Inadequate insurance pay out e46 m3

Inadequate insurance pay out e46 m3

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dunc_sx

Original Poster:

1,608 posts

197 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
quotequote all
I've been offered £7.8k to replace my 2002 E46 M3 coupe manual, 110k miles. The car was without fault (inc. rear subframe which had Redish reinforcement 4 months ago at a cost of £2k).

Looking at adverts I can't find any manual coupe's for anything close to that, I've disputed with my insurance company but they are saying that's the highest amount their system allows for this car.

Where do I stand with this, I think about 9k is more realistic. I'd expect the payout to allow me to replace the car.

Cheers,

Duncan.

kiethton

13,895 posts

180 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
quotequote all
Fault or non-fault claim?

May be worth spending the cash to get an independent valuation report written by somebody like charters: http://www.chartersuk.co.uk/index.html

That gives an independent value which you can take an awful lot further an a number of adverts - you'll likely be able to reclaim the cost from the insurance co. too

Smuler

2,286 posts

139 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
quotequote all
What does your policy booklet say happens in the event of a “total loss.” ?

I would have thought they’d promise to pay market value , in which case good examples of cars like yours and their price are needed.

I’ve not been in this situation . But my expectation and what I have read is the first offer is always low. They’re trying it on.


robinessex

11,057 posts

181 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
quotequote all
I was always under the impression that insurance was supposed to put you in the situation re car ownership, you was in before your loss. However, seems it don’t always work. See here:-

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

I'd challenge them to supply a replacement vehicle to the same condition

hyphen

26,262 posts

90 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
quotequote all
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications...


Take screenshots of auto trader and so on showing nothing under that price, as much evidence as you can find, along with evidence of your cars condition. Then write to them formally including it all.

Tell them you will be taking them to the Ombudsman if they don't treat you fairly.

Then if needed, take them to the Ombudsman and see their verdict (Your insurance company pays costs of Ombudsman so are not keen for it to go that far).

Edited by hyphen on Thursday 22 February 13:50

kiethton

13,895 posts

180 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
quotequote all
hyphen said:
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications...


Take screenshots of auto trader and so on showing nothing under that price, as much evidence as you can find, along with evidence of your cars condition. Then write to them formally including it all.

Tell them you will be taking them to the Ombudsman if they don't treat you fairly.

Then if needed, take them to the Ombudsman and see their verdict (Your insurance company pays costs of Ombudsman so are not keen for it to go that far).

Edited by hyphen on Thursday 22 February 13:50
Didn't work for the guy paid out £1,200 for a late E36 328i Sport a few weeks back - the ombudsman, unless you can prove values, will go with the guides which are hideously inaccurate for specialist cars.

Ozone

3,045 posts

187 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
quotequote all
I know of 2 people who have been in this situation, in both cases they sent copies of the adverts of similar age/mileage/spec cars to the insurance company to prove that their offer was too low and in both cases got a better offer.

I hope you get a better result.

fido

16,796 posts

255 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
quotequote all
kiethton said:
Didn't work for the guy paid out £1,200 for a late E36 328i Sport a few weeks back - the ombudsman, unless you can prove values, will go with the guides which are hideously inaccurate for specialist cars.
I think he got £1305 and the Ombudsman came back with reasons pertaining to said valuation i.e. rusting arches. It's worth a go if you think their offer is below what you would have got for the car prior to accident.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications...

"Most of the complaints we see involve disagreements about the "market" value of the vehicle. This generally means the price it would have sold for at a reputable dealership just before it was damaged or stolen"

Edited by fido on Thursday 22 February 14:23

robinessex

11,057 posts

181 months

Thursday 22nd February 2018
quotequote all
I've already posted the link to this

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Ursicles

1,068 posts

242 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
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Many years ago i challenged a valuation i was given and ended up going to the ombudsman.

They actually gave me more than id paid for the car in the end, and more than i had asked insurance co for as well.

SebringMan

1,773 posts

186 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
IMHO £11k is more like it. If the car is in great nick that bumps the price up.

Irrelevant of spec a good condition E46 M3 is hard to find these days, primarily down to them getting as cheap as they are/were.

As said get some adverts and show them. It even may be worth viewing them as the condition of what people say is often miles away from what people claim.

andyman_2006

723 posts

190 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
I suppose this was bound to start to happen, its a con, insurance should be paying out the 'current market value' and that should be in line with what are for sale...

Given the age of these M3's now, mine is 16 years old, i think its time to look at classic policies, and agreed values for them maybe?

I have this on my Porsche 924s, and Ferrari 348 - which might not be water tight but will be a good starting point especially as i have an agreed value certificate to wave at them (and from the wording in the polices should be whats actually paid out) i also made sure my Jag E-type was well covered just in case - of course you dont know how well it will turn out until you need to put into into action though.

Its sad, but this is typical of insurance companies - keen to take the premium, and increase it year on year, but when you need to claim shaft you. Very bad but no doubt the norm.

Andy

dunc_sx

Original Poster:

1,608 posts

197 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
I appreciate all the advice/links and tales of experience – I’ve got a call with the “engineer” this afternoon who reviewed my dispute. I’ll see how it goes.

Dunc.

e30m3Mark

16,205 posts

173 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
Good luck with it all.

In my experience, they'll always try a low offer, but go back with proof of current market value and you should get a more realistic sum. If you're a BMW Car Club member, the M registrar can do written valuations.

In future, always try and secure an agreed value policy. It makes like much simpler when the worst happens.

Helicopter123

8,831 posts

156 months

Friday 23rd February 2018
quotequote all
dunc_sx said:
I've been offered £7.8k to replace my 2002 E46 M3 coupe manual, 110k miles. The car was without fault (inc. rear subframe which had Redish reinforcement 4 months ago at a cost of £2k).

Looking at adverts I can't find any manual coupe's for anything close to that, I've disputed with my insurance company but they are saying that's the highest amount their system allows for this car.

Where do I stand with this, I think about 9k is more realistic. I'd expect the payout to allow me to replace the car.

Cheers,

Duncan.
Have you got a decent policy or one of the cheap ones off the internet?

disad-vantage-d

815 posts

220 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
My wife's car (not a specialist car) was written off a few weeks ago. The first offer we received was actually better than we anticipated, yet short of what a number of similar age/mileage examples were being advertised at. I spent an hour or so looking for smilar vehicles, copied the links to the adverts (around fifteen) and emailed them to the insurance company. Within 24 hours we got a call with a significantly increased offer which we have accepted.

MOTK

308 posts

134 months

Saturday 24th February 2018
quotequote all
e30m3Mark said:
In future, always try and secure an agreed value policy. It makes like much simpler when the worst happens.
I'm not necessarily sure that's true, depends on the car perhaps? The 968CS I insured was worth considerably more than it's purchase price after I had binned it sadly. There was no agreed value and consequently after their first lowball offer I presented them equivalent vehicles on the market and secured a very satisfactory pay out in the end, it wasn't an arduous process. I suspect that with a car like that at that time an agreed value would need to be constantly updated, I don't really see the point.
This insurer was with one of the "cheap ones off the internet", the onus on them is to provide you with enough money to buy an equivalent vehicle less your excess was my understanding?

e30m3Mark

16,205 posts

173 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
quotequote all
MOTK said:
e30m3Mark said:
In future, always try and secure an agreed value policy. It makes like much simpler when the worst happens.
I'm not necessarily sure that's true, depends on the car perhaps? The 968CS I insured was worth considerably more than it's purchase price after I had binned it sadly. There was no agreed value and consequently after their first lowball offer I presented them equivalent vehicles on the market and secured a very satisfactory pay out in the end, it wasn't an arduous process. I suspect that with a car like that at that time an agreed value would need to be constantly updated, I don't really see the point.
This insurer was with one of the "cheap ones off the internet", the onus on them is to provide you with enough money to buy an equivalent vehicle less your excess was my understanding?
My E30 M3 is insured for £60k and although it'd be expensive to replace and require significant mods to bring a stock E30 up to the spec of my own, I suspect I'd have a bit of a fight on my hands. Current market value for E30 M3 is around £35-40k I think? As it is, all that worry is taken out of the equation. I've updated the value twice in 4 years and by doing it at the renewal there was no hassle or added cost. Whilst you were fortunate enough to receive a satisfactory offer, many (such as the OP) don't and not all will fight their corner.

cat with a hat

1,484 posts

118 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
quotequote all
I've successfully rejected the first offer and used adverts of similar vehicles to demonstrate what would be needed to pay to replace.

At others have said, go off to the classifieds and get several examples of similar cars.

hyphen

26,262 posts

90 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
quotequote all
dunc_sx said:
I appreciate all the advice/links and tales of experience – I’ve got a call with the “engineer” this afternoon who reviewed my dispute. I’ll see how it goes.

Dunc.
How did it go?