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Regarding car insurance quotes, why do they ask for the value of the car, when any write-off payment is based on their own assessment anyway (and they don't reduce the figure you gave them year on year to allow for depreciation). Seems like an exercise in time wasting.
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colin wrote:
>
> Regarding car insurance quotes, why do they ask for the value
> of the car, when any write-off payment is based on their own
> assessment anyway (and they don't reduce the figure you gave
> them year on year to allow for depreciation). Seems like an
> exercise in time wasting.
It is a check of two things.
Firstly, if the value is disproportionately high or low then they will investigate further. It means the car is either an unsafe wreck or customised in some way.
Secondly, it is to ensure that somebody doesn't then say there was something special about this particular vehicle that raises its loss if a claim occurs - Special Edition for example, which may not show up if the engine and model are the same.
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Mark is right, my ex partner worked for an insurance company in the underwriting department. This is a trick question, if you quote figure much higher than book value, they know the vehicle has been modified in some way.
Did you also know that they hire private detectives to spy on cars, if some spoit kid is driving a flash car (i.e. high write off value Lotus, BMW etc) on mummy or daddy's insurance as a named driver, and they find the the kid is in fact the main driver, they void the insurance policy.
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....well, yes *but* u can insure on an "Agreed Value" which, altho pricey, says that the Insurance Co. will give u the agreed value of the motor at the time of the writing of the policy.
e.g. (this is the extreme) an 850 Mini - book price £500. BUT - £250 shox, £300 wheels, £500 paint, £100 zorst could b worth more - but not much more! Simply insure at an agreed value and then u r guaranteed the "cost to you" if it were stolen by some low-life.
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I got a good payout when my old Mini was written off, going on the extras I'd had fitted and all the new parts on top of the price I paid for it.
Then I bought the wreck for £25 (I had the wreck taken from Durham to my parents address in South Wales!), stripped it and sold off some bit's for a good price and used others to fix up my replacement Mini which I then sold for good money.
I'm now trying to get agreed value on my Classic Car but would keep my hands on the car if involved in an accident as I've rebuilt it once so could do again - especially if I got an insurance payout as well.
Piers
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> ....well, yes *but* u can insure on an "Agreed Value" which,
> altho pricey, says that the Insurance Co. will give u the
> agreed value of the motor at the time of the writing of the
> policy.
Not neccessarily. They can, although it is much less likely, offer you less than the agreed value. If the market has changed, the car has changed, or time has passed, then they might well do so.
It rather depends on why the vehicle was insured at an agreed value.
Strangely they rarely offer you more !
Agreed Value is frequently misunderstood in that it is a value which you agree for proposal, quotation, and assessment. It is not, or at least not usually, an agreement of a value that would be paid out in the event of a claim.
I don't have any uk policy documents anymore, but if you read the policy itself, rather than the proposal or advertising blurb, you'll probably see what I mean.
M.
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