Citroen C8 - Low insurance offer - valued at twice the price

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Mon 13 May 2013 21:01
Citroen C8 - Low insurance offer - valued at twice the price - Sybaris

A couple of months ago we unfortunately had our Citroen C8 (53 plate) written off whilst on holiday in Holland. Completely no fault on our part - driver turned into our lane and hit us head on.

My father-in-law is Dutch and has been in regular contact with the Garage who hauled in the wreck (its a small village...) . Anyway, he spoke to the independent valuer that was sent out by our insurer, and was told that they had valued the car at 7500 Euros(roughly £6400).

The insurace company contacted us today and made an offer of £3120 for the vehicle - less than half of what their independent valuer had valued it at. When we mentioned that we knew the valuation price was much more, it was ah - but thats the Dutch price, not the English price. They said they had looked at the trade journals here and that is what it was worth in the UK.

In the meantime, we have bought a replacement vehicle. After much looking around, we settled on a peugeot 807 (05 plate), so an identical car but with a different badge. It is a year younger than the one that was written off, not as tidy inside and out, but pretty much equivalent other than that. We paid £5000 for it. So if we accept our insurers offer, we feel that we will be left substantially out of pocket.

So who's valuation is correct? Can I demand more based on the independent Dutch valuation or are the insurance company correct in saying it doesnt count? I dont really understand why they should care in any case - arent they meant to be fighting our corner and claiming all this from the other party's (dutch) insurance company?

Any assistance on this appreciated. =)

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Mon 13 May 2013 21:20
Citroen C8 - Low insurance offer - valued at twice the price - dacouch

A ten year old Citroen C8 would not be would over £6k in the UK unless it had £3k in cash left on the back seat!

Have a read of this link from the Ombudsman which explains how your Insurer should deal with the valuation and will give you some tips.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html

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Mon 13 May 2013 21:53
Citroen C8 - Low insurance offer - valued at twice the price - RT

The Dutch valuation is irrelevant - their second-hand market operates totally independently of ours as indeed does their new car pricing.

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Mon 13 May 2013 22:04
Citroen C8 - Low insurance offer - valued at twice the price - Sybaris

Thanks for the link, dacouch. I'll have a trawl through

I appreciate that the Dutch valuation is a little bold, but trying to find a similar decent car under 4k was impossible - the ones we looked at under this price had something very wrong with them - ropey engine, interior shot to bits, or something falling off.

I just want a fair price for it which doesnt leave me out of pocket.

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Tue 14 May 2013 11:47
Citroen C8 - Low insurance offer - valued at twice the price - TeeCee

There's a huge tax levied on new cars here in NL, so the new prices are significantly higher than you would pay in the UK. If it's a diesel there's a super tax applicable there, so the price distortion is even higher.

The inflated prices also push up the secondhand market until the car is about ten years old, when the tax is considered to be fully depreciated as an import of that age would no longer be subject to tax.

As it's a UK car and never had that inflated price in the first place, claiming the Dutch valuation would be insurance fraud.

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Mon 13 May 2013 22:05
Citroen C8 - Low insurance offer - valued at twice the price - tony g
( The insurace company contacted us today and made an offer of £3120 for the vehicle .)

Lots of c8 available on autotrader for less than £3000 ,take the money .

The insurance company is only obliged to put you back into the position you were in before the accident .
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Tue 14 May 2013 07:26
Citroen C8 - Low insurance offer - valued at twice the price - Brit_in_Germany

Are you dealing with your insurance co. or the dutch one? If you were to approach the dutch one directly, there might be the chance of getting the dutch valuation.

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