Advise on Negotiating Total Loss Vehicle Value With Insurer

ricardoakaapna

My vehicle was stolen and I have received an offer far below what I believe is the value from AGEAS.

The method they have employed is to look at the cheapest vehicle (same make and model) that are within 30k mileage to my vehicle. The ones they have chosen are c.160 miles away and all have a higher mileage than my vehicle.

Is there a certain number of miles from my property that it would be reasonable for me to purchase from? Is there any rule for this?

As I see it they should find six vehicles closest to my vehicles specs + mileage and find the average of those. (3 higher mileage and 3 lower mileage.

Car_54

Insurers generally do not look at advertised vehicles, but instead use the retail prices reported in the trade guides, e.g. Glass's or CAP. 

This reflects what cars actually sell for, instead of the (often optimistic) asking prices.

This approach has generally been endorsed by the FS Ombudsman.

DullGreyGuy

ricardoakaapna said:

My vehicle was stolen and I have received an offer far below what I believe is the value from AGEAS.

The method they have employed is to look at the cheapest vehicle (same make and model) that are within 30k mileage to my vehicle. The ones they have chosen are c.160 miles away and all have a higher mileage than my vehicle.

Is there a certain number of miles from my property that it would be reasonable for me to purchase from? Is there any rule for this?

As I see it they should find six vehicles closest to my vehicles specs + mileage and find the average of those. (3 higher mileage and 3 lower mileage.

They will be looking at the book price from the likes of Glass, CAP etc and then doing a sense check of the value the book gives with some actually being advertised noting you'll rarely find the identical car and that the advertised price isnt the sales price. Note that whilst it's still called a "book price" it's actually an online tool these days with the db of prices being updated at least weekly, some more often. 

You can see what the Ombudsman advises on the matter https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/businesses/complaints-deal/insurance/motor-insurance/vehicle-valuations-write-offs