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I live in the UK.

I am currently in the process of making a car insurance claim for a vehicle that has been written off.

I recently purchased this vehicle that has been written off, the vehicle was purchased for approximately £10 thousand pounds it was in immaculate condition.

I was very fortunate to purchase this vehicle at this price, I have looked everywhere and any similar specification vehicle is around 3 thousand pounds (13K total) more than what I paid for my vehicle.

I would like to know if I am entitled to the market value of the vehicle at what appears to be approximately 13K thousand pounds, or if the insurance company are entitled to pay me the price I brought the vehicle at (or less their 'book value').

Any experience would be welcome in this matter. Many thanks

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  • Are you claiming on your own insurance, or is it a third-party claim against someone else's insurance?
    – GS - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Commented Oct 29, 2018 at 22:25
  • I'm claiming on my own
    – Hevski
    Commented Oct 30, 2018 at 0:01
  • Sadly, what you paid, and what you see cars advertised for, means nothing. The insurance co. has a certain guideline price (who knows how it is determined) and that's what you'll get, and that's it.
    – Fattie
    Commented Oct 30, 2018 at 3:12

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Ultimately the insurance company will make you a settlement based on market value. This will be based on prices quoted in guides like Parker’s etc. and they won’t generally take account of what you paid for the vehicle.

If you are unhappy with the settlement value you can lodge a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman - their guidelines are here: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html and it would also be worth you looking at some of their case studies: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation-case-studies.html

Note that they explicitly say they don’t take into account what cars are being advertised for, as this is often higher than actual selling prices. They also rely on Parker’s and other guides for market value determination. My expectation would be that you would end up with something between the two values you quote.

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  • Thanks so much Vicky, helps explain alot. Really helps me and gives me some more confidence to know where I stand. Again thanks for your time answer this question and thanks for the links to.
    – Hevski
    Commented Oct 29, 2018 at 22:19

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