Garage Fire - everything gone

05bernie, Feb 22, 6:01pm
Hi there! Lost my two cars last week in a fire on my home property. I had recently bought a 2006 Honda Civic with only 60k on the clock and is insured for upto 12k with AA.

Never been in this situation before so how does this work? Do the insurance company pay me 12k or do I have to go out and find a car of similar value?

The other car lost in the fire had third party insurance but no fire or theft cover. If I went to a dealer and bought a replacement for the Civic at say 8k, could I use the 4k for another car with the same dealer?

Dumb questions I know but just want a solution to the uninsured car. Thank you for any guidance.

mrfxit, Feb 22, 6:06pm
Only your insurance company can tell you what you need to know.
Each policy can be different between clients.
There are a lot of variations on payout depending on exactly what happened & why plus the exact wording of your policy

nicstab, Feb 22, 6:06pm
Why dont you just ask your insurance company

05bernie, Feb 22, 6:33pm
Hi, I'm still awaiting their decision as the fire investigators haven't yet determined what caused the fire. In the meantime, just thought I'd ask!

tamarillo, Feb 22, 7:11pm
But they can still remind you if you have Agreed value or not. Let's assume not as i think a normal policicy defaults to not.
I assume you said you'd paid 12 and they accepted that. Did you ask them what their book value was?
This being case they only gave to pay you what they think it's worth, since you bought it so recently you'll have a receipt, or record of payment? That will help.
If it was agreed value you'd know as they need evidence of value and it costs more. It's usually only for classics, in my experience at least.

intrade, Feb 22, 7:58pm
i think the answer is only if the insurance pays 12 grand for your civic and the dealer gives you a secound car for free .
also unless you had agreed value you wont get the insurance pay you out the 12 grand they will argue you own this car this long and and and and therefore its way less worth like only 3 grand and then you have to fight and try to proof you cant buy a replacment of the same for 3 grand.
This is just generic answer for you to see what it will be about.

kazbanz, Feb 22, 9:22pm
05 Bernie.
Ok the way it works in the real world is that the insurance company will dream up a figure that is in no way related to what it will cost to replace the vehicle with one of the same age/milage.Normally its thousands less. You are expected to accept that figure and go away "happy" ( unless you have an agreed value policy with the insurance company)
You can get independent pre fire valuations on the car--the insurer never takes the average -they always take to lowest.
in your shoes I would ask the dealer you bought the car from for a pre accident valuation in wrighting. and get that to your insurer

sw20, Jun 2, 7:46pm
Put a claim in and buy what you want with the cheque they write you. If you haven't got agreed value, you may need to fight for what the real replacement value of the car was.