Motor Insurance company stalling so I'll accept low settlement offer

is there any good reason why they don't check the valuations at quoting stage?

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Insurers don't give valuations as it isn't feasible to do so. Insurers would need images of the vehicle, mileage etc on a regular basis to continually assess its worth. By giving valuations the insurer would also be at risk of being accused of under-insuring.

As the owner of the vehicle, you are asked to put a figure on what the vehicle is worth to you. The majority of people over-estimate the worth of their vehicle, similarly their home contents - based upon what was paid for the goods initially.

Fair play to Windsor. But it does show up the problems with supposedly fully comp. insurance.

I was renewing just the other day, and had a good old argument about the non-availablity of book values at quote stage. The woman pointed out that she doesn't have the book values, but it's clear that this is a concious choice by all insurance companies, .. they could easily have the book values if they so choose.

Corcoran1 seems to suggest above that 'most cars are not making book value'.. so I wonder if it's true that companies will never pay out above the book value, but will pay out less if they think they can....
The book value is a private value, made up and maintained by the insurance companies.. so they should be able to keep it up to date. Is there a single book for everyone?, or does each insurance company maintain it's own?


On the issue of book values at renewal... there is a small problem, easily solved.. and that's the small chance that a car might increase in value over time.. as I say, not very important, as it only applies to certain type of cars, or it may result from a change in VRT, or green taxes etc. But the vast majority of cars are guaranteed to depreciate.So insuring for the maximum book value at renewal should be fine... and if the book value goes up the insurance could increase too, for extra premium...


On the issue of professional valuers.. who have to stand over their valuations in court... if they work for an insurance company they will be instructed to state the lowest value they can stand over in court.. if they were employed by the policy holder then the instructions would be to state the maximum value that could be stood over in court.. these values would be quite different I imagine. .. yet they're produced by the same professional, it's just the instructions that are different.

ACA said:

Insurers don't give valuations as it isn't feasible to do so. Insurers would need images of the vehicle, mileage etc on a regular basis to continually assess its worth. By giving valuations the insurer would also be at risk of being accused of under-insuring.

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Surely they could have a range with say +/- 30% tolerance based on book value - All they have to do is warn people that the value seems out of kilter.

ACA said:

Insurers don't give valuations as it isn't feasible to do so. Insurers would need images of the vehicle, mileage etc on a regular basis to continually assess its worth. By giving valuations the insurer would also be at risk of being accused of under-insuring.

As the owner of the vehicle, you are asked to put a figure on what the vehicle is worth to you. The majority of people over-estimate the worth of their vehicle, similarly their home contents - based upon what was paid for the goods initially.

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This isn't really true... when the car is written off the insurance company don't ask for photos, or other specific info etc... they base the value on a small number of facts, like make and model, mileage etc... all info that they'd have, or could easily get, at quote time. It could be voluntary, you only give the extra info if you want the current book value, and then you indemnify the company against under insuring.

What's the point in the insurance company asking for made-up valuations.. if they have no intention of paying above a certain amount?

It makes them money. Simple as. They love people valuing their cars above that they could ever be worth safe in the knowledge they will only ever have to pay out a fraction of the valuation.

Moral Ethos said:

It makes them money. Simple as. They love people valuing their cars above that they could ever be worth safe in the knowledge they will only ever have to pay out a fraction of the valuation.

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True - but they are missing an option for a competitive edge here - the first guy that does this will be able to undercut his competitors at no cost.

In fairness the valuations on a car has little or no influence on the price of your insurance unless its in excess of €50 - €60k depending on the insurance company. So reducing the value of your €30,000 car to €22,000 in year 2 will not get you a cheaper price.

The reason why a potential policyholder is asked to get their own valuation is because at the end of the day insurance underwriters are not car valuers. As well as that not every '05 Citreon c4(for example) would be the same value. For example one may be badly maintained with 100k kms on the clock and another may be in pristine condition with 30k kms on the clock. That is why its up to an individual to put a realistic market value on to their own car at the time of insuring it(and its up to them to research this)