I have recently had my car stolen, when I started my ins policy I was asked the value of my car, I said off the top of my head £800.

I have since been looking on places like auto trader and for me to replace this car it will cost me more like £1000 to £1200 am I within my rights to not accept offers under £1000? Any help is much appretiated.

When you take out the policy, the reason you are asked the value of the vehicle is to ensure there is nothing particularly unusual about it. It is not used for valuation purposes.

Get examples of cars of similar age, condition, mileage etc in your local area - it is generally better to have a mix of trade and private adverts. If they offer a low value, send the examples to them.

Any offer made to you should enable you to buy a similar car to what you had, but don't expect forecourt prices

Sorry Gizmo, but that is incorrect. The value of the vehicle is used to set the Sum Insured limit, and is the cap of the Market Value of the vehicle.

Civic - I'm sorry but you have underinsured yourself, and I think you will be lucky to get more than you valued the vehicle at. However do check your policy wording because they might have not covered themselves. However what you will typically find is:

Loss / Theft of vehicle: cover up to the Market Value of your car

where Market Value is defined as being the value to purchase / replace a vehicle of your type but not exceeding the value estimate provided by you.

I'm not sure on that.

During my CII training, I was specifically told by my tutor that the question was asked purely to ascertain a rough value and to ensure there is nothing untowards with the vehicle (e.g, a 1991 fiesta being valued at £10,000 indicates something untoward).

I have many a time dealt with TL claims where the declared value is below the actual value that was paid out.

Well they were lucky indeed, as the vehicle value should establish the limit of indemnity. You should check the policy wording to ensure that this is specified however - if they don't cap the LOI at the given vehicle value then it is worth pushing for more.

Looking for information on another matter, I've just come across an article by the FOS:

The fact that many insurers’ proposal forms include a question about the vehicle’s ‘present value’ undoubtedly causes confusion for many customers. For most transactions, the question has little relevance for the underwriting of the policy. So it would help if firms left this question out, or clearly explained its limited relevance to the settling of claims.