Insurance valuation versus Webuyanycar valuation?

Belenus

BMW 116i Series1 F20, six years old (first registered in Feb 2015), 26,000 miles, good condition.

I have no intention of selling the car and I plan to keep it for many years

I have just renewed the insurance. Out of interest I got an online valuation from Webuyanycar of £8,385.

During discussions with the insurance broker he said that Ageas would value the car at about £6,500 if it were written off or stolen. Hopefully that won't happen but, if it does, would I face a fight to get nearer the Webuyanycar valuation than the Ageas valuation?

BOWFER

In the event of it being stolen/written off, their offer is just that - an offer.
You're free to refuse it and challenge it, using evidence like WBAC etc.

ontheroad1970

As WBAC have a reputation for chipping away at the amount given, I wouldn't treat their come and get me valuations as evidence of a higher valuation

BOWFER

ontheroad1970 said:

As WBAC have a reputation for chipping away at the amount given, I wouldn't treat their come and get me valuations as evidence of a higher valuation

WBAC always value cars under market value.
So if they're offerng that, it's actually worth a fair bit more on the open market.
So can absolutely be used as an argument in any discussion regarding value.

Belenus

^^^Yes, I figured that a WBAC first offer of £8,385 would mean a private sale value of nearer £9k.

Hopefully I never have to find out what the write off valuation might be.

Sandtree

Belenus said:

BMW 116i Series1 F20, six years old (first registered in Feb 2015), 26,000 miles, good condition.

I have no intention of selling the car and I plan to keep it for many years

I have just renewed the insurance. Out of interest I got an online valuation from Webuyanycar of £8,385.

During discussions with the insurance broker he said that Ageas would value the car at about £6,500 if it were written off or stolen. Hopefully that won't happen but, if it does, would I face a fight to get nearer the Webuyanycar valuation than the Ageas valuation?

Are you talking a web valuation or a valuation after they've seen the car? WBAC obviously go high on the website to tempt you in and then point out a dozen reasons to slash the price.

I would question the broker how they have come to that number... its been a while since I did private motor insurance but I've never seen anything where an insurer tells the broker its anticipated valuation is. A few sites do use a very basic glass guide lookup or such to give users a helping hand as what to set the vehicle valuation at but that its the website's view not the insurers.

The concern would be that they have now declared this as the market value

AdrianC

The broker's verbal wet-finger figure is utterly irrelevant.

Remember, he's just selling somebody else's insurance policy. He is not involved in claims in any way, let alone valuations.

BOWFER

Sandtree said:

Are you talking a web valuation or a valuation after they've seen the car? WBAC obviously go high on the website to tempt you in and then point out a dozen reasons to slash the price.

They don't "go high" in market terms
Their offers are always less than the market value.
In this instance what WBAC would actually offer is irrelevant and, if anything, the OP using a WBAC offer to argue the value with his insurer would be conservative.

Belenus

I got a renewal letter from the broker which compared favourably to other quotes I got via MSE and Moneysupermarket etc.

There was a paragraph in the renewal letter stating 'Any minor amendments such as current vehicle value or a reduction in mileage due to the ongoing pandemic could reduce your price significantly'.

Our mileage has more than halved from over 4,000 to well under 2,000 so I got the WBAC online valuation (I am aware they will drop that down if I ever take the car in but I just wanted a quick guide figure) and phoned the broker. I told him about the mileage change and gave him the WBAC figure. He contacted Ageas and came back to me with a circa £15 reduction. He told me they had the car at circa £6,500 current value.

Anyway I was happy with the renewal price so it will automatically renew soon.

If I do have a total loss no doubt Ageas will argue well under the real value but I suppose so would any other insurance company. Hopefully that will never happen.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

ontheroad1970

BOWFER said:

Sandtree said:

Are you talking a web valuation or a valuation after they've seen the car? WBAC obviously go high on the website to tempt you in and then point out a dozen reasons to slash the price.

They don't "go high" in market terms
Their offers are always less than the market value.
In this instance what WBAC would actually offer is irrelevant and, if anything, the OP using a WBAC offer to argue the value with his insurer would be conservative.

The point, which seems to have flown past your head at a million miles per hour is that the initial offer via the web is usually, and is perceived as being unrealistic to  get people to come in.  Therefore it is not respected as a reliable reference point.  That would be an easy put down from the insurance company.  

To make it even clearer:  If I do a WBAC valuation on the web, and then 2 days later with out taking the car in write off my car and try to use the web valuation, the insurers are likely to not accept it as a reliable valuation, as everyone knows that they generally offer more to get you in and then chip away.  It would be a cheeky suggestion for me to take the damaged car in for a valuation... The web valuation is not a binding legal valuation.  It's an estimate.  

Grumpy_chap

Belenus said:

Our mileage has more than halved from over 4,000 to well under 2,000 

I am not sure to what extent reducing mileage down to as low as 2k per year would reduce insurance premiums.

There is a rational argument that someone driving so few miles is not achieving sufficient experience to maintain driving proficiency.