Christian Figenschou
When the conversation turns to insurance companies, most people just roll their eyes. The general attitude seems to be that insurance is a necessary evil, for which you must pay excessively high premiums, but don’t ever expect to recover your full loss, especially if your car is older than five years.
However, in my experience, one can persuade insurers to pay up the full value of your loss. But first one must understand how insurance companies work.
The clerk who processes your claim will work according to a standard formula when calculating what the company will pay you. Since these formulae are based on averages, many people feel they are offered less than their due.
But you don’t have to accept the first offer and, in my experience, if you properly justify your counterclaim, insurance companies are happy to pay up. You just need to understand that they are audited, and if they pay out more than the formula states, they need to show good cause.
So how do you back up your claim for a higher pay-out?
The first thing, and this is especially true for people who drive cars more than five years old, particularly if they are in better than average condition, is to get a regular independent valuation of your vehicle.
A good place to get a valuation is from the franchised dealer who maintains your car. Get a new valuation every time your car goes in for regular maintenance.
When insurers have to decide the value of a car, they usually turn to “The Book” – the valuation tables published by Mead & McGrouther. These tables give a valuation range based on the make, model and age of the vehicle. The valuations are necessarily based on averages.
If your car is in better than average condition, this independent valuation will help you prove that to your insurer.
Ensure the valuator includes anything that adds value to the vehicle. You can back up the valuation with photographs that show the car’s good condition.
This is particularly useful if your car is stolen. If the car is crashed, at least the insurance assessors can judge the condition of the undamaged parts. But if the car is no longer around, you will need some other proof of its condition.
Another trend that affects insurance pay- outs is the escalating cost of repairs. Because spare parts prices have increased so steeply in the past few years, insurers are far more inclined to simply write a car off than to repair it. Most people would be happy with this, but if your older car is in especially good nick you may struggle to find another in similar condition, and buying a new car will obviously cost you a lot more. In a case like this it is in your interest to prove the highest possible value for your car.
If your car has been written off or stolen and you are unhappy with the pay-out offer, another trick is to collect advertisements for similar vehicles being offered for sale in the price range you think your car was worth. This will show the insurer that what you are asking is not unreasonable.
Also useful is your car’s maintenance record. For a car to remain in excellent condition, it needs to be regularly maintained. If you can show that your car was well maintained, that will tend to back up your claim that it was in excellent condition.
Show your insurer receipts for big-ticket items like engine or transmission rebuilds, and don’t neglect invoices for new tyres or any other items that imply that the car is lovingly maintained, such as paint and upholstery protection and valet services.
If you back up your claim with this kind of evidence, you will probably find your insurer is only too happy to pay you out the higher value. On the four occasions I have had to claim (three against a third party’s insurer) I have always recovered the full value of my loss after rejecting the company’s original offer. Once they saw the evidence to back up my claim, they always paid out the higher figure with a smile.
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