Insurance ....

[Hoovie]

Just thought I would share a bit of my experience with my break-in, car theft and subsequent insurance claim....

Broken into and reported theft on a Thursday lunchtime. Police arrived about 60-90 mins later (as it was already done, called 101 rather then 999). About 3 hours later SOCO (Scene Of Crimes Officer) arrived and started making notes and gathering evidence.

In the meantime, reported incident to Broker (Real Insurance), who created a claim on the system and gave me the number, and contact info for Underwriter (AXA Insurance), who took all the info and told me what I needed to provide to them.

Friday I called my GAP Insurer (ALA), who took the various bit of info and sent me out a form and a list of stuff I needed to send them.

All very normal stuff, and nothing out the ordinary really. I posted the info off to AXA the following Monday or Tuesday. By the following Monday (so about 10 days after reported theft), I got a call from the AXA 'engineers' advising me what they valued the vehicle at. I had previously been told by the GAP Underwriters (AMA) what THEIR valuation was, so I asked AXA to just match it (as only £160 more) to make life simple, which they agreed to, so then accepted the valuation. This got passed internally over to the assessor at AXA who called me 2 days later (wednesday) and told me that they accepted my claim for stolen tools and their replacement cost 100%, except a mobile phone as not a tool. They also said payment would be raised for the car menus my policy excess and the cheques would be sent out.

Once the cheques were received, it would then be a matter of sending proof of settlement to the GAP people to raise a cheque for the difference.

So .... To cut to the chase, car reported stolen on Thursday; Insurance Settlement agreed within two weeks of reported theft & cheque received within 2 weeks and 4 days from theft; GAP payment received 3 weeks and 1 day after reported theft.

I am very pleasantly surprised by the hassle-free experience (a few to' and fro's but nothing significant) of the whole situation, am astonished at the speed of the payouts, and would whole-heartily recommend all parties involved in this case....

AXA - Insurers; Real - Brokers; AMA - GAP Insurers; ALA; GAP Brokers

I was slightly dubious about GAP insurance before and at the prices the dealers quote, it is not cheap. I paid ALA £144 for 3 years cover and a maximum shortfall of £17,500 between original invoice price and insurance offer. Obviously the longer the time between purchase and theft/write-off, the bigger that gap becomes, and the greater the mileage also, so £17,500 was chosen as worst case scenario.

As it happens, the GAP Insurers only needed to pay out a little under £6k, but that was £6k more then I would have got without GAP of course, PLUS they also paid back £250 of the £300 excess AXA charged me, so even that was more then the premium I paid!

One slightly odd thing is that I paid the dealer £250 to fit roof rails when I bought the RAV4, and AMA deducted that amount from the invoice as it was a 'Dealer fitted accessory' ? Doesn't quite make sense why this would be deducted, but I am not going to argue the point at all give the massive plus from the policy.

When I buy a replacement car, I will have no hesitation in taking out a GAP policy again and it will be with ALA again. And when my insurance is due for renewal (stil in force for two other vehicles and tools & equipment), I will stick to current brokers & insurers unless they are coming back as very uncompetitive, as a known quantity can be worth an extra bit of premium :)

[three5]

Just thought I would share a bit of my experience with my break-in, car theft and subsequent insurance claim....

..................

When I buy a replacement car, I will have no hesitation in taking out a GAP policy again and it will be with ALA again. And when my insurance is due for renewal (stil in force for two other vehicles and tools & equipment), I will stick to current brokers & insurers unless they are coming back as very uncompetitive, as a known quantity can be worth an extra bit of premium :)

David,

totally agree - I use NFU and have done for many years because of the service that I get from them. Never done gap insurance, but some serious food for thought there. Thanks for the heads-up

[silly sausage]

It's good to read it was relatively hassle free, we paid £299 for GAP with Mr T, It's clearly well worth having, enjoy car hunting now.....

[flyboyprowler]

This should give a reasonably happy ending to a sad affair. Fully agree about the gap insurance, and I would also use ALA again, but still go down the "compare the Meercat" route for insurance, don't youy just love the cuddly toys!! Incidentally my recent renewal with Hastings Direct was less than 1/2 the price of a quote from NFU, for the same cover, but no excess on the Hastings policy. Always worth a look around.

[DjRav]

I've been with Hastings for years, but remember they're a broker, not an insurer. They're usually bottom price overall and easy to deal with, but you have to recheck every year as they won't automatically give you the best price on renewal!!?!

Not had to claim through them though, so don't know how they are in a crisis!

Dave

[Hoovie]

I am claiming for my stolen phone via the Co-op bank.

AXA settled the claim of over £20k, and the only proof I had to provide of being a breakin was the police Incident Report number (I guess they then check with the police station direct for confirmation?)

The Phone Insurers, liable for a maximum of £350 say they need a written copy of the Police Report itself, despite not asking for that n their standard form. I am sure some insurers get you to jump through hoops on the basis that a lot of people will say "sod this" and just give up!

As an aside, my current policy is a Motor Trade Policy, taken out when I started trading last year, and as a start-up, I was not getting many options for insurers. Renewal time coming up, let's hope having a claim doesn't shut the doors further!

[crustyclam]

On the subject of insurance I rang mine recently to ask about fitting a chip. Unfortunately they would not cover me.

Currently I have declared:-

1) Body modifications aka the style pack

2) Wheel modification... Not because of removing run flat, but because fitting winter alloys which are down sized by 1.

They will only cover 2 mods. Each one has cost me an extra £31 on my premium.

When I mentioned that the style pack may be factory fitted, they said that would not be counted as a mod, and so I would be able to have the chip fitted at the current premium.

Unfortunately it seems that style packs are not factory fitted, but only at the port or dealer.

Just deciding wether to cancel mid term and go with admiral as they will cover all three at £100 less.

[FROSTYBALLS]

As regards GAP insurance through ALA, if you quote the discount code toc123 you can get a further 7% discount on GAP insurance and any of their other additional products through being a TOC member.