Insurance fixed value , what if ??

I was reading a thread on here recentley regarding the virtues of getting a fixed value on your car from the insurance company in case the worst were to happen.

Thats all very well if you put your car down a ditch or something and write it off.Your policy should pay out the amount you agreed on , no problem.

However, what happens if Mr Corsa slams in the back of your pride and joy writing the car off.

You would be claiming from his insurance due it being his fault.Now what value is his insurance company going to put on your car,I cannot see them honouring the arrangment you had with your own insurance company.

Just a thought

That's a good point in principle but are there any insurance boffins out there that can answer Marks question - I would be very interested to know the answer as a good number of members insist on the 'agreed value' status.

I would think if you have a car that is worth having an agreed value on (£10k +) then you won't worry about the increased premium of claiming on your own policy in such circumstances.

I would think if you have a car that is worth having an agreed value on (£10k +) then you won't worry about the increased premium of claiming on your own policy in such circumstances.

I wouldnt think your own insurance company would be wanting to pay out when the liability was with another drivers insurance

I would think if you have a car that is worth having an agreed value on (£10k +) then you won't worry about the increased premium of claiming on your own policy in such circumstances.

my company insists that market value will be paid regardless although im not on a specific agreed value policy. Had this prob in the past and when offered a puny amount my solicitor challenged the company to find me a car of the same spec for the amount offered....they couldnt and i got my request

I bloody would!

I just dont think your own insurance company would pay out if the blame lay clearly with another driver.

Imagine if the driver who wrote your car off was 19 years old, why should your insurance company pay for his mistakes, when they aint getting the 19 year olds premiums.

I to be fair, I wouldnt blame them

my company insists that market value will be paid regardless although im not on a specific agreed value policy. Had this prob in the past and when offered a puny amount my solicitor challenged the company to find me a car of the same spec for the amount offered....they couldnt and i got my request

Dont know the spec of your particular car but at the moment you could get one pretty cheap

black uk manual

My experience with insurance companies has always been that they will try and get away with paying the least they can in every instance, period.

true but when the other driver is at fault you have a rock solid argument as i found out

Its quite simple really. The 3rd party insurance company would be informed of the agreed value and would have to pay it. Be it you going through them direct, through an accident management company or through your own insurance (and them claiming it back)

This is what i posted on another thread, and i would very much like to get some unbiased feed back from someone in the know,

I to would like to get more detailed information on just how agreed value really works in reality, as i have been informed by a couple of different company's that if the company decides that the value originally submitted was not correct, (which is a bit of a moot point, as its usually photo evidence and a list of parts) i can easily see that if the accident happens 10 months into your policy, they could easily turn around and say that a certain amount of deprecation has taken place, also whats to stop an assessor saying that he doesn't agree with the condition of the car before the accident?

to me it just seems that there are to many "get outs " for comfort, maybe i'm being a little to paranoid, but i think there needs to be more clarification on something so important, considering that most company's only charge a premium of £30-35 for a service that could end up costing them thousands over the book price of the car.

Thing is, the other guy's insurance company cannot write off your car, only your own ins co can do that. If the damage was the other guys fault you can insist that they pay you the amount you want or that they put the car right.

This exact thing happened to FoodFreak and it cost, iirc, well over 15k to have his car repaired - because he just wouldn't let them pay him off for the car. In the end the car was repaired as good as new.

Thing is, the other guy's insurance company cannot write off your car, only your own ins co can do that. If the damage was the other guys fault you can insist that they pay you the amount you want or that they put the car right.

This exact thing happened to FoodFreak and it cost, iirc, well over 15k to have his car repaired - because he just wouldn't let them pay him off for the car. In the end the car was repaired as good as new.

Didnt know that. Every day's a school day!

I wouldnt think your own insurance company would be wanting to pay out when the liability was with another drivers insurance

This whole thing seems a bit of a grey area and the point above is very valid (especially to blokes like me that have never dealt with such policies)

As Tricky Ricky has mentioned below, I wouldn't mind an unbiased opinion on this topic from our own club insurance man.

Jae, are you there to answer this please?

I'm with Sky and in 2005 a Taxi went in the back of me. I got a letter from Ensign (Sky are just a broker) saying the car was being written off. I informed them of the agreed value and they sent a loss adjuster to look over the car - he said the agreed value was fair.

I then got a letter from Ensign saying that because the agreed value was much more than their write off value, it would be repaired.

J

Hmm that kind of illustrates one of my concerns, about agreed value.

Moral of the story

DONT CRASH:stretch:

Moral of the story

 

 

DONT CRASH:stretch:

Thats good advice:rolleyes:

unfortunately it doesn't help with others running into you;)

A lot of confusion on the above, so working for an insurance company, Zurich, I've spoken to our PL Motor Line of Business Manager to get a clear steer on things.

The Agreed Value on your policy will stand after a Loss Adjuster/Assessor has approved the condition of the car, obviously the likely condition prior to the crash. This becomes more complex in the case of extreme write-offs.

Should the 3rd party insurers repudiate the claim for the agreed value, your own insurers will often appoint their own surveyor, but this doesn't guarantee you're going to get your 'agreed' money. The other Insurers' Claims Surveyor have to approve the value of the loss based on the cars condition and often depreciation in value is built into their estimate. Most of this is included in your policy small print, if you ever read that...........

It really is in the insurers arena to decide collectively between them on the value payment of a claim. Normally, if you crash, your own insurer will arrange for repairs/write-off payment and claim this back from the TPI. However, they may not be able to claim the full amount paid to Mr Repair Man or you from the TPI and so this could have an affect on your own policy.

Of course, there are quite a few loopholes in the system. A Classic Car policy operates differently and can cover this potential gap.

Hope that clears things............a little!

Greg

Thanks for that, it confirms a bit of what i have already been told, and also confirms some of the things i was concerned about, must admit i haven't found any "small print" regarding the agreed value on my policy, yet!

but i guess it just confirms that the insurance company's have you by the balls! and the agreed value that you put so much faith in, may not be all you thought it was:(

Does this mean from Greg's very helpful research that 'Agreed Value Policies' are not really worth the paper they are written on as the TPI may never cough up the entire amount.

Also, does the small print on the SKY policy document help support the insured person to get his/her money back, or are there loopholes that currently exist; that could see the financial award being reduced from the agreed value sum.

I think the only person that can shine clarity on this issue is Jae and his team.

Does this mean from Greg's very helpful research that 'Agreed Value Policies' are not really worth the paper they are written on ...

Don't really agree with this, because if I hadn't got the agreed value I would probably have been offered £4k or something silly and then had a fight on my hands to get it up to £8 or so, still a lot less than she was worth. Was very glad I paid the extra £30

Good post Greg and good info to know.

However in Jaymdee's expereince the agree value saved his car from being written off.

I have an agree value on my car and should anything happen to it (one way or another) according to the T&C's there is no get out provided the car is properly Taxed and MOT'd. I'd fight it to the death if an insurance company tried otherwise!

I really don't trust any company, every experience I've had with car insurance has resulted in a rip off. I'm seriously unhappy with Sky too, something I'll be taking up with Mawby when their sponsorship comes up!