Pidea

Evening all !

Just before Christmas my '02 WRX STi Type UK was stolen and hasn't been found despite having a tracker on it.

My insurance company have offered me £3,700 minus my XS for it which is insulting ! The car was unmodified and very good condition with recently refurbished alloys, good tyres, an almost full service history and had done 93,000 miles.

The day it was stolen I started looking on eBay, Autotrader, PistonHeads etc printing out details of cars to use as evidence in the inevitable battle with the insurance company so I've got lots of evidence but most of the cars are imports and/or heavily modified.

The three that are relatively standard (apart from the fact that they have the PPP fitted) are all around £5,800 to £6,500. The PPP only seems to add about £200 to the value of a used car.

The insurance company refuse to increase their offer as they apparently can't offer more than the Glasses Guide price (£3,700) which I've pointed out to them is way off the actual cost of replacement - privately they agree that there is a big difference.

Since my policy states that the car is insured to market value and they define market value as "the cost to replace the car with a similar make, model, condition and mileage" I'm stuck.

They've suggested that I go to the Insurance Industry Ombudsman which I fully intend to do but does anyone have any experience of proving the value of a car with them ?

The guidance provided here:

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.u...rinsurance.htm

doesn't look too promising:

"increasingly - to prices quoted on internet sites. Generally we place little weight on such evidence. Advertised prices for cars are widely understood to be a starting point for negotiation, rather than a fixed price. And the information provided is often insufficient to ensure a like-for-like comparison of age, condition and mileage."

What have other peoples experiences been ? Am I likely to get more for my car ?

Thanks in advance !

scoobyman1984

not a car but similar situation, my dad had a big accident on his Harley Davidson softail, not his fault i hasten to add, he got an offer from his insurers, but it wouldnt buy the replacement because it was below what he paid for the bike in the first place, but the price of that particular model of bike had actually increased in the time he had had the bike so policy was useless in effect.

he spoke with his insurers, carole nash, and they asked him to provide proof of the price to replace the bike from various sources, main dealers, private etc etc, which he did, they ended up paying him out £1500 more than he paid for the bike based on that proof.

in my experience, insurers are very wary of being referred to insurance ombudsman so im surprised they have advised you of contacting them, but the trick is never to give up in the fight, because eventually, they get pissed off with the hassle and just settle, i work in insurance and have seen this on many occasions, just make everything as difficult and time consuming for them that they get pissed off and hopefully they will settle for a higher amount for you.

jay-sti

iTrader: (2)

I had a similar situation with a previous car that I crashed and wrote off , I was offered around £2000 less than a replacement would cost me , I turned it around on them and asked them to source me a like for like replacement for the money they had offered me , after many phone calls and a written letter of complaint the buckled and paid up , not the full £6k I was after but only a couple of hundred less

Keep at it and take it as far as you can and don't back done

deanb1980

get 3 different adverts in about a 50 mile radius must be exact the same vehicle you had even down to the colour and mileage must be the same or more than yours (this will help).

take the average price of the three and put that to the ombudsmen

he will see that you have been fair in your valuation as it proves impossible to buy a wrx for that money let alone a sti.

just a side thought they have valued it as a wrx sti not a wrx have they ?

Moley

iTrader: (9)

This is very good advice

Pidea

Thanks for that guys - I feel a little more positive now. Although I have to say that there are surprisingly few 02 WRX STi about that haven't been modified. The nearest to me that's for sale is about 100 miles away and they've all got lower mileage ....

They assure me that they've valued it as an STi. Even Glasses Guide values it at £4,230. My complaint is that the Glasses Guide price is flawed. I'll call them tomorrow to see how they arrived at that figure.

Phil

deanb1980

glass's guide is exactly what it says its a guide now the wrong thing about some insurance companies is that they use it as the bible which is wrong especially when dealing with our sort of cars where they are worth a lot more than any guide book due to there heritage and popularity

dont be worried about the ombudsmen they are impartial and look at facts not guides.

do your home work get the adverts ready for the person dealing with it and you will be fine

heres 1

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifie...xperiment=true

its in scotland and slightly modified but price is about right as the mods on a car dont meen a lot in value anyway

Pidea

I know Dean, I argued that the word 'guide' in the title was a clue that the prices were not fixed but sadly Hastings Direct didn't see it that way.

I've got details of 28 cars but only 3 are unmodified. I'm reluctant to included modified cars because surely some mods will add to the value whilst others won't (and may even reduce it) and I've got to assume that the person dealing with it won't have a clue.

deanb1980

most insurance companies look at auto trader,pistonheads and ebay to see what the real value is and what there selling for as some cars might be expensive on glass's guide compared to what there selling for like rovers.

i think £4500 is probably a fair price as anymore your into blob eye money

Pidea

Tried that already .... but Hastings won't budge.

Made me laugh when the guy said, "that's a prestige car. We don't insure those".

Me: "No, well why did you take my f*cking premium for 3 years then ?"

Him: ........ erm .... erm ....

deanb1980

you have to remember people in the claims dept usually have no experience with cars what so ever they are told how to value them and thats it there generally call centre workers

even direct line the most tightest insurance company i have worked with would pay you market value or find you a replacement hastings have gone down hill they used to be a great insurance company note to self never use hastings

Pidea

I'd never recommend Hastings Direct either .... they've been a PITA over this !

deanb1980

stick to it though stand your ground speak to the ombudsmen and be realistic with how much you want

remember the ombudsmen looks at the facts get your facts ready and correct

how much do you think its worth ?

Pidea

I'd have thought £5k to £5.5k.

I'd just got the alloys done, it had Subaru history + local garage history, no modifications, nearly new tyres all round, just one small dent above door about the size of a 10p I was going to get pushed out. Paint was good, few chips here and there but no peeling lacquer or anything.

deanb1980

my honest opinion now im an ata vehicle damage assessor so valuation is a big part of my job.

dont take this the wrong way but i think your asking a little too much £4.5k - £4.8k is more realistic

there are a few blob sti ppp for £5.9k with around 70k and there 53 plates

tyres add no value neither does wheel refurbs or partial dealer history.

but stone chips and the odd small dent doesnt detract from the value either.

so overall between 4.5k - 4.8k is a fair price much better than what you have been offered but not quite what you want.

Pidea

Thanks Dean, that's useful and no, I'm not offended ! I'll try to push them to £5k. The trouble seems to be that there are so few unmodified STi around to compare the prices with.

Still, tomorrow is another day and I'll fight them. I don't give up easily ...

deanb1980

thats the way to be stick to it tell them to buy you one tell them you wont accept there offer and they should buy you a replacement or phone the ombudsmen tomorrow and talk to them i agree it is hard to find a standard one especially bug eyes as they weren't a favourite to start off with so a lot of people changed them now there quite popular due to price .

oh and a tracker isnt really needed on something like yours it costs you more to have it then your insurance would go up if you didnt have one.

have you bought something else or are you car-less .

Pidea

I'll try and talk to them again tomorrow to advise that they buy me a replacement but I suspect I'll get the same response. Will talk to ombudsman too.

Tracker came with car but police didn't get around to telling me that my car had been stolen for 6 hours by which time it had gone to sleep. As it hasn't woken up, the cars not reported its location for a month ...

Currently borrowing my mothers car but will need to replace mine at some point. Would love another Scooby but maybe a WRX wagon to get the dogs in but not an STi as they only came in on imports and are rarer than hens teeth.

Wife thinks I ought to get something 'sensible' ....

deanb1980

dont get something sensible as that means boring and boring can still get stolen off your drive

yep the bug sti wagons are jdm you will get a nice blob wrx wagon for around 4k the only issue i had when had mine was the 5 speed box it makes the car heavy on fuel i get better fuel economy from my sti ppp than i did with my wrx blob wagon

Pidea

That's good to know Dean thanks.

May just got a WRX wagon rather than an STi as a compromise. When/if business picks up again may then upgrade ....

Cheers

Fudgey

iTrader: (1)

Refer to the other insurance thread about all insurance companies being robbing c*nts and doing everything they can to avoid paying out!

See what i mean moley?????

Insurance is one big ****ing joke!

Doesnt matter if you have an agreed value either. Well it didnt in my case much!

deanb1980

nope agreed value only matters on classic cars really the rest you get market value or book price which is shocking a 2005 sti blob according to glass's is 5700 with 80k lol

Fudgey

iTrader: (1)

Well, mine was a heavily modified b reg sierra, had £35k in the car and the most i could get agreed was 10k as it wasnt a cosworth.

After 10 months of fighting for a payout i got £7800 back...

C*nts. All of them.

Fudgey

iTrader: (1)

Oh and the funniest thing was because i had 6 months left on the policy i bought a ford puma as a run around. It cost more to insure than the 400 bhp sierra as they suspended my ncb even tho i shunted hard from the rear! So not my fault...

I ended up having to cough up extra as id have lost even more if i had cancelled