GT 550
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TLDR: Prices have raised the value of sum insured for market and agreed value, make sure yours is up to date to mitigate against write-off action in the case of a minor bingle.
Hi folks, given car prices at the moment it might be worth checking what your cars - all of them - are insured for. A friend who's OCD about such things recently found out the hard way that his pristine SV08 HSV Senator was significantly underinsured and this nearly resulted in the car being written off. Said friend was insured for $42k which was max agreed value from the insurer at the time of renewal in 2020, noting agreed value is higher than market value.
In 2021 he's driving home from a workshop with a newly built forged engine - his first drive in 4 months - and gets rear ended in a chain collision involving 4 cars. The driver of the Mito van that started it all was completely uninsured ie not even 3rd party. The damage to the Senator appeared minor in that the boot lid could still be shut and from a distance most people may not even have spotted damage.
The assessment from his trusted long-time panel shop was that the bootlid, beaver panel, rear bar, boot lid, and spare tyre well needed repair or replacement and then obviously the paint needed blending from the rear forward. Total cost $32k. Said friend thinks he's in the clear but the law - in NSW at least - states that if the cost of repair plus the estimated price at salvage auction exceeds the sum insured the insurer may deem the car a total loss. So if 30k repairs plus the value of a salvaged pristine SV08 Senator (a stock LS3 alone is 10k) exceeds 42k (likely) the car probably gets written off. An enquiry to the insurer as to what they deem the current market value to be reveals it's $60k and agreed would stretch to $65k. By some freak of nature the auction value estimate was 10k so the repairs went ahead but many bullets were sweated.
The reverse is also true in the case of 08-12 C63 AMG cars which seem to be gripped by price madness. A good car 12 months ago was lucky to break high $40k but dog eared examples are currently advertised for high $50s. Insurers are only going to mid $40k agreed value. Bear in mind that Mercs are stupidly expensive to repair and a C63 of this vintage has to be assumed to need $20k for mechanical repairs irrespective of the life it's led. Suddenly it's a major liability that's almost certain to be written off in the event of a minor bingle and probably after you just spent the 20k.
And finally there's also the matter of say the 4 year old Mazda 3 grocery getter or work ute in the driveway that's insured at 2020/21 values and gets written off; it might cost a lot more than you think to replace it even with an identical car.
Apologies for the lengthy post, hope this helps someone avoid the pitfall of being underinsured.
Hi folks, given car prices at the moment it might be worth checking what your cars - all of them - are insured for. A friend who's OCD about such things recently found out the hard way that his pristine SV08 HSV Senator was significantly underinsured and this nearly resulted in the car being written off. Said friend was insured for $42k which was max agreed value from the insurer at the time of renewal in 2020, noting agreed value is higher than market value.
In 2021 he's driving home from a workshop with a newly built forged engine - his first drive in 4 months - and gets rear ended in a chain collision involving 4 cars. The driver of the Mito van that started it all was completely uninsured ie not even 3rd party. The damage to the Senator appeared minor in that the boot lid could still be shut and from a distance most people may not even have spotted damage.
The assessment from his trusted long-time panel shop was that the bootlid, beaver panel, rear bar, boot lid, and spare tyre well needed repair or replacement and then obviously the paint needed blending from the rear forward. Total cost $32k. Said friend thinks he's in the clear but the law - in NSW at least - states that if the cost of repair plus the estimated price at salvage auction exceeds the sum insured the insurer may deem the car a total loss. So if 30k repairs plus the value of a salvaged pristine SV08 Senator (a stock LS3 alone is 10k) exceeds 42k (likely) the car probably gets written off. An enquiry to the insurer as to what they deem the current market value to be reveals it's $60k and agreed would stretch to $65k. By some freak of nature the auction value estimate was 10k so the repairs went ahead but many bullets were sweated.
The reverse is also true in the case of 08-12 C63 AMG cars which seem to be gripped by price madness. A good car 12 months ago was lucky to break high $40k but dog eared examples are currently advertised for high $50s. Insurers are only going to mid $40k agreed value. Bear in mind that Mercs are stupidly expensive to repair and a C63 of this vintage has to be assumed to need $20k for mechanical repairs irrespective of the life it's led. Suddenly it's a major liability that's almost certain to be written off in the event of a minor bingle and probably after you just spent the 20k.
And finally there's also the matter of say the 4 year old Mazda 3 grocery getter or work ute in the driveway that's insured at 2020/21 values and gets written off; it might cost a lot more than you think to replace it even with an identical car.
Apologies for the lengthy post, hope this helps someone avoid the pitfall of being underinsured.
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