Agreed Value Insurance

[SILVER BULLET]

My car is a 2002 na2 manual coupe, in good condition with good service history and approx 52k on the clock, my current insurance renewal is under £200 fully comp and is for up to 3000 miles pa, as it has been for many years, but it is not 'Agreed Value'.

Should the unthinkable happen I would be unlikely to be able to purchase a similar car with the insurance payout.

Bearing in mind the way the value of our cars has risen over recent years, do members recommend 'Agreed Value' insurance and can you recommend a good insurer based on your current/recent experience.
Thanks,
Ian

[Papalazarou]

Hi Ian,

I would definitely get a valuation. If anything did happen, you could quite easily be twenty to thirty grand down. Do some homework and come up with a value that fits.

Cheers,

James.

[SILVER BULLET]

Thanks James

[sorepaws]

If it helps Admiral do classic car insurance and agreed value - they are competative, especially if you agree maximum mileage under 5k per annum. They need photo evidence but apart from that it's simple.

[SILVER BULLET]

Thank you Mike

[Senninha]

Hi Ian,

As above, definately find some online price comparisons and change or upgrade to agreed valuation for your NSX. The photo evidence usually consists of photos for front, back, both sides, engine bay and interior. Some may ask for trip meter reading to validate actual mileage between renewals ..

I use Classic Line at present … do update when you’ve completed the insurance.

regards, Paul

[PeterW]

I'm with Classic Line on agreed value as well. I have also been with Adrian Flux on agreed value. The problem with agreed value is you have to remember to update it from time to time. Mine's definitely a bit low at the moment and I need to update it. That's generally how it's been over the years, my agreed value lagging the market because I've not got around to updating it. I do wonder if life might be simpler without the agreed value and whether, if it was a total loss, the payout might be what I would anyway have agreed the value to be. I've never had the car valued by an expert and never had my proposed agreed value refused as too high.

[Nick Graves]

Me too.

The reason I do it is, it's very hard to find comparables and Sod's law...

I invariably have a long telephone discussion with the underwriter and to why, no, that's a slushbox, and no, that's a 3.0 pop-up, etc..

They do seem flexible with mid-term adjustments, to be fair.

[Nick Graves]

Replying to oneself is a sure sign of insanity, but where WOULD one go to get an agreed valuation.

Bit of paper with NSXCB written on the top in crayon, or..?

[sorepaws]

I have just renewed and just specified what I thought was the right value, based on a few cars that have sold recently. Obviously age, mileage and condition will have an effect. Check collecting cars website for recently sold examples .

[Nick Graves]

Well, the obvious solution is less obvious when comparables aren't obvious either.

There's a lot of difference between a leggy rebuilt one and a lowish-mileage completely factory one. Especially as late pre-bubbles hardly sold at all.

The only solution is a mid-term adjustment when one eventually pops up on PH or wherever and a long debate...

[havoc]

Replying to oneself is a sure sign of insanity, but where WOULD one go to get an agreed valuation.

Bit of paper with NSXCB written on the top in crayon, or..?

Most insurers seem to want an Owners Club valuation or one from a specialist retailer*. It was discussed more than once amongst the Owners Club, and there was a nervousness about (a) liability; (b) who could be a reasonable judge; and (c) consistency...there aren't many of us and we're spread about the country.

...so a lot of us have ended up either doing it ourselves (with justifications why - comparables, renovation work, etc.), or asking the insurer for their opinion (which feels like asking the poacher to guard the chickens, but there we go...).

There should be a better method, but the industry don't make it easy...



As for "leggy rebuilt one vs lowish-mile fully-factory", I'm not sure there IS a difference, from an ownership perspective. OK, I'm biased...but I've replaced a lot of worn bits on mine and it drives better than it did when I bought it. And I know of lots of stories (first and second hand) of modern classics with low miles which keep throwing up errors because they're NOT used regularly (admittedly no NSXs in that list, but YSWIM?).
In the investor market, sure...mileage and originality are everything to those guys. But for an enthusiast? Most enthusiasts will buy on condition and history.




* The servicing garage is apparently not suitable, I've been told. Not sure why a retailer would be unbiased ref. valuations yet a garage that knows the car intimately wouldn't be, but that's what underwriters seem to think.

[sorepaws]

Well, the obvious solution is less obvious when comparables aren't obvious either.

There's a lot of difference between a leggy rebuilt one and a lowish-mileage completely factory one. Especially as late pre-bubbles hardly sold at all.

The only solution is a mid-term adjustment when one eventually pops up on PH or wherever and a long debate...


Maybe Plans Performance could provide at a cost, an assessment of the value, they seem to sell a few cars and would know not only the asking price but the real invoice .... Just a thought

[Papalazarou]

Maybe Plans Performance could provide at a cost, an assessment of the value, they seem to sell a few cars and would know not only the asking price but the real invoice .... Just a thought

I think it’s a tough call. Partly because pricing can be fluid and partly because auctions are very different to a private sale or one from a dealer. I will put my cards on the table and say that I’m not a fan of plans or dealers in general. So this is my biased opinion, but I think one that can be safely attached to most.
Dealer prices without exception seem pretty inconsistent to me. I think there are a few reasons for this; firstly, they are not selling their own cars, so what they retail for is not necessarily the market price. Some sellers will be lead by the dealers opinion, some will have their own ideas. There’s also the quick sale factor. Dealer influencing seller and vice versa.
Another reason is dealers selling questionable stock which is obviously problematic. Finally, there just aren’t enough cars to easily gauge where a particular car should be.
When I was trying to get an agreed valuation from Classic line, I sent in a list of cars that had sold under over and around the valuation I wanted. Then when it sold at auction it made £10K more, go figure.
Just a random point. I Cancelled my insurance with Classic line after three months of a policy and got nothing back! I’m not sure there is a reasonable explanation for why a company can charge you for 12 months when you only receive 3 months cover? Is there another industry that does this?
Their explanation was that it was a classic policy?!?. To me it’s still bloody car insurance. I feel like I’m subsidising other peoples accidents.

[WhyOne?]

Hello James....are you currently resting between NSX's?

[Papalazarou]

Hello James....are you currently resting between NSX's?

Yes, I think so. Maybe I’ll get back into one in the next couple of months. It’s always been the same. I think about buying something different, then when I do have the opportunity, I buy another NSX.
I think it’s probably a number of things; 1. When you haven’t got the money you’ll convince yourself there are lots of options. Then when you finally do, it sharpens your resolve and you realise the stuff you were looking at doesn’t make sense in some important way.
For me it’s the overall package, it’s buying something I relate to and understand in regard running costs, potential maintenance issues etc. the car I just sold needed some age related maintenance which I never previously had to worry about. Up until then I’d had mostly facelift cars which weren’t old enough to need capacitors, accumulators, regulators etc. however, the NSX I think is a pretty simple thing compared to much of the other stuff out there.
Anything McLaren, Ferrari or Lamborghini scares the hell out of me.
I did get a ride in an MP12c. It was brutal, but it’s just the fear of running costs. One medium sized issue and it would be stuck in the garage for 5 years.
So really a main criteria is depreciation. I’m not prepared to buy a ‘fun car’ that’s going to haemorrhage money.
The thing with NSX’s is there are fewer and fewer good cars. The dealers don’t even seem to prep them anymore. Half of them look like someone dragged them out of the ocean. It’s just lazy. I was looking at a car advertised the other day and it was expensive, but just terrible.
Anyway the answer to your question. Yes I hope so.