# Car under-insured



## 5Times (8 Dec 2007)

Hi, I bought a car in april for a lot less than the market value, (cash sale) etc, I made the mistake of insuring the car for what I paid for it and not what it is worth, circa 5k more, should I tell the insurance company.

I'm just thinking of the worst case scenario, where my car gets written off at some stage, and I cant afford to get a replacement that exact the same.

Its an irish car not an import or anything, everything 100%


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## Bgirl (8 Dec 2007)

tell them - it won't affect your premium.


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## Sue Ellen (9 Dec 2007)

Bgirl said:


> tell them - *it won't affect your premium.*



Why not?


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## Ravima (9 Dec 2007)

it WILL affect the premium is your insurer bases the premium on the value of the car. 

It WILL NOT affect the premium is the insurer bases the premium on what they call 'market value'

depends on who you are insured with, but to be sure, you should simply phone up and increase value.


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## Bgirl (9 Dec 2007)

I have never come across an Irish owned operation that uses anything other than the book value - you can't over insure.  It won't affect the premium.


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## bacchus (9 Dec 2007)

The funny thing about car insurance is that insurance companies always ask the owner of the car to come up with an insurance value...... but if there is a clain, this value will be ignored and ins. company will give you their book value minus something!!!


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## Bgirl (9 Dec 2007)

The book value can only be given as one of the principles of insurance is that you can't be in a better position after the claim than you were before it.


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## ang1170 (10 Dec 2007)

The fact of the matter is that the way insurance companies operate, with some minor exceptions (such as some who replace a car less than 12 months old by a new one etc.), you are invariably worse off.

They pay the book value, which does not equal the value you'd have to pay (retail) for an identical car. In other words, what you get from an insurance company will not be sufficient to get you back to an identical situation, which is what most people would assume insurance is all about.


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## michaelm (11 Dec 2007)

I would get them to adjust the amount.  They're unlikely to charge you much if anything however if you write-off the car today they won't give you a penny more than what it is currently insured for.


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## Megan (14 Dec 2007)

I was talking to my Insurance Company today to renew my car policy. I reckoned my car was over valued. The girl told me the value of car doesn't affect your premium unless the car is valued over €75,000. Therefore by reducing my car value won't reduce my premium so it should work the other way as well unless your car is worth over €75,000.


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