Make sure your Defender is insured for what it's worth...

[ad91on]

... and not what you paid for it.

Recently I had a bad accident in my Defender where I blacked out at the wheel during peak hour, veered across 4 lands of traffic two of which were head on and ended up flipping my poor landy on the median strip, writing off both vehicles involved.

Anyway, after two months of back and forths with the insurance company, I am only receiving $14,900 for my car. A little info about the car:

- 2000 model 110 TD5 XTREME
- 135,000 kms
- Lots of extras
- Recently had (less than two months before accident) major overhaul of gearbox and other work totally $4000
- Good condition overall, some issues however
- Purchased from a deceased estate in 2012 for $18,000 (a massive bargain!)

The car is also registered in a business name. So we had it insured for $18,000 that being what we paid for it. Anyone who knows their defenders knows that that age, that kms, that condition with that much work done to it with the full shebang of extras knows that it can easily be worth $25000 or more. Anyway, the insurance company claimed it was only worth $15000 (before GST and excess) and we argued it was worth more. They eventually agreed it was worth more to the tune of $17,800 or something like that.

My point here is, INSURE IT FOR WHAT ITS WORTH, not what you paid for it! All of the other examples we showed the insurance company were advertised for more than $20k and had more kms or were only slightly older. We got ripped off because we didn't insure it for the right amount.

And insure your extras! I managed to get most of them off but my $2000 worth of 10,000km old tyres, all my wiring, all the mechanical work and all that wasn't insured so goes begging.

And importantly, always get enough sleep before driving.

Here's some pictures. First one is day I bought it, second of recent action, the rest of the accident.

[goingbush]

Mate hate to say it but your number plate sums it up, an omen perhaps ??

I feel for you, hope no one was injured, and that you are ok at the end of this.


I hear what you are saying, My long time Insurer (CGI) would not insure my 05 110 for agreed value, only market value, so I found a new insurer (APIA) who would insure for a higher agreed value, and the premium is half of the old one ???

[ad91on]

Mmmm yes everyone agreed that the numberplate did make the accident that much more fun. Possible replacements include 00LORD and 000GOD.

No one was injured thank god, just psychological trauma of seeing my defender die, but it died doing what it loved - going off road.

[101RRS]

This is exactly the reason I never insure for Market Value and always go for Agreed Value. With agreed value, once you are signed up everyone is locked in. With Market Value, you can expect that the insurance company will be thinking minimum end of the scale and you will be thinking max end even though you were most likely paying premiums based on the max value.

Garry

[chook73]

Mate I feel for you, nothing worse than watching your pride and joy get damaged and then not get the cover you want, at least everyone has their health.

Insurance can be very tricky, not only make sure that its insured for agreed value but also make sure that you list all of the extras/modifications and where it is going.

So many insurance companies don't insure off gazetted roads and some don't even insure offroad at all (even if its a gazetted fire trail).

With the extras and modifications talk to your insurance company and check that they will cover what you have done/are planning to do to the vehicle. Prior to fitting the portals I found my insurance company wouldn't cover them so I found a new insurance company who, as long as I tell them about the modification and its legal/roadworthy, they will insure it no problems. The loophole is, and they were very clear with me about this, if it is not legal/roadworthy they can refuse a claim even if that point had nothing to do with the accident......

For example if you remove the de-cat they can refuse you for a rollover even though the removal of the de-cat had nothing at all to do with the roll over. If you think they wont go looking for any reason to refuse a claim think again...... especially if you have hit a $500k ferrari!

Furthermore if you don't list a modification you cannot claim it, this is especially important if your insured for market value so if you add a lightbar then add it to your insurance......

[flagg]

Mate there is nothing worse than looking a loved one.

For agreed value, I have had an insurance company change the 'agreed' value on renewal... So always check!

Like chook, my list of approved modifications with my insurance company is a novel. Every single thing is listed, including carpet. And I think we have the same company because they warned me too that in a right off they will check every single thing to make sure it is road worthy.

Also, paying a little more for salvage rights is useful when you have mods and accessories that you can pull off and fit to your next one.

[Cobber]

Glad nobody was hurt but pity about the car!
Agree with everything you say regarding insurance

[jimr1]

I know how you feel ,I wrote off my Disco 2 a while back , It had ARB bar ,winch , D/lights ,duel batterys ,brake controler ,plus,plus . My insurance co. would only pay $10,500 no matter how much I argued . There was noway I could replace it for there valuation. It was a hard lesson .jimr1

[FeatherWeightDriver]

Yikes! Your car didn't look that bad considering, but I hope you fared better than the car did.

Also, paying a little more for salvage rights is useful when you have mods and accessories that you can pull off and fit to your next one.

How does that work? I don't think I have ever seen that as an option on any of my policies, but then again I might not have been looking in the right place...

[ad91on]

The car was very bad.... what you can't really make out in the picture is that the whole rear end of the chassis has shifted a good 15 cm to the left. The chassis rails were jammed up against the left hand rear wheel. The entire right hand rear chassis bit where the towbar attaches had been folded in on itself.

You should have seen the other guys car... poor bastard.