Car undervalued on insurance - my fault!

BrokenSpiral

Hi Everyone,

I made a mistake when I insured my car and put 15,000 on the form instead of 25,000. The car was written off and they are offering me 15,000 for it which means I loose serious money!

Is there anything I can do????
Any and all suggestions welcome!

Anan1

Were you at fault in the accident? If so then no, you only insured the car for up to €15,000 worth of damage. If not then you are due the full value of your car from the other party's insurer.

Barr

Is it private car policy ? they should offer the the Market price of the car regardless of what you put on the proposal ?

partyguinness

I would fight them. Even if you are technically wrong they will baulk at legal proceedings and will settly it. Go to a good solicitor.

January

Barr wrote: »

Is it private car policy ? they should offer the the Market price of the car regardless of what you put on the proposal ?

Incorrect the maximum the insurance company will pay out is what you specified on the proposal form. It's up to you to make sure that it covers what the car is worth. If you have a car that is worth 25,000 and had it insured on the policy for 30,000 the max the insurance company will payout is 25,000.

You get the market value of the car or the insured value of the car, whichever is lower.

Unfortunately, nothing you can do. Be more careful next time.

Barr

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Incorrect the maximum the insurance company will pay out is what you specified on the proposal form. It's up to you to make sure that it covers what the car is worth. If you have a car that is worth 25,000 and had it insured on the policy for 30,000 the max the insurance company will payout is 25,000.

You get the market value of the car or the insured value of the car, whichever is lower.

Unfortunately, nothing you can do. Be more careful next time.

I know hibernian dont operate on this policy - they dont even ask for your car value any more. Their premium has no correlation with the value of the car so what you put in the proposal is effectively redundant

junior cert business tells you to make sure to ensure at full price and no point going over it..


was it an online application or by hand? cause that's a ridiculous mistake to make.

return guide

Deleted User wrote: »

that's a ridiculous mistake to make.

The OP is asking for advice and help, we have all made mistakes.

galwaytt

Anan1 wrote: »

Were you at fault in the accident? If so then no, you only insured the car for up to €15,000 worth of damage. If not then you are due the full value of your car from the other party's insurer.

Not so - if that were true, the corollary would be true: i.e. I want to insure my 1990 Mazda for Eur 25,000. (And hope it gets robbed, btw.......:p)

Unless your policy is a specific 'agreed value' policy, you get the market value.

Fight it.

Remember what it says on all those forms?? E. & O.E.

Exactly.

January

Barr wrote: »

I know hibernian dont operate on this policy - they dont even ask for your car value any more. Their premium has no correlation with the value of the car so what you put in the proposal is effectively redundant

Then they just give you the market value of the car you have. Easy isn't it?? If you give them a value and it's lower than the market value you get the lower value.

Farls

Don't accept that offer of 15k and get a solicitor onto the case.

I insured my vehicle for 40k, OMSP was 37k...what did I get offered when it was written off?! 24k!!!....thats another days work tho.

Anan1

galwaytt wrote: »

Not so - if that were true, the corollary would be true: i.e. I want to insure my 1990 Mazda for Eur 25,000. (And hope it gets robbed, btw.......:p)

Unless your policy is a specific 'agreed value' policy, you get the market value.

Fight it.

Remember what it says on all those forms?? E. & O.E.

Exactly.

Nope, it's the lower of the insured and the actual value. It's been stated clearly in every policy i've ever held.

BrokenSpiral

Well I actually did it on the phone, didn't sign anything as I was changing the car on my policy! Never received anything from the insurance company or I would have spotted the figure and changed it!!

I think I am just gonna have to take the hit!

Thanks for all the helpful replies, for the negative one(s), I'm delighted you are infallible and never make mistakes, we're so lucky to have you in our midst!

-Chris-

Did you receive a lower insurance premium due to your lower insured value?

I'd expect that to affect your ability to query this with the insurer...

Seth Brundle

I reckon that because you entered a contract with your insurance company you will legally have to stick to it, and I would bet a million that it contains a specific term that the policy covers up to but not exceeding the amount insured!

Anan1

BrokenSpiral wrote: »

Well I actually did it on the phone, didn't sign anything as I was changing the car on my policy! Never received anything from the insurance company or I would have spotted the figure and changed it!!

They should have sent you your policy details. Do you remember giving a value of €15,000? Those conversations are sometimes (but not always) recorded.

Rich bastard

Get on to them and demand the tape of the discussion. Tell them that you dont recall saying that and if you did it was a mistake. try to find out by other means(website) what the saving for you was from declaring the lower value. If none, then they have no reason to say it was anything but a mistake on your behalf and should pay out. You could also argue that they should have sent confirmation of this policy change to you and also perhaps that they should have the facility to pick up on clear errors in policy particulars. Dont settle for this and keep ringing everyday with a little more of an argument until you piss them off enough.

-Chris-

We need more info. I've never had an insurance policy where they've neglected to send me out a detailed contract of cover.

If you accidentally said €15k instead of €25k, or if you accidentally said Peugeot instead of Porsche, the insurance company will only insure on the information they were given.

OP, can you give us the full details please?

Voodoomelon

Can I ask why you think it's worth €25,000? Is that the price you paid for it? Because chances are, you'll never get what you paid for it anyways.

mikemac

I don't think you've given the model of your car but in this market, it's possible it's worth closer to 15k than 25k anyway....
And your call was recorded for cases like this so there is a copy of it that can be requested. It might take up to a day to get it though

Edit: recording calls is for your protection too. But if you stated 15k on the phone, the insurance company won't second-guess your valuation since it's lower then market value. This looks like an expensive mistake and you can fight it as others suggested but no guarantee it'll work

adrieanne__x wrote: »

Then they just give you the market value of the car you have. Easy isn't it?? If you give them a value and it's lower than the market value you get the lower value.

sums it up realy

galwaytt

Anan1 wrote: »

Nope, it's the lower of the insured and the actual value. It's been stated clearly in every policy i've ever held.

...mmm, I'll have to check the small print on mine, now......

One thing I've often wondered about, tbh, is this: Say Jan 1 you 'insure' your car for 30k, because that's what you paid for it. In 12mths time let's say it has depreciated by 4k. Does your renewal either,

• come down, to reflect the depreciated value, or
• do they send out the renewal with a revised, lower vehicle valuation, or
• do they send out a new proposal to fill out every year, to start from scratch ?

No, they don't.

But technically, you should see the benefit in your renewal, year-on-year, to reflect the falling value of the vehicle. But guess what - surprise, surprise ! - no, they don't that, either !!

Anan1

You're right, they just leave it at the figure you originally gave them. I think the onus is on the insured to inform the insurer of any changes to the value of the car. These days, though, insured value seems to play a very small part in determining the premium - it wouldn't surprise me if the OP's premium would have been exactly the same had they insured their car for €25,000 instead of €15,000.

galwaytt

Anan1 wrote: »

... I think the onus is on the insured to inform the insurer of any changes to the value of the car.

ah yes, the 'ol insurance company have-thy-cake-and-eat-it syndrome...:rolleyes:

These days, though, insured value seems to play a very small part in determining the premium - it wouldn't surprise me if the OP's premium would have been exactly the same had they insured their car for €25,000 instead of €15,000.

True, which possibly leaves the door open for the OP to not give up on this too easy.

January

He'd be wasting his time to chase it... there would have been no difference in the premium for 10k. But the insurance company will stand by what he said and unfortunately because HE gave the value of the car at 15,000 that's all he will get!

galwaytt

where I live, 10k is a lot of money - so time spent on it is not wasted........especially if you prevail.

cashmni1

No harm in trying to persue them alright, but unfortunately, I doubt the OP will be successful.
I had the same arguement with my Ins. company last year re: the value of my car has dropped in the last 12 months, so shouldn't my premimum? - No chance.
The next car I bought, premium shot up.....why.....'cause the value of my car had increased by €10,000. As said before. Cake and eating it - Fu*kers !

Del2005

OP do you mind telling what the car was so that the knowledgeable people here can let you know if your €25k value is correct or if the insurances €15k is? As other posters have said car values have fallen a lot. No point getting into a more then likely difficult fight with the your insurance company if your not going to get the €10k anyway.

slimjimmc

Is this it, possibly?

BrokenSpiral

Result:

Well folks the final result is in, the insurance company only have to value the car at the amount you put down or the OMSP, whichever is lower. That is VALUE, not PAY OUT. By the time they take out your excess, towage, storage, etc it might even be a lot less!

Beware!

whippet

it's a little bit dramatic to say BEWARE in capitals, as was pointed out prior, I did this in Junior Cert business studies.

Also, if you valued a 20k car on your insurance as 10K and did 5K worth of damage your pay out would only be 2.5K as it proportions out the insured value against the market value!

voxpop

just to chime in - with Quinn I change my valuation from 14k to 11k and my premium went down by about 50 euros.
I always thought Id get what I insured it for though - being fully comp - otherwise whats the point of imputing the value.

January

The point of inputting the value is to work out how much much to pay in a claim. As whippet pointed out, if his car had not of been a write off and he just got it fixed he would have only gotten a proportion of the value of the repairer as he had his car underinsured.

It's YOUR responsibilty to know how much YOUR car is worth.

voxpop

ok so if you under insure your car - the insurance company take that figure. However, if you over insure your car they take the OSMP and ignore your figure

is that correct ??

January

Yeah, that's pretty much the way it's always worked.

voxpop

Jeez - the house always wins. What a system. Thanks adrieanne for info, Ive just become a little more cynical

Anan1

voxpop wrote: »

Jeez - the house always wins. What a system. Thanks adrieanne for info, Ive just become a little more cynical

I don't mean this in a bad way, but the system is actually quite fair - you decide how much you want to insure your car for. It's also no secret - it's clearly written on every policy i've ever held. I'm all on for having a go at ins cos where warranted, but this case is quite clearly the OP's own fault.

voxpop

I dont know - if you value your car higher and therefore pay a higher premium. Should you not get the value you insured it for. On the flip side - If you value it low then you pay a smaller premium, you expect it to be covered for that lower amount.

galwaytt

voxpop wrote: »

just to chime in - with Quinn I change my valuation from 14k to 11k and my premium went down by about 50 euros.
I always thought Id get what I insured it for though - being fully comp - otherwise whats the point of imputing the value.

curious - we changed from an 04 RX4 1.9D value Eur 15k to a new Galaxy 1.8Tdci 1.8 value Eur 37k and.............insurance went down. When queried, they said the biggest factor was engine size, not value.

100cc ???

No, I don't get it either.........

daveharnett

BrokenSpiral wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

I made a mistake when I insured my car and put 15,000 on the form instead of 25,000.

BrokenSpiral wrote: »

Well I actually did it on the phone, didn't sign anything as I was changing the car on my policy! Never received anything from the insurance company or I would have spotted the figure and changed it!!

Hang on, there's a big difference between those two statements!
Do you actually remember telling them it was worth 15,000, or are you taking their word for it?

Sounds like it could very easily be a typo.

whippet

voxpop wrote: »

I dont know - if you value your car higher and therefore pay a higher premium. Should you not get the value you insured it for. On the flip side - If you value it low then you pay a smaller premium, you expect it to be covered for that lower amount.

actually that wouldn't be fair what so ever.

You have a 99 corolla worth 3K, tell the insurance company that it is worth 100K, they charge a few euro extra for the insurance, you write the corolla off claim 100K, buy another corolla, plus pay half your mortage off.

Do the same again, your premium goes up by a few hundred euro, write the next corolla off, buy another one .. this time get your self a nice apartment in Bulgaria with a few quid to put away due to the current ecomomic climate.

In essence, insurance companies are not their for the insured to make a profit from, they are their to reinstate the insured to the position prior to the claim (in theory) subject to the max value declared on the insurance policy.

voxpop

whippet wrote: »

actually that wouldn't be fair what so ever.

You have a 99 corolla worth 3K, tell the insurance company that it is worth 100K, they charge a few euro extra for the insurance, you write the corolla off claim 100K, buy another corolla, plus pay half your mortage off.

Do the same again, your premium goes up by a few hundred euro, write the next corolla off, buy another one .. this time get your self a nice apartment in Bulgaria with a few quid to put away due to the current ecomomic climate.

In essence, insurance companies are not their for the insured to make a profit from, they are their to reinstate the insured to the position prior to the claim (in theory) subject to the max value declared on the insurance policy.

Well, my point was predicated on the insurance company actually charging a large premium if you are insuring a car for 100k, not just a few euros more - also what you are getting into here is insurance fraud. Nothing to stop me buying a nice merc with a known dodgy engine for cheap, crashing it, claim the OSMP, buy my corolla and pocket the rest.

Anan1

voxpop wrote: »

Well, my point was predicated on the insurance company actually charging a large premium if you are insuring a car for 100k, not just a few euros more - also what you are getting into here is insurance fraud. Nothing to stop me buying a nice merc with a known dodgy engine for cheap, crashing it, claim the OSMP, buy my corolla and pocket the rest.

A basic tenet of insurance is that you not profit from the event against which you are insured. The extent to which you wish to insure yourself against loss is up to you. This is why you are covered up to whichever is the lower of the OMSP and the value for which you choose to insure the car.

voxpop

I know what you mean, I suppose its more an issue of transparency.

As I said it seem to me like the insurance companies suggest that you are insuring for a certain value when in fact, this may or may not be the case and in my situation, I was being charged more for no extra cover (the premium when up with the higher value).

Anan1

I suppose the moral of this whole thread is always read your policy.

whippet

Anan1 wrote: »

I suppose the moral of this whole thread is always read your policy.

or listen in junior cert business studies class

jimmycrackcorm

One of the common complaints with insurance claims is that they will put a value on the claim when in fact you cannot get an equivalent replacement. For example - You have an old car that you spent €2k on, it's reliable and gets you from A to B. However you make a claim for a write-off and they say the market value is only €500. Chances are you won't get from A to B with that.

That Girl..

They're supposed to give you the value of the car..

When they ask you the value it doesn't necessarily mean they will pay out that amount.. If you insure a car for the value of 30,000 and you stay with the same company for years it's probly still gonna be valued at 30,000 on their computers but they'll just pay out the value of the car at the time so they are in the wrong..