Advice Please From Seasoned 205 Gti Scene

[Ams 23 1 Cars]

My take on the 'agreed value'. When I wrote off my S2000 they offered something like £12,250 for it. However when I took out the insurance they asked me to give an idea of the car's value, which I indicated was £13,000. If, in a bid to get my premium down I had said £10,000 pounds then I felt it fair that that would be the limit. It wasn't an agreed value policy in the way a classic car policy could be termed, but it was a reasonable counterpoint to them levering the payout down.

 

In defence of trying to get £13,000 I argued that I had paid a premium commensurate with a value of £13,000. In the end I got my money or very close to it IIRC.

 

Hope you get it sorted out as best as possible!! It ain't much fun - I know that much!

 

It's a question that misleads a lot of people. The part where they ask you 'how much is it worth' is not an agreement over value, more so it's an actual/stated value which unfortunately means when it comes to payouts they just go by Glasses guide or similar. A true 'agreed value' policy would involve you sending evidence to back up your value (restoration work, reciepts etc) to the insurer and possibly a report by an assessor/expert of sorts.

 

Financial Ombudsman states:

Confusion can arise where a consumer believes they have an “agreed-value” policy because the proposal form asked them to state the vehicle’s value and/or because the policy schedule shows a value for the vehicle (usually based on the value in the proposal form). In these cases, the policy will usually just be an ordinary "market value" policy. We understand insurers ask about a vehicle’s value for other reasons (for example, to help detect fraud) – but it is not surprising that consumers sometimes think the information is relevant to the claim.

[Projectuno 7]

Well aware of this but the 'real' agreed value, whereby you are required to submit photos of the car, fill in form etc is still at the insurers discretion.

[Bogsye 22]

It's a question that misleads a lot of people. The part where they ask you 'how much is it worth' is not an agreement over value, more so it's an actual/stated value which unfortunately means when it comes to payouts they just go by Glasses guide or similar. A true 'agreed value' policy would involve you sending evidence to back up your value (restoration work, reciepts etc) to the insurer and possibly a report by an assessor/expert of sorts.

 

Financial Ombudsman states:

Confusion can arise where a consumer believes they have an “agreed-value” policy because the proposal form asked them to state the vehicle’s value and/or because the policy schedule shows a value for the vehicle (usually based on the value in the proposal form). In these cases, the policy will usually just be an ordinary "market value" policy. We understand insurers ask about a vehicle’s value for other reasons (for example, to help detect fraud) – but it is not surprising that consumers sometimes think the information is relevant to the claim.

Indeed - it was a bit of a pain doing the documenting all the restoration photos and receipts for the agreed value policy on my A-H Sprite. But, in fairness should the need have arisen to use it, it would have been useful.

 

In my S2000 claim, it boiled down to whether they thought I'd give up without a fight. A poor experience of insurance, but worth the effort.