Serious Words Of Warning Regarding Insurance

[LGK6D]

Hi All,

I thought I'd post this as it might help some of us out. In December some kind sole parallel parked into my RS2, broke the front bumper then drove off and no one saw it happen. With an RS2 front bumper costing so much I decided I'd make a claim through my insurer.

Long story short, after a heated conversation on the phone with them wanting to send the car to a volume repairer using pattern parts, the insurance assessor came to see my car today. He was a really great and it turned out he knew RS2's as his friend has one.

Now here's the warning, he said that the glasses guide which the insurance companies work from currently value an RS2 even in immaculate low mileage pre-accident condition at £2400. The current retail on an RS2 front bumper is £1285 +vat I think (plus paint, fitting etc). If the repair costs 70% or more of the repair the car is considered a total loss. He went on to say that if I binned it they would only pay a maximum of £2400 minus my excess (£600) so I'd end up with £1800. Good luck replacing the car for that! Had I known this, I'd have cancelled my policy and re-insured with an agreed value there and then.

Please for your own sakes, use specialist insurance with agreed values in writing. Do not undervalue your cars. These are the words from the assessor and he's talked himself out of the renewal, which I'm very grateful for!

Good news is, my car is going to my chosen repairer (Porsche specialist who have done other cars for me) and it's having a brand new factory bumper.

Does anyone have any good experience with Adrian Flux, Lancatsers or any others?

[Rusty]

Solid advice. My car was saved by AV following a 5 mph tap on the rear bumper! Although you can prove that the market value of the car is different to the book value, it may not affect the 70% rule above (I was told 60% but that more than likely changes between insurers).

Lucky that you found someone who knew their cars and was willing to do the right thing!

AV wasn't that widely available when I last looked but this time round, I may look again.

[Carl Avant]

Blimey
2,400 ....

I have agreed value of 20k on my RS2 with Flux. I despise Flux with a passion as their customer service and general way they treat you is death defying .... however, I have agreed value with limited mileage and it let's me sleep at night. They also insure my S4 and my Wife's S3. They tried to reverse what they said on the phone when I insured my S4 with them 4 months ago so I went mental, seriously bat **** on the phone - I got keycare and free recovery (it can happen, you can get extract free stuff from them)

Insure with them, but beat them with a stick if they mess you about even one millimetre.

Good luck with the RS2.

[baltiboyS2]

well it is just a fancy audi 80 avant

cheers Raj

[Monkeymagic]

HIC herts insurance consultants were very good for agreed value .

[20Vcqdriver]

Peter James have been excellent for mine for the past 3 years , give them a try

[Dan]

well it is just a fancy audi 80 avant

In the same way that a space shuttle is a fancy glider?

[skyinsurance]

We can offer agreed value in some cases but for those we cannot , we will always support the customer if the car is being undervalued in the event of a claim, with the insurers we use (we are a specialist) this is rare.

Thanks

Ollie
Sky Insurance

Tel: 03303 331250

[europeanme]

thats good to hear Ollie as renewal season!!....

[dm80]

We can offer a greed value

pun not intended one presumes?

[rynaqui]

We can offer a greed value

pun not intended one presumes?

[bilko0795]

Just had a quote from sky £300.18 fully comp not bad me thinks would have to phone for the AV to be set im with admiral multi at the mo, sky is £83 cheaper

[Rusty]

We can offer a greed value in some cases but for those we cannot , we will always support the customer if the car is being undervalued in the event of a claim, with the insurers we use (we are a specialist) this is rare.

Thanks

Ollie
Sky Insurance

Tel: 03303 331250

I had agreed value with you one year and was then told that I could not get it the the following year, as it was not available, and now it's available again... Why is it so difficult to offer it consistently? On cars of this age and rarity, many owners see it as a very important aspect of their insurance for exactly the reasons outlined by the OP and others over the years.

[Duffelcoat]

I have agreed value on my other car an MG ZT, the book value is woeful, but the market value much higher...

I guess book values are always disputable, but agreed values make things simpler, the only potential issue is that some insurers only offer agreed values on classic car policy and those policies dont use a NCB, so unless you have another car to maintain your NCB you could lose it after 2 years and be back to square one...

[skyinsurance]

I had agreed value with you one year and was then told that I could not get it the the following year, as it was not available, and now it's available again... Why is it so difficult to offer it consistently?

Simple answer is, things change fast in our industry, a facility we have today may not be available tomorrow and vica versa.

On cars of this age and rarity, many owners see it as a very important aspect of their insurance for exactly the reasons outlined by the OP and others over the years.

I do appreciate that. I own/owned some rare cars myself which 'book' value would be next to nothing.

Thanks

Ollie
Sky Insurance