Thread: Car Insurance - Write off - payouts - Ever been in an argument with insurer?

Back in 2010 an idiot "driving while texting" ran into my 2004 Hiace van. Thankfully it was relatively slow speed - I was almost stopped and he was doing about 30-40 kph. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt even though none of the air bags deployed but he did total both vehicles.

Aside from almost killing me I was doubly because
a) My vehicle had just been serviced and had a wheel alignment done ($350)
b) I had just filled it with $70 worth of diesel.
c) I lost most of my (very difficult period in which to get time off work) planned week long holiday leave to sort out this crap, eg driving wife to-from her work in city traffic so I can use her vehicle to drive to where my vehicle is located and remove the extras from the vehicle, looking for a replacement vehicle, and eventually re-installing extras back into replacement vehicle.

My van was insured for "market value" which was at the time nominally ~$15k and I though I might have trouble getting that because van was cosmetically not that good - fortunately some of that was masked by the prang.

OTOH it had low miles, and I got a letter from my mechanic that said the vehicle had been regularly serviced by him and was mechanically in well above average shape.
I had also fitted with internal custom rails and racks - commercial value would have to be quite a few hundred bucks worth
I sent all this info to the insurers (SGIO) and waited - it took ages but I was eventually offered $17.5k as a payout which I was really pleased about.

If you want fair value on specialist cars you usually have to go to a specialist insurer. Well, that's been my experience. I currently use Shannons.

I'm not sure what the question is. If you've insured it for an agreed value of 15k then that's what your insurer will pay in the event of total loss. If it's someone elses fault, if you claim through your insurer that's still all they will pay. If it's someone elses fault and you don't use your insurance then you should be able to get fair market value - but you'll have to fight your own battle and in my opinion, and experience, this can be difficult as people have a tendancy to skew the truth even in their own heads once they've had some time after an accident and sometimes won't co-operate or tell the truth and it ends up in court.

Having said that on two occasions when my parter was not at fault in an accident we had her car repaired without using our insurance and the other parties were co-operative.

The safest way is to have it insured for full value but be prepared to pay a LOT more than you are now.

Cheers, Dom

Flip it if you can get over 50K for it and buy something that doesn't have insurance problems. I can't image Shannons not insuring it but getting it insured for what they have ben selling for might take a bit of talking.

If you have insured it for an agreed value of 15k or whatever they are not going to pay you market value be that 5k or 50k if that is what they currently sell for.

If you are not happy with their valuation talk to Shannon’s to see what they will offer you

I apologise. A whole chunk of what I typed was somehow missed....

This...

EDIT: This has now been changed to "Market Value". Market Value is not disclosed but is a blanket statement of......

If you choose to insure your car for market value, we’ll determine the market value of your car right before the claimed incident. We use recognised industry guides to do this, and consider things like its make, model, age, kilometres travelled, accessories and modifications fitted as well as its general condition.

This obviously changes the nature of the question! I look like a complete cretin without it.... apologies!


The problem is this.... the Glasses Guide and their own valuation is $9900. Red book and Reality is ~$56K


This now makes more sense.

In the last two years the family has had two 2009 vehicles written off due to being hit in the rear or side swiped.
Both times we received about $1-2,000 more than what similar vehicles were selling for (ignoring kms). One vehicle had full comprehensive insurance and once contacted we had no problems with the claim.
The other vehicle was third party only, and it took about four weeks or more to settle. The other insurance company I think did not even come and look at the vehicle but relied on images we provided. The last few hundred dollars on their value was us arranging for the vehicle to be sold for parts and scrapping.

That Clubsport is worth at least $45k, my mechanic mate just found one, in a garage, washed it and put two new tyres on it and sold it within 3 days for $53,000.
He uses Shannon’s for insuring all his classic muscle cars,and he has a lot of cars, they give him a good deal apparently.

There is a universal rule, planet wide, for dealing with an insurance company.

"The insurance company is not and never will be your friend."

Just out of interest. Is vehicle insurance obligatory in Oz? I'm ashamed to say that it isn't here in NZ. Because of this, it forces responsible owners to opt for fully comp. insurance (especially those who rely on their vehicle for work/business) often with the additional premium for vehicle hire if it becomes necessary.

There was a report only the other day of an uninsured hoon who wrote-off his own vehicle and the innocent party's NZ$43,000 vehicle. Luckily, the second party had fully comp and was paid out. The insurance company is now reclaiming the cost from the first party at $100 per week.

Despite moves to make insurance obligatory, the Gummint has declined to do so.

Pete

Originally Posted by woodhutt

Just out of interest. Is vehicle insurance obligatory in Oz? I'm ashamed to say that it isn't here in NZ. Because of this, it forces responsible owners to opt for fully comp. insurance (especially those who rely on their vehicle for work/business) often with the additional premium for vehicle hire if it becomes necessary.

There was a report only the other day of an uninsured hoon who wrote-off his own vehicle and the innocent party's NZ$43,000 vehicle. Luckily, the second party had fully comp and was paid out. The insurance company is now reclaiming the cost from the first party at $100 per week.

Despite moves to make insurance obligatory, the Gummint has declined to do so.

Pete

We have mandatory personnel insurance through our CPT Green slip system that covers personal injury but not property or vehicles

My young and dumb son didn’t think he needed insurance when he first started driving and had an at fault accident that did $150,000 damage to the other parties vehicle. The lawyers started the process of hunting him for the money ( he didn’t have a cent to his name)
I let it go for a month or two to let him sweat before I told him that I had taken out insurance on his behalf without his knowledge, gave him the details and they sorted out the claim payment
A lesson learnt

Originally Posted by rrich

There is a universal rule, planet wide, for dealing with an insurance company.

"The insurance company is not and never will be your friend."

After getting a good payout from my insurance company and purchasing a replacement vehicle (valued at $26k), when I got quote from the insurers for the replacement vehicle lucky I was sitting down as it was more than for our $50k 4WD. I then thought they had not applied my "no claim bonus" since the accident that wrote off my van was not my fault. When I queried the quote, no - that was the cost and they were not budging. I then got a quote from RAC and with the membership discount it was far more reasonable and also switched our 4WD insurance to them as well.

Originally Posted by Beardy

We have mandatory personnel insurance through our CPT Green slip system that covers personal injury but not property or vehicles

My young and dumb son didn’t think he needed insurance when he first started driving and had an at fault accident that did $150,000 damage to the other parties vehicle. The lawyers started the process of hunting him for the money ( he didn’t have a cent to his name)
I let it go for a month or two to let him sweat before I told him that I had taken out insurance on his behalf without his knowledge, gave him the details and they sorted out the claim payment
A lesson learnt

Geez he is lucky to have you as a dad.

I would never drive without 3rd party insurance.

In some countries the driver is insured rather than the car. Means you don't have to worry that someone hasn't paid their insurance if you drive their car.

Originally Posted by BobL

After getting a good payout from my insurance company and purchasing a replacement vehicle (valued at $26k), when I got quote from the insurers for the replacement vehicle lucky I was sitting down as it was more than for our $50k 4WD. I then thought they had not applied my "no claim bonus" since the accident that wrote off my van was not my fault. When I queried the quote, no - that was the cost and they were not budging. I then got a quote from RAC and with the membership discount it was far more reasonable and also switched our 4WD insurance to them as well.

Pays to shop around pretty much every year. Often a great deal of variation without much reason that I can see.

There does seem to be a tendency for the companies to gradually jack up the premium each year and you have to jump ship to another company. Does have implications for loyalty bonuses sometimes but often worth it