

tabitha1111

Sandtree said:

First of all, is their offer pre or post your excess? If it is after your excess than how much is that? Presumably it is also with them keeping the salvage or is that with you keeping possession of the car?

Ultimately your route is to complain and escalate to the FOS if you do not agree with their final response (or its not received within 8 weeks)

Thanks - this is before they take the excess so is purely on the value of the car.