Should I get agreed value car insurance?

[AlexC1981]

Hi All,

I own a 2004 MX-5, which I recently paid £3000 for welding and £1400 for an underside repaint, seal and cavity wax.

The insurance comparison sites say my car is worth £1500, however prices online vary wildly from £1000 for a rust bucket to £10,000 for a pristine low milage example. My car has 63k miles, so lower than average and is in excellent condition, as well as having a rare beige leather and wood trim interior, wooden steering wheel etc.

MX-5s of this age can look near mint externally, but small bubbles on the sills will usually hide a much bigger problem because the rust starts internally between the double skin of the sills. The sills are structural and must be properly welded to not to fail the MOT. The front chassis rails also rust from the inside out and are an expensive repair that is hard to spot.

What I'm getting at, is that a car that might be described as rust free or low surface rust on an advert will often be much worse that it appears, so you can't go by what the ads say, which makes it very hard to value the car.

Maybe £7k is a reasonable valuation? What are the chances of me getting that from a normal insurance company without an agreed value upfront?

Thanks!

Edited by AlexC1981 on Saturday 19th September 10:56

[The Rotrex Kid]

AlexC1981 said:

Maybe £7k is a reasonable valuation? What are the chances of me getting that from a normal insurance company without an agreed value upfront?

Zero. They will pay as little as possible.

I have agreed value with Adrian Flux, I hope to never need it, but if I do, it's worth the expense/hassle.

[AlexC1981]

Cheers Well that's disappointing. I was under the impression that with supporting evidence the insurers would have to pay a fair valuation. Do you know how much extra the agreed valuation costs you?

[Austin_Metro]

You’d need to read the policy wording for your particular policy. Often there’s a definition of Market Value - it is very unlikely to assist in your circumstances - I’ve seen one that specifically references a guide book value as the indemnity you get.

You will need to get a value agreed.

[The Rotrex Kid]

AlexC1981 said:

Cheers Well that's disappointing. I was under the impression that with supporting evidence the insurers would have to pay a fair valuation. Do you know how much extra the agreed valuation costs you?

Mine is with Trinity Lane through Adrian Flux, I think it's £60 per year. Each year I send photos, mileage, list of mods and any supporting evidence. They tell me what they think it's worth and I try and squeeze a bit more, but at least it's more than the square root of fk all I would get otherwise....

[BertBert]

You will need a policy that specifically offers agreed valuations. And probably an expert to give a value.

Car clubs often have one. It's there an mx5 club? Worth researching there to see experience of others.

[AlexC1981]

I am a member of the owners club, so I'll give their recommended insurer a call on Monday. It's been a long time since I had to pick up the phone to insure a car!

I must admit, I was expecting it to be a lot more expensive than £60, though I suppose the full total between that and the best online comparison price will be greater.

[Pachydermus]

I paid £95 for a valuation this year, valid for 2 years with the insurance company. Can't see the agreed value adding much if anything to the price of the insurance as it was only £275 for an e46 M3.

[davejf]

Go agreed value, don’t think it adds much if anything to the price. I’ve got 3 cars with agreed values myself. Just had a 2006 Z4 written off and got more than I ever would have expected for selling a high mileage car. I’d never expected to get rid but you never know what might happen, it was written off sat on my drive!
Just make sure you check it each year and up the value if needed, start out as high as they will agree to. Go higher and let them come back with a lower figure if they want to but you might be surprised how high they’ll agree based on telling them what you’ve done to it maintenance wise.

[AlexC1981]

I tried a few online. Performance Direct through Allianz will do an agreed valuation of £7000 * (Subject to acceptance - terms and conditions apply) whatever that means, for £299 after adding on national breakdown, legal insurance etc.

The same without the agreed valuation (with Motor Vision, through Allianz again) on a comparison website is £258. £40 uplift seems very reasonable.

davejf said:

Go agreed value, don t think it adds much if anything to the price. I ve got 3 cars with agreed values myself. Just had a 2006 Z4 written off and got more than I ever would have expected for selling a high mileage car. I d never expected to get rid but you never know what might happen, it was written off sat on my drive!
Just make sure you check it each year and up the value if needed, start out as high as they will agree to. Go higher and let them come back with a lower figure if they want to but you might be surprised how high they ll agree based on telling them what you ve done to it maintenance wise.

How did it get written off on your drive? I had a roof tile fall onto a car once. Smashed the windscreen and dented the wing.

Did you get a buy back value?

[AlexC1981]

I just realised I had the wrong date set on the agreed valuation option, I had it starting tomorrow. When you put it back to 12th October, it's only £250, so cheaper than the non-agreed valuation insurance!

[alscar]

BertBert said:

You will need a policy that specifically offers agreed valuations. And probably an expert to give a value.

Car clubs often have one. It's there an mx5 club? Worth researching there to see experience of others.

This seems pretty decent advice.
You will pay more for an agreed value policy usually but that s not the point.
What you are also getting is peace of mind that should the worse happen you won t be arguing over low ball offers.

Edited by alscar on Sunday 20th September 07:20

[Jim H]

Good morning, similar to other replies.
I have agreed valuation insurance on my MK1 Scirocco Storm. Ok it’s not a desirable classic to everyone, however it’s pretty much irreplaceable to me - should the worse happen.

And I’ve spent an absolute fortune on it over my 32 years of ownership.

It usually costs around £130 to insure each year, for a mileage cap at 1 K (I never do). Every two years or so, I have to send off photos to the insurer for their evaluation. It’s not what I’d ideally want (payout), but it’s better than a rough value. And I get a letter stating what we have agreed upon.

[alscar]

Jim H said:

Good morning, similar to other replies.
I have agreed valuation insurance on my MK1 Scirocco Storm. Ok it s not a desirable classic to everyone, however it s pretty much irreplaceable to me - should the worse happen.

And I ve spent an absolute fortune on it over my 32 years of ownership.

It usually costs around £130 to insure each year, for a mileage cap at 1 K (I never do). Every two years or so, I have to send off photos to the insurer for their evaluation. It s not what I d ideally want (payout), but it s better than a rough value. And I get a letter stating what we have agreed upon.

Presumably your actual agreed value is also shown in the policy schedule ?

[Jim H]

alscar said:

Jim H said:

Good morning, similar to other replies.
I have agreed valuation insurance on my MK1 Scirocco Storm. Ok it s not a desirable classic to everyone, however it s pretty much irreplaceable to me - should the worse happen.

And I ve spent an absolute fortune on it over my 32 years of ownership.

It usually costs around £130 to insure each year, for a mileage cap at 1 K (I never do). Every two years or so, I have to send off photos to the insurer for their evaluation. It s not what I d ideally want (payout), but it s better than a rough value. And I get a letter stating what we have agreed upon.

Presumably your actual agreed value is also shown in the policy schedule ?

Yes.

However one thing I’ve never looked into is what would happen to the car, should it become a total loss. Let’s be honest a mild rear end or front shove would make it so.

The car is probably worth a lot In increasingly rare parts.

I’m fairly sure once a payment is made the car belongs to the insurance company.

That is another thing to think about in a total loss scenario. Who keeps what?

[davejf]

AlexC1981 said:

I tried a few online. Performance Direct through Allianz will do an agreed valuation of £7000 * (Subject to acceptance - terms and conditions apply) whatever that means, for £299 after adding on national breakdown, legal insurance etc.

The same without the agreed valuation (with Motor Vision, through Allianz again) on a comparison website is £258. £40 uplift seems very reasonable.

davejf said:

Go agreed value, don t think it adds much if anything to the price. I ve got 3 cars with agreed values myself. Just had a 2006 Z4 written off and got more than I ever would have expected for selling a high mileage car. I d never expected to get rid but you never know what might happen, it was written off sat on my drive!
Just make sure you check it each year and up the value if needed, start out as high as they will agree to. Go higher and let them come back with a lower figure if they want to but you might be surprised how high they ll agree based on telling them what you ve done to it maintenance wise.

How did it get written off on your drive? I had a roof tile fall onto a car once. Smashed the windscreen and dented the wing.

Did you get a buy back value?

A neighbour managed to reverse from a parking space opposite, stopped at the kerb, couldn’t get her Tesla out of reverse and then carried on, up the kerb and over the path, over our garden and into the side on the car.
It could have been worse, had the car not been there it would have gained even more speed and hit the house! Doesn’t bear thinking about!
It bent the chassis a little so with two classics taking the garage space I didn’t have time or indoor space to buy it back and repair it or the inclination despite having owned it for 12 years to buy it back. But I suspect a few grand had I asked based on that damage. It had stated to show its age a bit with rusty wheel arches too so was probably best time for it to go.
It owed me nothing really and had planned on keeping it until a big bill that didn’t make it justified as a second car but then this happened and got half as much again as I could have sold it for.

[alscar]

Jim H said:

Yes.

However one thing I ve never looked into is what would happen to the car, should it become a total loss. Let s be honest a mild rear end or front shove would make it so.

The car is probably worth a lot In increasingly rare parts.

I m fairly sure once a payment is made the car belongs to the insurance company.

That is another thing to think about in a total loss scenario. Who keeps what?

In theory if written off the Insurer will offer the stated amount to you but may also offer to sell you the car and pay then a net amount to you.
The fact it is an agreed value policy shouldn’t mean you are treated differently to just having an ordinary policy.
Obviously I hope this isn’t ever the case but you also need if it does happen to make the request very quickly.
Not very company will agree to this but most will as it makes life slightly easier for them and there may also be something in their t and c.

[markymarkthree]

Having had agreed value on my classic cars for many years. I have always wondered that if the car was a right-off, would i get the "agreed value" of the car automatically. Or would i have a fight on my hands, like you generally do with insurance company's, when making a claim for a written-off daily car.
Has anyone on here actually received the full "agreed value" on a written-off classic ?

[Sticks.]

My 04 Z4 is a low mileage one owner 3l so the value is more than 'book'. I've been insuring it with an agreed value for a few years. I'm sure your club insurer will be OK but you might want to try Chris Knott. I have to supply photos every 2 years. It does count as a classic insurance, so no business use included, not sure about commuting, if you do. https://www.chrisknott.co.uk/

[Jim H]

markymarkthree said:

Having had agreed value on my classic cars for many years. I have always wondered that if the car was a right-off, would i get the "agreed value" of the car automatically. Or would i have a fight on my hands, like you generally do with insurance company's, when making a claim for a written-off daily car.
Has anyone on here actually received the full "agreed value" on a written-off classic ?

In total agreement Mark, it would be useful to know of others experience in this situation.