Advise on Negotiating Total Loss Vehicle Value With Insurer

cw8825

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

What did you declare the value of the vehicle to be at when the insurance last renewed. How does this compare to the figure you have in mind now. 

Does this value matter at all? FWIW, the figure is somewhere in the middle between what they offered in the settlement and offered prices I see on autotradet

I'm asked the question every year when I renew my insurance. Under insuring the value could come back to bite you. 

Too bad that insured value has zero impact on the settlement offer... I extended my policy a month ago, and the offer I got is 2.5K below insured value. Don't think claim handlers at Coplan even looked at insured value when coming up with the offer

Generally unless you’re taking out an agreed value policy, market value takes precedence 

Nebulous2

cw8825 said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

What did you declare the value of the vehicle to be at when the insurance last renewed. How does this compare to the figure you have in mind now. 

Does this value matter at all? FWIW, the figure is somewhere in the middle between what they offered in the settlement and offered prices I see on autotradet

I'm asked the question every year when I renew my insurance. Under insuring the value could come back to bite you. 

Too bad that insured value has zero impact on the settlement offer... I extended my policy a month ago, and the offer I got is 2.5K below insured value. Don't think claim handlers at Coplan even looked at insured value when coming up with the offer

Generally unless you’re taking out an agreed value policy, market value takes precedence 

Wouldn't market value be capped at what you declared? 

cw8825

Nebulous2 said:

cw8825 said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

What did you declare the value of the vehicle to be at when the insurance last renewed. How does this compare to the figure you have in mind now. 

Does this value matter at all? FWIW, the figure is somewhere in the middle between what they offered in the settlement and offered prices I see on autotradet

I'm asked the question every year when I renew my insurance. Under insuring the value could come back to bite you. 

Too bad that insured value has zero impact on the settlement offer... I extended my policy a month ago, and the offer I got is 2.5K below insured value. Don't think claim handlers at Coplan even looked at insured value when coming up with the offer

Generally unless you’re taking out an agreed value policy, market value takes precedence 

Wouldn't market value be capped at what you declared? 

No. 

If you declared your car was worth 50k but the market value was 25k. They would pay 25k



I have just run 2 quotes with an £800 car. 

Entered value at £100 came and at £100k
both quotes came at same price 
I tend to believe the boxes they allow you to free type are not considered in a quote

400ixl

Nebulous2 said:

cw8825 said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

What did you declare the value of the vehicle to be at when the insurance last renewed. How does this compare to the figure you have in mind now. 

Does this value matter at all? FWIW, the figure is somewhere in the middle between what they offered in the settlement and offered prices I see on autotradet

I'm asked the question every year when I renew my insurance. Under insuring the value could come back to bite you. 

Too bad that insured value has zero impact on the settlement offer... I extended my policy a month ago, and the offer I got is 2.5K below insured value. Don't think claim handlers at Coplan even looked at insured value when coming up with the offer

Generally unless you’re taking out an agreed value policy, market value takes precedence 

Wouldn't market value be capped at what you declared? 

No, that is not how it works. That value is used to trigger whether the quote needs to go to underwriting or other pricing adjustments.

It does not limit the payout of any claim.

Arunmor

Hoenir said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

What did you declare the value of the vehicle to be at when the insurance last renewed. How does this compare to the figure you have in mind now. 

Does this value matter at all? FWIW, the figure is somewhere in the middle between what they offered in the settlement and offered prices I see on autotradet

I'm asked the question every year when I renew my insurance. Under insuring the value could come back to bite you. 

I have found they fill in the value of the car these days. Renewed her indoors' yesterday and thought yes that looks about right.

The only time it will have any bearing is on an agreed value usually classics and possibly very high end built in limited numbers.

Nebulous2

400ixl said:

Nebulous2 said:

cw8825 said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

What did you declare the value of the vehicle to be at when the insurance last renewed. How does this compare to the figure you have in mind now. 

Does this value matter at all? FWIW, the figure is somewhere in the middle between what they offered in the settlement and offered prices I see on autotradet

I'm asked the question every year when I renew my insurance. Under insuring the value could come back to bite you. 

Too bad that insured value has zero impact on the settlement offer... I extended my policy a month ago, and the offer I got is 2.5K below insured value. Don't think claim handlers at Coplan even looked at insured value when coming up with the offer

Generally unless you’re taking out an agreed value policy, market value takes precedence 

Wouldn't market value be capped at what you declared? 

No, that is not how it works. That value is used to trigger whether the quote needs to go to underwriting or other pricing adjustments.

It does not limit the payout of any claim.

So if you declared £10k, and it was underwritten based on £10k, then as happened post-pandemic, second-hand car values went up, and market value was £12k, they would pay out to £12k? 

Makes me wonder what the point of the question is for insurers.....

Aretnap

Nebulous2 said:

cw8825 said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

14sprocket said:

Hoenir said:

What did you declare the value of the vehicle to be at when the insurance last renewed. How does this compare to the figure you have in mind now. 

Does this value matter at all? FWIW, the figure is somewhere in the middle between what they offered in the settlement and offered prices I see on autotradet

I'm asked the question every year when I renew my insurance. Under insuring the value could come back to bite you. 

Too bad that insured value has zero impact on the settlement offer... I extended my policy a month ago, and the offer I got is 2.5K below insured value. Don't think claim handlers at Coplan even looked at insured value when coming up with the offer

Generally unless you’re taking out an agreed value policy, market value takes precedence 

Wouldn't market value be capped at what you declared? 

It would be a very unfair system if that were the case. Consumer underestimates value: consumer gets inadequate payout. Consumer overestimates value: consumer pays extra premium but gets no additional cover for his extra premium. Heads insurer wins, tails consumer losses.

It would be doubly unfair given that the insurer has a much better idea of the value of a five year old Toyota than the average consumer does, and is perfectly capable of calculating the risk of insuring one without the consumer's estimate of its value. It's not like home insurance where the insurer doesn't know whether it's insuring an almost empty house or one full of jewellery and antique furniture until the customer tells them the value of their contents.

The Financial Ombudsman Service used to publish guidance which explicitly said that they would award the customer full retail value even if they had underestimated their car's value or if (unusually) its value has risen over the course of the policy year. That explicit guidance disappeared a while ago when they simplified their website, but AFAIK the underlying policy hasn't changed.

400ixl

Nebulous2 said:

So if you declared £10k, and it was underwritten based on £10k, then as happened post-pandemic, second-hand car values went up, and market value was £12k, they would pay out to £12k? 

Makes me wonder what the point of the question is for insurers.....

Yes, they pay the market value, just as if it was now worth £8k they would only pay that. This is exactly what did happen during/post pandemic when used car values went up.

If it didn't work like that then you would be doing a guaranteed value which is only available on certain types of policies, usually for classic or high value cars.

The point is that if you put in £20k on a car which they believe is £10k it would flag an issue and be passed to underwriting to quote, challenge or decline.

Nebulous2

400ixl said:

Nebulous2 said:

So if you declared £10k, and it was underwritten based on £10k, then as happened post-pandemic, second-hand car values went up, and market value was £12k, they would pay out to £12k? 

Makes me wonder what the point of the question is for insurers.....

Yes, they pay the market value, just as if it was now worth £8k they would only pay that. This is exactly what did happen during/post pandemic when used car values went up.

If it didn't work like that then you would be doing a guaranteed value which is only available on certain types of policies, usually for classic or high value cars.

The point is that if you put in £20k on a car which they believe is £10k it would flag an issue and be passed to underwriting to quote, challenge or decline.

Thanks very much. That's good to know. 

I've always tried to be reasonably accurate with that figure, though I would have tended to go £1000 higher, rather than £1000 lower, as I thought if I was under it could come back to bite me. 

I had also wondered what would happen with my van - prices went mad during covid and at 3 years old and 25,000 miles it was worth more than I paid for it new. Unfortunately that is no longer the case, as van prices have fallen off a cliff this year......