Insurance ?

dubtom

Just got me a new yoke and am wondering about the insurance payouts on a new car. It's something that's been bothering me ever since I had a crash in an omega a few years back, I paid 6 grand for the car, had it's insured value at 6 grand on a fully comp policy but yet when it was written off by the insurance company they paid me 1700. It sickened me at the time, still does actually, infact I was only working for myself a short time and had to get a loan to get me back on the road. I vowed then never to be screwed by an insurance company again, I feel I should have demanded the full cost of what it was insured for or at least an omega of same age and condition,at the time I was unsure of what my rights were and to be honest still am. If, god forbid, I had an accident in my new yoke could I leagally claim for the full cost of it and could I have stuck to my guns and not accepted the 1700 for the omega. Paying fully comp insurance, that first year was 5K, seems a bit silly if they can offer basically what they like when a car is written off. I know they say it's the market value bulls..t,but it seems to me totally illegal to insure something for say 6 grand and then claim it's only worth a third of that price when the time comes to claim.Am I totally deluded.

Rowley Birkin QC

that sounds right lad, i dont know the ins and outs of it but u never get the full value of the car from the insurance company no matter what its insured for.
was she the full balls out 3.2v6 or a 2.0?

dubtom

A 2.0 Cd, nice car it was, blubber.
Actually,isn't it the case if someone hits you and writes the car off their insurance company will pay the full amount for the car,given that's it's an uncontested case, if that is correct, how can say my company get away with paying less if it's my fault.

jimmycrackcorm

You could have refused their offer and taken them to court. While there is a reduction in the payment based on depreciation, you should have gotten a lot more based on your premium. Otherwise you couldhave valued the car at 1700 andpaid a lower premium.

quarryman

I don't get it. You got 1700 from a car worth 6000? Was the car actually only worth 1700 in the market by the time of the crash or was it that that's all they would give you.

So if I insure my car fully comp with a value of 10k (the true value) i'll get less than 5k back?

Henry Ford III

You can insure a car for any figure you wish, but in the event of a claim the market value will only ever be paid out.

If for any reason you feel it's worth more than the market value, it's up to you to get a written agreed valuation.

If on the other hand you under insure a car (or house) in an effort to save premiums, you can be hit by the dreaded averaging clause.

For example your car is worth €50000, but you insure it for €30000. It gets stolen. The insurer will only pay you 60% (€30000/€50000 x100) of your valuation, i.e. €18000. Ouch.