Insurance question (not the price this time)

pvr

pvr

Dutch
 Ruler of the South East UK
The M came in at £256 this year with Admiral, 4 years NCD on that one. All fine.

However, I have the Golf with KGM (and as they have my agricultural machinery as well, they were keen to quote for the other cars). The other cars were all about the same as Admiral (perhaps a little cheaper) but the attraction is that you can set the guaranteed value of the car as well. Doing some ChatGPT it seems that KGM is regarded as a much better company who are happy to have multiple high performance cars under one cover and are mod friendly and more importantly, even though I provide the supposed value to Admiral it stated that I would have a battle if for example my 911 was stolen being a special model and a value much higher than I paid for it. Anyway, I digress as I had made up my mind to move the other cars to KGM for the "personal account manager" and better cover. That leaves the Z, as they put that under a classic policy like my Golf. However, that means that I lose the NCD recording for the Z and the cost is £80 more for the insurance. But - that is again with an agreed value that I put on the Z, so no hassle if there is a write off or theft for example. I am tempted that the additional premium might actually give me an easier ride if I ever need it.

Thoughts on if it is a good idea to move it to classic with guaranteed value or leave mainstream?
 
They're all only as good as the next payout. I believe guaranteed agreed value might save you some frustration/negotiation at claim time, but I've never had to claim on a policy with that included.

Otherwise they look around for other examples at the time you claim and try to come up with a figure, then when you inevitably reject it, increase it slightly and hope you take it.

I'm amused Admiral will insure your M though, when I moved from 2.5i to 3.0si they refused cover for it. Had to go elsewhere.
 
When I did a ChatGPT to ask to compare the two companies, it bluntly said that Admiral would not insure my 911-50 as well as an X5M and a Z4M as "they will only insure a single high performance car" as part of a multi car policy. Well, that is obviously not the case then.
 
Admiral very good for mods as well, only ever charged me an admin fee and perhaps a few extra £s. ChatGPT not always the most reliable source of info or analysis...
 
No complaints with Admiral, price has been good etc but just that niggle that if anything is ever stolen or written off that I could be a lot down in payout as they won't know the difference between the models and editions.
 
Agreed value is worth the £80 IMO. If you have to fight over valuation, you'd probably loose the £80 in your time spent on the phone to the insurance alone...

I had a crash (not my fault) in my E30, which was on agreed valuation at the time (with A-Plan). Given the range of the values from £2k (at the time) snotters to £30k+ mint ones, it would have been a real shot in the dark to get it fixed if they felt it was the lower end of the market. As it was agreed value, they just said 'yes, these repairs are fine, here's sign-off' and that was it.

Biggest problem I had was finding a decent body shop I trusted - but the insurance aspect was pain free - and I suspect the agreed valuation played a massive part there.

The biggest gotcha for not going to a classic policy: they exclude 'drive other cars' benefit (not a problem if you get it on another car), they don't usually cover business use (see previous point), milage limitations, and mine has a clause saying it must be garaged when at home overnight.
 
Being fully insured does not always mean receiving the service or settlement you expect when the worst happens.

My Mini Clubman JCW was stolen in 2020 while it was at a garage for repairs, so it was not in my care at the time. Before the pandemic, it was probably worth around £18,000–£20,000, but comparable cars were selling for at least £29,000 during the pandemic with like for like in the £32000 region.

Despite this, Admiral initially valued it at £16,000 and paid the outstanding finance directly, without my permission. Their valuation was based largely on trade prices rather than the actual cost of replacing the car. After negotiating, I eventually secured a settlement of £18,500.

I also lost most of my no-claims bonus. Despite having more than 15 years’ no-claims history and protected no-claims cover, it was reduced to 3 years. Living in Manchester, my annual premium then increased from around £500 to £1,500 and did not properly recover until the claim dropped off my record in 2025.

Although the car was stolen while in the garage’s care, the garage was not ultimately found liable in court, so the financial and insurance consequences fell largely on my policy.

So i ended up in the worst position on all counts.

The main lesson I took from the experience is that an agreed or guaranteed value can be extremely important. However, even that has limitations, as unusual events such as the pandemic can cause a vehicle’s market value to rise well above the agreed figure.
 
The point relating to the having to be garaged is an important one as I have that on the Golf, which isn't a problem as I never take it anywhere overnight. However, the Z4 is regularly at my son's house overnight so that would be a show stopper.

The theft of your Mini Tom is an odd one as logic would dictate that it is in the care of someone else who has the keys. Not being covered there would also mean that if the car is classic insurance, it could not even be left overnight there for theft cover. I would not even think about it being a risk leaving the car at the garage when stolen, just like if they damage it in their care (say it drops of the lift), would your own insurance have to cover that write off as well?
 
pvr said:
The point relating to the having to be garaged is an important one as I have that on the Golf, which isn't a problem as I never take it anywhere overnight. However, the Z4 is regularly at my son's house overnight so that would be a show stopper.
Click to expand...

To clarify on my policy, it only has to be garaged when within .25 or .5 (I don't remember) of a mile of my home address. If I go away, or stay with friends/family, it's fine to be left ungaraged. It's only when it's parked at home it needs to be garaged.

I think this is because I said it is garage stored, and they reduced the price according to the extra security a garage offers, and they don't want you to breach that extra security (which, as much as I dislike the insurance industry, I can't really blame them for).

The other bonus I forgot to mention - all my mods are covered like-for-like, and I have salvage retention rights should the worst happen.
 
Good point and I just checked (as they keep calling to get the business) and they explained it as you said, you can go on holiday no problem but as long as the majority of the time it is parked in the garage
 
I'd happily pay £80 to get an agreed value for my M so will be looking for that next year as it will be 20 in December.

Personally I'd give Admiral a miss after the way they handled my nephew's claim for his E46 325i Touring 5 or 6 years ago. They did eventually come up with a decent valuation, but they made it a Cat S when all it needed was a bonnet and one front wing and wouldn't even consider changing it to a Cat N even though they never even sent anyone to look at it. :rolleyes:
 
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