Need Advice ASAP CAR THEFT

[nikonman]

OK I am new here so I am sorry if this is old ground but I couldnt find anything else to help.
In October 2006 my car was stolen by the theives breaking in and stealing the keys.The car was 5 months old with 2500 miles.
It took ages before the car was said to be a right off. I actually bought the car for a very good price i.e £10600 (3 days later the other cars on offer MGTF went up by £ 3000) and the insurance company are offering me 10225 as a settlement.
I have looked at all the available garages online and locally to see the value of replacements and they tend to be at least 500- 2000 pounds more to replace like for like .
My insurance or should i say the claims company have written to me saying the offer is based on the fact that I paid 10600 for the car ,yet my policy says market value and I am not sure the offer reflects this .
Should I accept or refuse
Oh by the way the second offer they made me was £5 less than the first .???
I hope you can offer some advise as this has dragged on for nearly six months now.

[xrchris]

Did you buy this vehicle brand new and which insurer was it covered ny?

[craigwalton]

You need to inform them that, although you got a good offer for the car, that offer is no longer available. The Insurance have to put you in a position you were in immediately before you suffered the loss. To do this would cost you £****, and provide them with the higher end of your estimates.

They might come back with another offer that souhld be between their original offer and your offer.

Good Luck

[PKea]

Never accept the first Offer!
They want to get away with paying you as little as they can.
As Craig says, find some costs to buy an equivalent car, mileage, spec etc and forward that cost to them

[nikonman]

Cheers guys
Thats what I thought.
So offering a £**** based on what I paid for the car is not right??
I am going to send them a letter with my car price print outs .
Do I mention that these prices are April 07 and out of date seeing my car was stolen in October 06 and therefore probably worth even more then.
ECar is the insurer though I have only really dealt with The Claims Service. Oh and actually I had the second offer £5 lower than the first offer ......maybe a first....
Thx

[PKea]

You cannot claim for a brand new car, you can claim for the same age, mileage etc.
Ie you paid £10k for 6 months ago, in garages they are now selling 6 month old cars with your spec for £9k, I would guess that you can only claim a replacement value ie £9K.

If you could get a brand new car when it got stolen, it would be great, my car would be stolen every few years...JOKE

[PKea]

Originally Posted by nikonman

OK I am new here so I am sorry if this is old ground but I couldnt find anything else to help.
In October 2006 my car was stolen by the theives breaking in and stealing the keys.The car was 5 months old with 2500 miles.
It took ages before the car was said to be a right off. I actually bought the car for a very good price i.e £10600 (3 days later the other cars on offer MGTF went up by £ 3000) and the insurance company are offering me 10225 as a settlement.
I have looked at all the available garages online and locally to see the value of replacements and they tend to be at least 500- 2000 pounds more to replace like for like .
My insurance or should i say the claims company have written to me saying the offer is based on the fact that I paid 10600 for the car ,yet my policy says market value and I am not sure the offer reflects this .
Should I accept or refuse
Oh by the way the second offer they made me was £5 less than the first .???
I hope you can offer some advise as this has dragged on for nearly six months now.

Get a copy of the dearer gagrage ads and send it to the insurers along witha request for the increased offer.

[xrchris]

Originally Posted by PKea

You cannot claim for a brand new car, you can claim for the same age, mileage etc.

That is incorrect.

Many insurers will provide a new replacement vehicle if your vehicle is written off and is less than 12 months old.

I have had a quick look at the ECar policy booklet (online) but cannot see that they give this cover.

[PKea]

Originally Posted by xrchris

That is incorrect.

Many insurers will provide a new replacement vehicle if your vehicle is written off and is less than 12 months old.

He stated that it his policy covers him for Market value of the car and not new for old

I have had a quick look at the ECar policy booklet (online) but cannot see that they give this cover.

In hisr first post

[xrchris]

Sorry i misread your post and didnt notice that quote in his post either.

Originally Posted by nikonman

My insurance or should i say the claims company have written to me saying the offer is based on the fact that I paid 10600 for the car ,yet my policy says market value and I am not sure the offer reflects this

The ECar policy states the following -

The most We will pay is the Market Value of Your Car, Accessories and spare parts at the time of the loss or damage. We will not pay more

than the amount for which You insured them.

[Trojan1401]

xrchris,

Insurers will normally replace the vehicle within 12 months of purchase provide bought new. Not too clear from the post whether the vehicle was bought new or second hand. Not too sure either if an ex demo would be classed as "new" for the purpose of this.

Also with the number of "budget" insurers on the go these days, I would suspect that this is one of the benefits of "Fully Comprehensive" insurance that is not included.

This bit directed to the insurance bods ;-

With respect to the insurer's offer, if a vehicle of the same spec cannot be sourced for the amount paid originally, would it not go against the principle of indemnity that the person should be no better off financially that before the incident occurred i.e. albeit a bargain was found hence the purchase but paying more than the purchase price would technically put him financially better off.

Sorry, sounding like an ACII exam paper !!!

[xrchris]

Originally Posted by Trojan1401

xrchris,

Insurers will normally replace the vehicle within 12 months of purchase provide bought new. Not too clear from the post whether the vehicle was bought new or second hand. Not too sure either if an ex demo would be classed as "new" for the purpose of this.

I know exactly what 'Replacement as New' is for vehicles under 12 months old which is why i asked the OP if he bought it as new in my original post, to try and clarify matters.

[Trojan1401]

Thought you would - just clarifying the point for nikonman.

[nikonman]

Update

[nikonman]

they have sent me a cheque stating final completion and I have not even agreed a settlement figure yet .......work that one out

[jampot]

Easy to work out - they're hoping you'll bank it and go away.

I'd put their cheque back in the post and ask them to refrain from sending payment until a settlement figure has been mutually agreed.