Insurance valuation help sought

timdownieuk

timdownieuk

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Our van got nicked last month and our insurance company is about to contact us regarding the value of our van. It would be helpful to have a few estimates of our van's worth as there may be a bit of negotiation involved.

It was a 2009 Hobby Siesta exclusive T600. Mileage between 40 & 50,000 miles (can't remember at the moment) with a fitted cycle rack and solar panel (+ extra leisure battery). In good condition. Had one estimate here previously of about £28K.


Something I'm not sure about though is whether we'll be getting a trade-in/private sale price or cost to replace with equivalent. Anyone know how these things work?
 
It’s to put you back in the position you started from (in theory).

Gather as many near similar examples as you can and then be prepared to argue their offer up if it’s silly low.

Jim
 
Make sure the examples are the same as the van you had stolen, a few years ago I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee wrote off in an accident. When the loss adjuster spoke to me reference it's value it was a lot lower than I expected, the reason was mine had a manual gearbox, very rare for a Jeep, he was valuing it comparing auto with manual, when I explained this to him he went away and did some more research, when he came back to me the offer had risen by over £2k.
 
Strange. I am asked what the value is when I look for cover. I had imagined that they would tell me what it's worth if I was to lose or write it off (which would be less than I quoted). I guess they all work in different ways but their mission is to pay out as little as possible and, as I have only paid in, I'm happy with that.

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When my car was written off I sent a number of adverts for similar cars plus the cost of adding disability adaptation. After a bit of to and fro they settled for what I had expected.
 
Back a couple of years after a knock mine was deemed uneconomic to repair.
It was a lhd bought in France
The guy that came out to assess it at the time rang after around 2wks saying he was having a hard job to value using the usual sites ie:autotrader and the like.
I pointed him in the direction of mobile.de where I had found it and the fact similar vans were there
A day later I had a good offer I accepted. (better than what I had anticipated)
So possibly autotrader etc for a benchmark or as many as you can find?
 
My first husband used to mend cars and had done some welding on a neighbour's car which 5 minutes later was nicked from where he worked. He came knocking on our door because he was insured with Direct Line who'd made him an offer which he didn't know whether to accept. People were telling him not to accept their first offer so he wanted advice. Husband asked How much? - the offer was nearly £1k more than what had been going through husband's mind ! Bite their hand off was his advice.

So - it's not true they always try to get away with less - you need to do your homework however you can using whatever means are available to you and only then should you decide.

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Thanks everyone. I’ve had a browse through Autotrader and have a range of prices to start the bidding with so to speak. ;-)
 
If you can’t get anywhere near what you think the value is appoint a loss assessor, they work for you don’t cost the earth and usually arrive at a reasonable price, many are ex loss adjusters and know the ways of the industry (y)
 
May I recommend getting screenshots of your Auto trader comparisons and emailing them to yourself (to give you a datestamp as it were)? Also collect together photos of your pride N joy. Good luck. We too got a very fair settlement in the end but took em ages to actually pay out though...

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We had a caravan stolen 25 years ago, the offer price was too low to replace like for like , so I told the insurers they needed to provide a replacement caravan of same age and spec

they quickly upped their offer and we took the payout which was now enough to buy again at same level that we had lost 👍
 
If you are not happy with what they offer tell the to buy you the same van,year, miles and condition and deliver it to you.That may well bring them to offer more😁
As a self builder I always get an agreed value for my vans,that way if the agreed value is 20k and it gets nicked/ wrote off they have to pay 20k Simples
Edit David replied as I typed 😉
 
timdownieuk said:
Our van got nicked last month and our insurance company is about to contact us regarding the value of our van. It would be helpful to have a few estimates of our van's worth as there may be a bit of negotiation involved.
Anyone know how these things work?
Click to expand...

I hate to say it, but having recently been on the sharp end of a couple of insurance companies' ''negotiations'' I don't think it much matters what YOU say or think. They will offer you what they see as market value and that's the end of it. People blather on about ''going to the ombudsman'' and all that, but I found it all fruitless. Nevertheless, I wish you all the best and hope for an acceptable outcome for you. Good luck!
 
Mick Kennedy said:
I hate to say it, but having recently been on the sharp end of a couple of insurance companies' ''negotiations'' I don't think it much matters what YOU say or think. They will offer you what they see as market value and that's the end of it. People blather on about ''going to the ombudsman'' and all that, but I found it all fruitless. Nevertheless, I wish you all the best and hope for an acceptable outcome for you. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Perhaps your not a very good negotiator then, I’ve had claims uplifted on a number of occasions by using a loss assessor and on one occasion by writing a very logical letter to the CEO of the company.
 
Well done, mate. Glad someone‘s had a result with the buggers.

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timdownieuk said:
Bit of an update. Got an offer that was only £6000 less than we paid 6 years ago that we felt was fair. Happy to accept it.
Click to expand...

A very good result if you are happy and you feel the offer covers all the extras you have put on the van.

I would probably have accepted that offer as fair as well :)
 
dabhand said:
If you can’t get anywhere near what you think the value is appoint a loss assessor, they work for you don’t cost the earth and usually arrive at a reasonable price, many are ex loss adjusters and know the ways of the industry (y)
Click to expand...
Definitely take dabhands advice as a loss adjuster acting for you knows all the obligations on the insurance company ..negotiate on your behalf and actually pay for themselves many times over
 

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