What is "market value"?

Soarer

Alright lads and lassies.

Car was written off the other day, and the "independent assessor" has come back with his "fair market value". He came to this figure by finding the cheapest similar car to my own, ringing to find out what yer man will take for it, and that's the figure being offered to me. This figure is around €2k less than the average.

So is the "market value" the cheapest replacement, the market average, or what?

Rightly pissed off at the minute like. :mad:

Anan1

The market value is the cost of buying a car like your old one.

JJJJNR

Reject the offer and get the examples of the correct specs and email it to them, also get on the VRT calculator and put your car through send them all this by email..

There's a great thread stickied above.

jetfiremuck

The insurance companies way of screwing you. Someone hit my mothers 5 year old Yaris in the side only 20k on the clock. Took it to insurance co garage (their approved place). Young lad comes out sucks through teeth and says itll be written off!!!!!!. Car had fresh nct and tax. I called head office and laid into them. Any way long story short they fixed car so Id be prepared to fight.

Dont forget the value of nct,tax, new tyres recent service etc... theese items never get figured in the offer. 2k gets very small after subtracting these items.

Anan1

JJJJNR wrote: »

Reject the offer and get the examples of the correct specs and email it to them

You'll have to explain that?

biko

Indeed, use the VRT calculator as suggested. If it's good enough for the government it's good enough for the insurance companies.

JJJJNR

Anan1 wrote: »

You'll have to explain that?

Get examples of cars similar spec, year, mileage etc, and email it to them. Don't go for the first offer of valuation reject it.

sogood

I went through the same grief years ago with a car, stolen and written off. The insurance offered me peanuts, so I asked them to find me a replacement for the peanuts in question. I supplied them with a bunch of "For Sale" ads, same car/spec etc. which averaged double what they were offering.

Eventually they nudged the offer up, by degrees, until I got a lot nearer to the real market value.

Soarer

Thanks for all the info guys, and apologies for not seeing the stickey!

Unfortunately the VRT page doesn't suit my agenda, and has the car undervalued! Might go to the UK for a replacement!
It's hard to get a direct comparison for my yoke. It's a T-Spirit model Prius with factory sat-nav, bluetooth, voice control, uprated sound system, etc. Can't seem to find a similar spec model for sale.

As for the definition of market value being "buying a car like your old one" what if, like in my case, there isn't one like yours for sale? Or, again like in my case, lower spec ones range in price from €4600 to €8450? And where is this "market"? The cheap car was found in Dublin and I'm in Cork. Am I supposed to travel to Dublin to buy a car, or is my market Cork?

djimi

Simply put, insurance is there to put you back in the position that you were in before the incident. If your car cannot be replaced like for like with the money that they offering you then reject the offer.

In your case it may be harder to prove the cars worth, but if you can find say a lower spec car and bring that to them, and then outline the difficulty you have in finding an equal car. If the closest that you can get is in the UK then so be it; get that price.

whippet

Soarer wrote: »

Unfortunately the VRT page doesn't suit my agenda,

looks like this is the problem right here!!

Most people would value their own car much higher than what it is actually worth. You'll see it all the time. Carzone for instance is a joke at this stage with regards to asking prices.

Soarer

whippet wrote: »

looks like this is the problem right here!!

Most people would value their own car much higher than what it is actually worth. You'll see it all the time. Carzone for instance is a joke at this stage with regards to asking prices.

Normally I'd be giving out about the VRT overpricing things!
And I agree about the carzone thing. But if that's what dealers are asking for, surely that's the market value of things?
But like djimi said, I'm just looking to be put back in the position I was in before the accident. I'm not looking to make anything from it. But I'm being put in the position where my only "choice" is this car up in Dublin. The only similarity with my own is the mileage.
I got an average for all the Priususus for sale and asked for slightly less than that, even though they're all lower specced than my own. Don't think that's unreasonable.