Stolen car - Admiral insurance total loss valuation is much lower than current market value

Aretnap

Silvertabby said:

Hasn't this always been the case?  ie, theft/full write off insurance only covers the sale value of the actual vehicle, and not what it would cost to buy a similar car from a dealer.

Otherwise there would be no need for GAP insurance.  

No, the Ombudsman's view is that the "market value" should reflect the cost of buying a car of the same make, age, mileage etc from a reputable dealer, and this has been the case for years and years. With the proviso that advertised prices are not the same thing as sales prices, so the trade guides will be regarded as better evidence of price than adverts for similar vehicles. 

Gap insurance is to cover depreciation. If you buy a brand new car and it is written off two years later your insurer will only pay you the value of a two year old car. Gap insurance tops that up to the original purchase price, or to the amount of finance outstanding on the car, depending on the type of Gap insurance.

(As an aside the current second hand market must be very good news for Gap insurers, as depreciation is much lower than usual there must be very little for them to pay out). 

Sandtree

Silvertabby said:

Hasn't this always been the case?  ie, theft/full write off insurance only covers the sale value of the actual vehicle, and not what it would cost to buy a similar car from a dealer.

Otherwise there would be no need for GAP insurance.  

No, traditional GAP insurance is required because the APR on the finance may mean the debt is being paid at a slower rate than the car is depreciating, a particular problem with new cars when depreciation is fastest and sub-prime lending with their high APRs. The GAP insurance pays off the left over finance so you are back to a nil position.

There are two other forms of GAP insurance though too... RTI will pay you the monies to get the total loss back up to the invoice price you paid in theory allowing you to go out and buy another car identical to the one you bought originally... ie if you bought a 9 month old ex-demo then 2 years write your car off then the extra monies from the RTI would in theory enable you to buy another 9 month old ex-demo

The problem with RTI is the fact we have inflation and so in theory whilst you have the £20k invoice monies (less finance) again that car may now cost £22k and so Replacement Vehicle is the other alternative version which gives you what buying such a car would cost now. Great if inflation has done its job and bumped prices but not so good if a new model has just been launched notably devaluing older vehicles and so you get back less than invoice price because the old look 9 month old car is now £19k instead. 

Both alternative types tend to inc traditional gap too so if your finance is more than the original invoice price (unlikely but theoretically possible) then it pays that rather than the RTI

diystarter7

murfy92 said:

@diystarter7
yep I'm looking at the same spec car. The condition was very good.

Kia Niro
First Edition
2016 (my one was 67 plate),
mileage 60k,
black/white/grey

My excess is £350 and the valuation of £15,060 is before the excess is taken off, so final payout to me would be £14,710.

I would say it's not a fair valuation as it's nowhere near the value of similar cars currently on the market, cheapest I can see is £16,899 which is a year older than my car (I'd be losing out on a year's worth of Kia warranty which I would say is worth £500 at least) see link below:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?sort=price-asc&radius=1500&make=Kia&model=Niro&aggregatedTrim=First Edition&include-delivery-option=on&price-from=500&maximum-mileage=50000

Thank you for you time.
I've looked and you can get them at around 15200 for a car with 10k less than your car hence the valuation IMHO

However, I sincerely do wish you good luck as price is not everything and the cars I saw look good in pics but may not be as nice as yours.

Best of luck.

diystarter7

Btw, IMO, you could do with another 3/400 pounds. 

400ixl

There are currently Kia Niro 1.6 GDI's aged between 2016 and 2018 with 80k miles or less on them for under £15k on Autotrader. This is the advertised price, not the sold price at dealers.

They will be looking to put you back in a similar position to where you were. The mileage will be an around an average so anything up to 60-80k really. They won't be looking at the exact model (the First Edition model was overpriced for what it came with as other models had exactly the same spec for less) and condition is subjective (and more often than not over egged) so they tend to go with good.

They will be using Glasses guide or similar which is updated daily, second hand car prices have now started dropping again, down 0.7% last month, expected to be 0.9% this month.This would place it in the £15k-16k region, so they aren't far off, all be it at the lower end of the valuation.

You can fight for more, but if this went as far as the ombudsman I doubt they would come down on your side, they would likely say the insurer is being reasonable. Worth a fight, but if they dig their heels in its unlikely you will get more.

diystarter7

400ixl said:

There are currently Kia Niro 1.6 GDI's aged between 2016 and 2018 with 80k miles or less on them for under £15k on Autotrader. This is the advertised price, not the sold price at dealers.

They will be looking to put you back in a similar position to where you were. The mileage will be an around an average so anything up to 60-80k really. They won't be looking at the exact model (the First Edition model was overpriced for what it came with as other models had exactly the same spec for less) and condition is subjective (and more often than not over egged) so they tend to go with good.

They will be using Glasses guide or similar which is updated daily, second hand car prices have now started dropping again, down 0.7% last month, expected to be 0.9% this month.This would place it in the £15k-16k region, so they aren't far off, all be it at the lower end of the valuation.

You can fight for more, but if this went as far as the ombudsman I doubt they would come down on your side, they would likely say the insurer is being reasonable. Worth a fight, but if they dig their heels in its unlikely you will get more.

The bit in bold, I actually forget that you can still get a slight discount on certain cars and of cars of a certain age.

Fighting for more the Ombudsman may take a long, long time. If I was the OP, I'd settle for a couple hundred more and remove this stress from myself.

OP, with the replacement car you often get a warranty as well.  

I always insure my cars with a big brand name but for whatever reason, I've never been with the co you are with. I often use Aviva/LV/Direlectline and recently Saga for one of the cars. They all appeared to have good reviews should things go belly up.

[Deleted User]

Try contacting some dealers and offering what they gave you, plus the excess. See if they will go for it.

murfy92

Bearing in mind the closest spec car that matches my stolen car is selling for around £17,000.

It just shows never give in and accept the first offer.
It's frustrating how insurance companies seem to think they can barter and not make a reasonable offer first time round!

So this is what happened ... 

1. First offer of £14,450 - £350
   = £14,100
   agent said they used Glasses car valuation guide to calculate)
   
   I refused the offer as I realistically could not purchase a similar spec car on the market for that much
   
   
2. Second offer of £15,060.00 - £350
   = £14,710
   agent said they used another version of the glasses guide to calculate)
   
   I refused again
   
   
3. Third offer of £16,205.00 - £350
   = 15,855
   agent said they used a difference car valuation guide called caps to calculate)
   
   According to rules they had to payout before a 14 day deadline after the claim was made.
   They said I can raise a complaint with the ombudsman which may take up to 8 weeks.
   
   So I refused again and sent an email confirming this along with links and screenshots of similar spec cars selling on the market.
   
   Awaiting an update on my complaint
   
   
4. Fourth offer of £17,350 - £350 = £17,000
   

400ixl

Glad it worked out for you. Always worth a go.

diystarter7

OP
I'm one of those people that always posts honestly no matter what.
I also ask straight questions

I really thought you'd not get more tha 16kish

Good luck, well done. However, they should have not messaged you about in the first place.

Enjoy your new Kia.