Insurance

[Gremlin]

The insurance company have informed me today that they class my car as a write off. This is totally ridiculous. When I took my insurance out with the broker A plan I sat for an hour explaining the type of insurance I wanted due to my car having virtually been rebuilt.
I listed every modification I’d made even down to the steering wheel and paint,I told them I had every receipt to prove the money I’d spent restoring it.
they asked me what I valued the car at and said that if I had the proof in receipt form that was an ok value and should anything happen they would replace like for like.
I have been paying a higher premium for this type of insurance only to find that it’s not worth the paper its written on.
I have now cancelled the claim and will repair the car myself so she will return.
why have written this well it’s to say be very sure what you are sold by insurance brokers especially if it’s A plan at Thatcham and even more so if they say the will put you with A W G as underwriting it. I am now going to take this up with the ombudsman because I feel that I was miss sold and mislead to what I’d actually got In the way of insuranc.

 

[andyglym]

The insurance company have informed me today that they class my car as a write off. This is totally ridiculous. When I took my insurance out with the broker A plan I sat for an hour explaining the type of insurance I wanted due to my car having virtually been rebuilt.
I listed every modification I’d made even down to the steering wheel and paint,I told them I had every receipt to prove the money I’d spent restoring it.
they asked me what I valued the car at and said that if I had the proof in receipt form that was an ok value and should anything happen they would replace like for like.
I have been paying a higher premium for this type of insurance only to find that it’s not worth the paper its written on.
I have now cancelled the claim and will repair the car myself so she will return.
why have written this well it’s to say be very sure what you are sold by insurance brokers especially if it’s A plan at Thatcham and even more so if they say the will put you with A W G as underwriting it. I am now going to take this up with the ombudsman because I feel that I was miss sold and mislead to what I’d actually got In the way of insuranc.

Ouch, that's not good mate. Food for thought.

 

[Gremlin]

Ouch, that's not good mate. Food for thought.

I won’t tell you the amount they insulted me with if I’d gone ahead with the claim. They said I could buy it back for a thousand I told them to stuff it I’d pay my own repairs.

 

[mwpe]

With our cars I think it is worthwhile getting an an agreed value with a valuation, either from the car club or the broker. I find that A Plan are good with coming up with a good initial premium but not so good after.

 

[AleNod]

Ouch. Thats not good, I dont like reading experiences like this. I do work in Insurance, albeit not motor.

Do go to the Ombudsman. It doesnt cost you anything, he does listen to individual circumstances and can make decisions wide of the small print if necessary. I'm not saying he will, but he can, and Insurers do follow his rulings.

Good luck, and if you need an ear . . .

And agree above, when cars reach a certain age (ahem - old - and I really like the 'oldies'), it does need to be an Agreed Value Policy.

 

[Z Victor 1]

'Rip off Britain' !

 

[Nodzed]

This is why I have never bothered with agreed valuations for my M. I have read hundreds of incidents over the last few years of insurance companies welching on agreed valuations and other agreements (yes and I know some do get honoured too) when pinch comes to shove. I think unless you are insuring cars at high values, and by that I mean higher than any Zed would be, IMHO just get the cheapest deal you can to be legal and deal with the accident cost if it arises. Just an opinion.

 

[Gremlin]

This is why I have never bothered with agreed valuations for my M. I have read hundreds of incidents over the last few years of insurance companies welching on agreed valuations and other agreements (yes and I know some do get honoured too) when pinch comes to shove. I think unless you are insuring cars at high values, and by that I mean higher than any Zed would be, IMHO just get the cheapest deal you can to be legal and deal with the accident cost if it arises. Just an opinion.

I would totally agree with that and that is what I am going to do. I may as well have just gone on a comparison site and got the cheapest.
But as far as my car and van are insured through A-Plan I’ve told them that I will never deal with them again, so don’t bother with next years quote for renewal because it won’t happen with them.
and I am going to write to the ombudsman about this as I feel as I said earlier that I was miss sold an insurance totally different to what I was led to believe I had. But no doubt they will wriggle out of it.
I personally believe insure companies are the lowest of the low no matter weather car, home, life or what ever, they have you by b*****s.
any way that’s only my personal opinion and each to there own on that.

 

[DrWong]

I've been with A-Plan for three years because they were very competitively priced, appeared well-regarded, and wasn't a comparison site. They seemed a straight-up company - but maybe not based on your experience. I have a market value policy though, as prices for my model Z seemed a reasonable reflection, and it's underwritten by Marker Study. I've considered agreed value before but never actually bought one.

I'm just a bit unclear about what's happened. I get that they're writing the car off - are they refusing to honour the previously agreed Agreed Value, and offering you a much reduced amount instead?

 

[abh29]

I actually think a lot depends on the insurance company. I have been same company for over 25 years , cars house etc ( exeption being boat) and when have claimed —- and I really have hit them— they have been very fair. Last year i had a shower tray brake and damage downstairs ceiling. Loss adjust agreed my claim completely but pointed other if acting for other insurers would have taken it differently

 

[FRANKIE]

The insurance company have informed me today that they class my car as a write off. This is totally ridiculous. When I took my insurance out with the broker A plan I sat for an hour explaining the type of insurance I wanted due to my car having virtually been rebuilt.
I listed every modification I’d made even down to the steering wheel and paint,I told them I had every receipt to prove the money I’d spent restoring it.
they asked me what I valued the car at and said that if I had the proof in receipt form that was an ok value and should anything happen they would replace like for like.
I have been paying a higher premium for this type of insurance only to find that it’s not worth the paper its written on.
I have now cancelled the claim and will repair the car myself so she will return.
why have written this well it’s to say be very sure what you are sold by insurance brokers especially if it’s A plan at Thatcham and even more so if they say the will put you with A W G as underwriting it. I am now going to take this up with the ombudsman because I feel that I was miss sold and mislead to what I’d actually got In the way of insuranc.

Most normal reasonable people like you and I would consider this to be theft by deception. Now if you REALLY want to hear a BS story......listen to this: My wife and I are insured by the same company. A few years back, we bought a car from a Federal Credit Union, which is like a bank. Any cars that they had financed and had the loans defaulted, repossessed the car and resold them. The bank has a lot where they are parked and you can go to inspect them before purchasing them. If the car needs any repair, it is done before placing it up for sale. Some cars have been in minor accidents where they need a bumper or fender and perhaps the owners would rather default on the loan rather than fix them. So these cars are repaired and sold, sometimes at a very good price. I had bought one of these cars and had it for about 4 years and it ran just fine. The next year, I noticed that the insurance company increased the cost of insuring the car by several hundred dollars. I contacted them and asked why the insurance increased. They told me that they researched the car and found that it had been in an accident. I told them that it was in a minor accident before we purchased it, All the repairs were completed before we purchased it. My wife and I have never been in an accident nor have we ever had any traffic tickets of and sort and have a perfectly clean record. They said that the increase had nothing to do with us or our driving record but that THE CAR HAD BEEN IN AN ACCIDENT, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS BEFORE WE OWNED IT. I always knew that you could penalize a person for a bad driving record, but never heard of penalizing a CAR for being in an accident???????????? How many immoral ways can you find to rip off a person????..................Frankie

 

[AleNod]

This is why I have never bothered with agreed valuations for my M. I have read hundreds of incidents over the last few years of insurance companies welching on agreed valuations and other agreements (yes and I know some do get honoured too) when pinch comes to shove. I think unless you are insuring cars at high values, and by that I mean higher than any Zed would be, IMHO just get the cheapest deal you can to be legal and deal with the accident cost if it arises. Just an opinion.

You do make a valid point Nial. Its not really in the spirit of insurance - Insurers are supposed to pay claims. But I do take your point . . .

I think these cars are fantastic value for the amount of fun they provide. You should never spend more repairing an item than the item is worth - thats madness, not just cars. But what happens when we are talking about beautiful Zeds that may be worth infinitley more than their monetary value - which is the real crux of the problem, and what Agreed Value policies are supposed to help solve . . .

But I cant argue with you Nial . . .

 

[Gremlin]

I've been with A-Plan for three years because they were very competitively priced, appeared well-regarded, and wasn't a comparison site. They seemed a straight-up company - but maybe not based on your experience. I have a market value policy though, as prices for my model Z seemed a reasonable reflection, and it's underwritten by Marker Study. I've considered agreed value before but never actually bought one.

I'm just a bit unclear about what's happened. I get that they're writing the car off - are they refusing to honour the previously agreed Agreed Value, and offering you a much reduced amount instead?

Basically yes they are not honouring what I insured the car for, but having said that something else has come to light. when I said to them that they had the list of every modification I had made on the car they said they had no such list.
I will be looking into this a lot more because although I sat down with A-Plan and went through everything and they listed it down.
It would look as if this list of modifications was never passed on to AGW insurance which means as far as they were concerned my car was stock. So I want to now know why I was paying a higher premium for something I didn’t have.
also god forbid I’d killed some one would the insurance company say I was uninsured because the car was modified and they had not been informed. Now that is scary.