Absolutely correct. You have to watch Insurance companies when you renew. If you have an Agreed Value they often reduce this each year(sometimes more than is reasonable)- its usually tucked away in small print in the renewal invoice. Its up to you to renegotiate this figure each year or face exactly this problem.
tigra,
Jan 30, 2:23pm
Incidentally there is an Insurance Ombudsman you can take your complaint to.
misssleepalot,
Jan 30, 2:29pm
small claims court dosent work either we got hit by a guy on a sickness benefit living with mummy paying 200 a week board and paying for another crash he caused and damage to a house he caused all our time and we out 1500 for damages he swore on the bible and now we have to wait untill we have proof that he is working or has some assets before we can go back to court.he was well enough to want to have a fight with us
liggy2,
Jan 30, 2:55pm
If you had only insured for $1000 agreed value and it was your fault you would only get that ammount for your vehicle butif the other driver was at fault then they are liable for the damage to your vehicle and you should claim as such and it is their (the insurance co's) duty to claim that from the other party. If they dont agree to that then get a sign and sit outside their door with it in protest. It is amazing how quickly they will come to see it your way - a friend of mine did this outside state in in Masterton a few years ago when he had his car stolen and they did not want to pay out for the agreed value. He got his money in about half an hour.
kazbanz,
Jan 30, 3:17pm
+ NO-- You have utterly missed the point. The OP had decided the value of their car was $1000. Regardless of who pays for it the value was agreed on. Yes indeedy the idiot that hit the OP should pay -but how much really is the question. You say any value regardless - I say the OP stateed the value and should be paid what THEY agreed it was worth.
jsbike,
Jan 30, 3:41pm
Seems to me most of you are saying the OP was stupid to insure the car at all.
While I agree it seems stupid to under insure a car to a point that it will not be enough to buy another car, I feel market value should be paid if its not the OP's insurance policy that is paying out. Im sure that insuring a car for X amount does not equate to it being worth X amount, it simply means it is insured for that amount.
I could see the insurance Co's point ofpaying only insured amount IF
1, it was the OP's fault 2, the guy at fault was UN-insured and the the OP's insurance was paying
nicknock,
Jan 31, 12:00am
A couple of points: 1)Claim entiltlement:When claiming for damages, you have a requirement at law to minimize your loss.So, if your car was worth $1000, then at law that is all you are entitled to recover.You cannot expect the at fault party to pay more to repair your car than it's worth.The Disputes Tribunal will uphold this principle, so DT referral won't meet your demand for a higher payout, 2) Agreed Vehicle Value:should your car we under insured, you will receive an AVV payout based on the insured value, but you can pursue the other party and or their insurer for the difference.
Nicknock
tonyrockyhorror,
Jan 31, 12:13am
Exactly. And if your car is not able to be replaced for $1000 then you need only negotiate the settlement offer by supplying three pre-accident valuations.
Just because the insurance company offered you $1000 doesn't mean that's the end of the matter. Stick up for yourself!
tonyrockyhorror,
Jan 31, 12:15am
I didn't see this at first because it was in that jumbled post.
You shouldn't have involved your insurer if you wanted market value.
neville48,
Jan 31, 2:40am
So why didnt you insure to replace it, you have admitted its under-insured and got caught out, not your fault but thems the breaks. you can still buy a car good and going etc for 1k, you just have to look and wait, they are there.
jenny188,
Jan 31, 3:30am
Most insurance Co's. these days have a reciprocal deal with each other. Accident = % of market share, so rather than do thousands of inter company claims and pay each other they fix their own damage. Know its confusing but if say AMI have 30% of the market , their cars are involved in 30 % of the crashes. Rather than billing 6 different Co's. and all the associated costs they fix the 30% of Vehicles that their premiums cover. If you have chosen the "deemed value of your car to be $1000 and they have agreed, that's all the liability they will accept. Only suggestion is take it to the Insurance Council as a dispute. Good luck
fordcrzy,
Jan 31, 3:56am
while i agree that he was silly for being uninsured the fact is that.
it is the OTHER insurance company that owes this guy.not HIS insurance company. he needs to take the repair quotes to the OTHER insurance company and say "either you pay the repair or you pay the market value to replace a car that i cannot now use." if the OP was uninsured all that would be required is the valuations.so theres no difference here really.
so dont forget that this is between the OP and the other insurance company.
elect70,
Jan 31, 5:39pm
Unfortunately thats how it workscant get anymore than its insured priceregardless of who is at fault, Its insurers discretion to repair or write off .
tazcsv,
Jan 31, 9:49pm
We have been throught the same thing with our Landcruiser which was insured but less than its market value. They wanted to write it offso after 3 days of phone calls and threatning to take all of our insurance away thay came to the party and fixed it. If you havent signed the car over to them you are prob best to not claim at all if you want to keep the car.
panicky,
Feb 1, 10:02pm
I've was involved in an accident that wasn't my fault (I was stationary at a set of lights at the time) and I wasn't insured at all.Should I have got $0 as I had no insurance!I actually ended up getting double what their insurance company initially offered (which incidentally was what I had paid for it).I told them to point me to exactly the same model motorcycle with similar km's for the money they were offering and refused to settle.It did take a month or so but eventually they caved in.
jsbike,
Feb 9, 4:14pm
how did this turn out!
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