Motor insurance problem

Jacknaw

Hi everyone,

New here but I'm in need of some help and need to try and sort this problem quite quick.


I don't want to give too many details as its a current problem but my problem is my car insurance is up early next week and after a lot of searching I found the best quote and decided to go with it, but when I received the decleration the details on the car were a little wrong, right make and model but the specific model info was wrong so I rang them and just by chance they said what the current market value was, and it was way too low, I bought the car at a very keen price last year at 19k and their value was between 6 and 7 thousand less than that price.


I was kinda gobsmacked and said that it must be a mistake as the specific model info was wrong and asked them to look in to it and they said that they wouldn't be changing the value as the details they have are traced from the car registration and they're sticking to it.


So I'm gonna have to cancel this deal and find someone else but I can't be sure if the same problem will crop up as other insurers are showing a slightly different spec version too (although not near as different as the above company) and they won't tell me what they deem the current market value is.


The details are right on my reg cert, one of the other companies said I'd better contact the dept of transport as they must be giving the wrong details as thats where they get the make/model info from.

So I'm kindof lost now, and before someone says it, I understand cars lose value but not this much, as the same car now would be at the very least 17-18k.


How do they value a car? and why would the details be wrong?


Any help please would be greatly appreciated and sorry for the long post.

peteb2

Insurance companies don't value cars. When you get a quote, you tell them the value of the car. But they will only pay out the market value in the event of a loss. Generally it is an engineer that will decide what the amount is. And they would be comparing similar specd cars. So if your car is different, then is it modified or an import? Both of which would have to be declraed to the insurance company.

Jacknaw

Yes I would have told them the current value of of the car when I got a quote but when the employee was going through my details one last time they happened to say my car was valued at a number not even in the teens.

So when I questioned them on it they said that they value it from the info thats show on their system from the reg number, I explained that the particular spec/type model that was showing on their system was wrong and that the actual current market value was a lot higher but was basically told tough, this was the info they had and if the worst happened and my car was not a fixer, then that would be the maximum I'd get.

When I checked with other insurers if the exact model info/spec that was showing on their systems was what is on my reg cert(log book) its slightly different too but not near as different as the above company but none of these seem to be able to tell me what they deem the current market value to be.
So I don't know why the info they're are getting is slightly different than on my reg cert but I couldn't take the chance that if I went with the above company and had an accident that they'd leave me with several k less what the car is worth.

coylemj

The information they get from the registration details are not necessarily correct, let me give you my experience....

I used to drive a 2007 Golf GT 170 bhp, this is a 1.4 petrol car which had a few variations in bhp, all with the same c.c. At the time the car was registered, the annual road tax was based on engine size so the bhp didn't matter.

When I was renewing the insurance in April this year, the call agent in Axa told me that my car was 140 bhp so the premium was going to be less than last year - woohoo! It quickly occurred to me that if I allowed this to go unchecked I could end up with the policy getting revoked if the insurance company discovered that I was paying a premium for a 140 bhp car when my car was actually 170 bhp so I told her that the registration details were not correct and she amended the policy accordingly.

So don't let them bully you, tell them that the registration details are not correct, make them change the record on your policy to match the car that you have, not what the people in Shannon say it is.

Otis Driftwood

Incorrect.

Its up to the OP to contact the office in Shannon and get them to amend the details,not the insurance company.

coylemj

Otis Driftwood wrote: »

Incorrect.

Its up to the OP to contact the office in Shannon and get them to amend the details,not the insurance company.

Well Axa accepted my version of events so I think the problem is that the OP's insurance company are obviously a stubborn crowd of w**ers.

Jacknaw

Thanks for replying,

Otis Driftwood wrote: »

Incorrect.

Its up to the OP to contact the office in Shannon and get them to amend the details,not the insurance company.

The details on my reg cert are correct as far as I know, but I do intend to contact them to make sure.

Does anyone know if its through shannon that the insurance crowds get their reg/car info or is there a go between company? most of the companies seem to not be able to say.

coylemj wrote: »

Well Axa accepted my version of events so I think the problem is that the OP's insurance company are obviously a stubborn crowd of w**ers.

I pushed it and it supposedly was referred to a superior and the underwriters and they wouldn't budge, pretty much said either go ahead with it or don't, we don't care we're not moving.
And the tone of the last guy was nothing other than abrupt although I could replace abrupt with another A word.

Otis Driftwood

I used to work for FBD and they have a system thats tied in directly with Shannon.Its called moneymate.

The sales agent enters the reg of the car and it pulls up all the info about the car,its engine size,whether its an import,whether it had being involved in an MIBI case or had previously being deemed to be written off as well as its current market value.

Im sure most of the bigger insurance companies also use the same/similar system.

So if the information being pulled up on screen does not correlate with your reg book then either the information Shannon has is incorrect or you are over estimating the value of the vehicle.

Jacknaw

Otis Driftwood wrote: »

Im sure most of the bigger insurance companies also use the same/similar system.

So if the information being pulled up on screen does not correlate with your reg book then either the information Shannon has is incorrect or you are over estimating the value of the vehicle.

But why would this company have such different info from the rest? other companies info is more or less right apart from one thing which I'll check with shannon but this company is showing a particular name/spec that this car model was going by 5-7yrs ago.

And no I'm not overvaluing it, I bought this at a very good price and lower spec/lesser quality versions of it are going for 16-17.5k.