What is its market value?

[markeyszoo]

I have spent some hours this week looking at insurance prices for my 2009 is250 SE-L.

When filling in the forms online the various companies tell you what the market value of your car is?, or what they think. They also say that you may not get that much!
None asked the current mileage, 53000, nor about the options, ML, sun roof, facelift, or which drive variant it was.

the lowest valuation was Aviva, £2700, closely followed by others from £3800 to £4100.

Where can I buy a replacement for a 2009 facelift with 53000 miles and all toys for £2700?
What a crock, these companies are bent as a boomerang.

The insurance is due on 18th next month. I was told yesterday on the phone that I could not get a quote because it is more than 50 days away. These guys cannot even count!!!!!

So angry.

[Linas.P]

It is difficult to say what is market value of the car which is over 10 years old.

Generally, speaking when it comes to insurance valuation only two things matters age is the most important, mileage is the second most important.... whenever it has ML, sunroof and actual condition of the car does not matter. Even on Glass the difference between the car in "excellent" vs "poor" condition is like 20%.

The good thing is that the valuation of the car which you see when buying the insurance does not matter at all. If your car would get written-off then the they would hire assessor who would evaluate your car at the time and place. However, to be fair for - you would get rough deal either way - as your mileage is far below average, this means you will never get market value of your car in the case of accident.

Most favourable in case of accident is to have new, lower than average mileage car in terrible condition... and you will get above what car is worth. But if you have old car in excellent condition, especially higher miles one, a lot of optional equipment, then you will get nothing. Having very low mileage car is not great either as the response you will get from insurance is simply "we pay reference market value, not replacing your car like for like".

e.g. when my car got written off I was offered £2850 and when I send them the link from autotrader basically saying - "look... I cannot buy any SE-L, nevermind anything even similar to condition of mine" as at the time cheapest SE-L was £3700 and cheapest black car was like £5500. I am still arguing with the to this day (1.5 years since the accident... and they still haven't increased the value).

Insurance is fraud, we are forced to have it and insurance companies can charge anything they like, so don't expect much... they will rip you off either way. 

My advise - if you get into accident, get yourself claims management company, they will give you most favourable valuation and will claim it directly from TP insurance, whist you will be driving in brand new hired BMW... making your claim £200 more expensive every single day, thus putting pressure on TP insurance company to settle ASAP. Although this won't work if car is deemed un-repairable or if it is your own fault.

[is200 Newbie]

15 hours ago, markeyszoo said:

I have spent some hours this week looking at insurance prices for my 2009 is250 SE-L.

When filling in the forms online the various companies tell you what the market value of your car is?, or what they think. They also say that you may not get that much!
None asked the current mileage, 53000, nor about the options, ML, sun roof, facelift, or which drive variant it was.

the lowest valuation was Aviva, £2700, closely followed by others from £3800 to £4100.

Where can I buy a replacement for a 2009 facelift with 53000 miles and all toys for £2700?
What a crock, these companies are bent as a boomerang.

The insurance is due on 18th next month. I was told yesterday on the phone that I could not get a quote because it is more than 50 days away. These guys cannot even count!!!!!

So angry.

A guide, and i know its a low price they give (only use as a guide before i am shouted at by other members for using this service) but good enough to give you an idea of value, put you car through webuyanycar.com valuation online. It will be lower than what you would get but will give you an idea of value. Thinking of selling mine this year and i done this to get an idea as it is a spotless 2006 but very low miles with sunroof / ML etc and it gave me a guide price. 

[Mr Vlad]

If you look more closely where it states market value you can actually change that as there is an option. When you agree to a quote then contact that insuring company and state clearly you have changed the cars value accordingly to that of a similar car actually for sale. They will do one of two things. Increase the quote or tell you the value generated is the one they'd offer in the event of total loss. 

Don't just use those comparison sites. Go to insurance companies direct.

 

[Brechin Slate]

I always take market value as being what someone is willing to pay for something given a wide choice of options.  As Lexus owners we enjoy and value our cars highly, we have chosen the marque, the model and the trim level and in many cases lavished many hours of care and attention on it, not to mention money for maintenance.  Because of our investment of time and money, our vehicles take on a perceived higher value which is invisible to those looking to buy a vehicle.  If I were in the market for a luxury brand today, I might be considering Lexus, MB, Audi, BMW etc but would not for one minute consider what the car is worth to the seller, I would just be comparing apples with apples and trying to get the best deal I could.  Even recently, I bought a 300h to replace my IS250 and although Lexus was the only brand I was considering, I still wasn't concerned with the reasons why one owner thought his car was worth more than the other UNTIL I came to sell my IS250 then of course mine was the best example of its kind and worth every penny of the inflated asking price.

It's hard to accept that insurance companies do not really consider the true 'value' of our vehicles, to them it's just the price of a piece of metal with a wheel in each corner and their sole driver (no pun intended) is profit.  Profit which of course they make from us, a captive audience who are forced by law to buy their products.

[bernieeccles]

I was always lead to believe that the whole reason for insurance( besides the obvious legal requirement) was to put you back into the position you were before the accident without betterment.

Would you accept having a three bedroom house built when your insured 6 bedroom house got destroyed for whatever reason? Of course not so why should you accept not being able to replace your written off car for another of the same quality and condition?

Insurance companies are indeed a law unto themselves.

[Linas.P]

1 hour ago, bernieeccles said:

Insurance companies are indeed a law unto themselves.

It is literally the case.

They will give "market value", if building 6 bedroom house increased in cost that is not their problem (apparently).

Obviously, you could have insurance with agreed price for vehicle, but you will pay astronomical price for it. 

As stated before - the price you see on comparison site is irrelevant. The price which will be relevant you will only find out after accident. That is why I advise going through claims management companies and getting your own assessor, because int hat case at least you have some say when it comes to value.

Talking from personal experience here:

[scudney]

In the business to make money at our expense 🤔

[Linas.P]

... and we are legally forced to participate.