Stolen car - HELP please with car valuation for Insurance company

[wiosna30]

Hi,

I am a victim of Burglary. Many items disappear from my house and the car as well.

I will make the claim but before sending all documents which my insurance company wants I’d like to do my own car valuation, print out and send together with all papers.

Please advice where should I go to do this? Which website can be accepted by My Insurance Company?

I should add that I don’t have proof of the purchase – I can’t find it.

Please advice

Many thanks

[unclebulgaria67]

Have a look at the following link from the FOS and if you have any questions give them a call.

 

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

 

The FOS can also help with technical questions regarding your Home Insurance claim.

[kwaks]

Are you crazy??

 

Le the insurance company give you their valuation first, it might be higher than what you would have placed on it!!

 

Yes this does happen, and has happened to me on more than one occassion.

[buzby]

NEVER provide them with a valuation. They are set up for this, you are not. When taking out a policy and they ask the value, NEVER state a figure - but 'Market Value'. This is because if YOU value it higher, they charge you an increased premium, but will STILL settle on the basis of MV, irrespective of what you valued it as.

[ltc1607]

Always reject the Insurance Companies first offer

[Mwynci]

Re: your own valuation, you can pay for a Glass's report, or hpi has an option to give a vaulation. or you could ask a friendly car dealer to look in their guide for the price. The alternative is parkers, you can get an on line valuation.

The advice about waiting until the insurers give you an offer is better, sometimes they get it right the first time, it depends who your insurers are- they will offer market value if that's the policy you have. The value you give wil have little bearing on the premium until you hit the £20k-30k mark.

Re: the FOS, it's a lot to take in, but the guide is spot on, although I'm not sure about how much general advice they will give, different if it's a complaint, but as of yet, this doesn't look that way.

Edited October 26, 2010 by Mwynci
update

[wiosna30]

Hi Guys,

 

Thank you for all replays and really sorry for late respond.

The Insurance company is asking me to provide my Landlord details and Lettings Agency now.

He asked me on the phone for Building Insurance or Landlord Insurance and wants to contact them. Any idea why???

House Insurance and Landlord Insurance should not be relevant to MY CAR POLICY

Please advice, what should I do? Should I give them all details?

Regards

[Mwynci]

They want to check there was a thef of the keys from your house and not a case that you left the keys in the car overnight.

Your post suggested you had a break in, you may have told them that, but an awful lot of people use that as a cover for when they do just leave the keys in the car. It's a standard line of enquriy, if there is evidence i.e. insurance claim, proof of landlord/ letting agency changing the door locks/paying for break in damage.

Dotting I's and Crossing T's. If it happened as you say you have nothing to worry about.

[kilnfield]

Hi, just been through exactly the same myself, burglary and car stolen. My insurers made a low offer and, like Unclebulgaria67 suggests, I looked up the ombudsman website. They say on it that you should be put in the position whereby you could buy an exact replacement from a reputable dealer. I used Autotrader to find 4 reputable dealers who were selling an identical vehicle (age, model, mileage), Toyota dealers for my lost Yaris, and sent them copies of the ads. The average price was £5071 and the adjusted insurance offer came back as £5070, almost £1300 more than the first one.Didn't need to speak to FOS, their website did it all for me.

Good luck

[wiosna30]

Hi,

I am still waiting, but the problem is that I bought my car 2 years ago with a good deal, someone just wants probably quickly sell and I paid only 10,750.00 (Subaru Forester Xte), where now if I want to buy the same one, (2006, low mileage as mine) I need to pay between 10,000.00 and 11,000.00 so I don’t have idea what they will do because 2 years before I paid what I need to pay now, and Insurance company has already my Purchase Invoice.

I am waiting and I don’t know what kind of offer I will get

[Mwynci]

On the assumption that you have a market value policy (most are), the purchase price should have little to do with it. If you managed to get it cheaper in the first place, good for you, that doesn't affect the market value of the vehicle.

[wiosna30]

I hope that they will think the same as you!

[wiosna30]

I really need help. AGAIN

I received the call from the police that yesterday they founded my car. I contacted my insurance company and they have today transported my car to the garage to check what should be done. The car what the police officer told me didn’t have any accidents so this should not take too long. Insurance company is waiting now for estimate from the garage and knowing how much will cost them will call me back. The problem is that the burglar still has a key and knows my address. I need to change the Ignition barrel, locks, keys and immobiliser and this what I’ve been told I should organise myself. I have checked the prices with Subaru and only parts will cost me 530.00 plus fitting what can be another £550.00 .I am asking why Insurance company can do this?

The car can’t be even one day on my area without a new locks and etc... and I can’t go from one garage to another on the same time as first I need to order everything and wait a few days. What should I do if I don’t have garage and they will tell me to go and collect the car?

In this case who should be responsible to change everything if the burglar has a key and knows my address?

The next thing is that when I reported to Admiral that my car has been stolen I have received after 3 days letter that my car has been written off and I must do SORN declaration what I did. Now calling to DVLA and trying to reverse everything I heard that I shouldn’t do SORN, someone gave me wrong information , so everything from beginning: register, wait 5 days for tax disc, pay again road tax and MOT. SO THEY WILL GIVE ME BACK MY CAR, WHICH IS NOT PERMITTED TO BE ON THE ROADS. It’s not my fault, I did only what I had on the letter from my insurance. And again I can’t drive from garage to home, I can’t keep the car over 5 days on my parking WHAT SHOULD I DO? What should I told Admiral when they will call me back telling that car is ready to collect?

I didn’t speak yet about the SORN with Admiral

Please advice, as completely I don’t know what to do???

[unclebulgaria67]

Sounds like Admiral are about as useless as a chocolate teapot.

 

My understanding is that if the car keys were stolen, the car was taken and then recovered, is that the Insurers should pay for the locks to be replaced. It is in the interest of the Insurers to do so, as if it is stolen again, this could end up costing the Insurers more money.

 

The Insurers should also pay for any additional costs and losses related to the advice they provided in regard to registering the car as sorn. Normally in this situation, you would simply need to phone DVLA to explain the situation and they would change the status of the car. If it was recorded as a write off by Insurers that would be a different matter, as the Insurers would need to contact DVLA. If not recorded as a write off, if the SORN is reversed, you would just need to go to the post office and tax the car. BUT surely if the tax disc is still in the car and is still valid, then just notify DVLA of the vehicle being found and no longer SORN.

 

Suggest that you phone DVLA to advise them of the situation. Then phone Admiral and insist on speaking to a manager. The car should be stored safely by a garage until this is sorted out.

[wiosna30]

I spoke with DVLA and SORN can't be reverse so my Tax disc is not valid.

Can I told Admiral that they need to change locks and etc... and inform me when everything will be ready to collect?

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes sorry, I forgot that the SORN stopped the current tax disc and you had to re-apply.

 

Ok, so you will need to get a new tax disc from the Post Office. I have done this. The PO have a form to complete so that you can get the tax disc. When you get the car back, you can reclaim the relevant period that was left on the unexpired tax disc that was in the car. I think there is a form for this on the DVLA website.

 

According to the policy, the cover for locks is restricted to £100, so you might find yourself having to contribute. Seems a pretty low amount, if the car was stolen and could be targeted again.

[spacehead]

Just a quick supplementary question to this thread. Where there is HP outstanding on a stolen car, who does the insurance company negotiate valuations with? Do they have to get agreement from me and the HP company?

[buzby]

No - they'll deal directly with the owner, not the hirer.

[Mwynci]

A lot will depend on the HP company involved, what type of agreement etc.

The contract of insurance is between you and the insurers, so really it should be you their negotiating with. find out if you have GAP cover, if so have a word with them, as they will have an idea of the book price.

Admiral will always go in low, contrary to belief lots of insurers give a reasonable offer straight away, but not these guys.

[spacehead]

Well I have just spoken to insurer today. As far as they are concerned, the valuation is a matter between them and the finance company. I have challenged this and asked who is looking after my interests? Call me cynical but as long as the finance co's liability is settled, what do they care if the offer is light by a couple of thousand.

 

Am awaiting the outcome of their discussions later today but would appreciate any advice here. What if I don't agree with the valuation but the finance co agrees to the figure?

[buzby]

The only way to resolve trhis is to have your OWN loss adjuster asess the vehicle. His figure would be disclosed to you, and you could then decide whether to pass this on to the Insurer. If there's around a £500+ difference, you;ve got room to negotiate and complain if they do not agree to compromise. If under this, they'll probably not be interested in modifying it. The cost of the asessor would have to be paid by you, usually around £120-£150 plus VAT.