Motor Motor Insurance - Betterment clause

Hi all

Had the unfortunate situation where I ended up in a flood in cork following last weeks rain. The car was I thought to be written off but mnow they say it can be repaired and they will replace the bottom section of the engine.

The Insurance cOmpany are saying I will have to pay a betterment element of the costs. about 900. I dont have that kind of money to pay!

Has anyone ever heard of this clause? I have gone through the policy but I dont see it anywhere.

any help please?

I've just checked my policy and see no reference to a betterment clause.What company are you with?

The insurance company are trying to make a case that the car (or the engine) will be better after repair than before the car was flood damaged.

If, for example the engine had 60,000kms before the flood and repairers can only find a brand new engine as a replacement, then your insurer is entitled to recoup the cost ("notional" ?) of the 60,000kms as to not do so would leave you better off. Does that make sense?

All insurers have a "no betterment" condition; it is fundamental to their business. The purpose of insurance is to restore you to the state you were in before accident / flood

Does this have to be explicitly stated in the policy document?

Im with Zurich

@mathepac - I know what betterment is. However, it is not stated on my policy. Therefore should they not be just doing the work and getting it comlpeted. TBH I dont know why it wasnt written off. Everyone I have spoke to incl garage all said it should have been w/o.

vandriver said:

Does this have to be explicitly stated in the policy document?

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Not IME, they tend to do the opposite with certain policies.

For example, comprehensive policies on new cars sometimes include a "new for old" clause in the first year of the car's ownership in the event of a "write-off", whatever way that's interpreted. This is explicit betterment. They'll have done their evaluation stuff and will have insight into the possibility of new cars being written off, so they believe the potential extra cost is worth the extra sales.

In the absence of an explicit betterment clause, then I'd guess that "no betterment" is the default. In other words if your policy doesn't explicitly mention it, you can't / don't have it.

Ned_ie said:

now they say it can be repaired and they will replace the bottom section of the engine.

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Insurance company may be wondering why would bottom section of an engine have to be repaired after flooding?

@ Bacchus - due to the intake of water obviously