Insurance

Our TD5 XS is currently insured with a well known online insurer.
A lot of these are still getting stolen, although ours is pretty well protected and would not be easy pickings.

I can’t entirely stop worrying about what they would offer if the vehicle was a total loss.
I spoke to them and got put through to the underwriting dept. Apparently an engineer would look into it. The trouble with Defenders is that they can be worth £8,000 or £18,000 and it’s all on the condition.
I am tempted to cancel the policy and move to Adrian Flux Agreed Value. But this would cost me £500 plus the loss of six months premium on the existing policy.
The online insurance company insist they will pay the “full
Market value”
I am hoping it never comes to that as l’ve spent a fortune on this Land Rover that l will never get back. But l don’t want to be arguing with them at 10k when a replacement of similar condition is going to cost me 18k.

Has anybody got experience with similar insurance companies and did you get a satisfactory result?

One problem is, that Defender TD5’s are no longer in the price guides, and the one in LRM
doesn’t differentiate between the SW, County and XS
Where an XS can be worth a fair bit more than a similar condition basic SW.

As l said, l hope it never happens. But one was stolen about a mile from here late last year, although it only had minimal security.
They just winched it onto a flatbed in broad daylight, flashing lights end everything, and drove off with it on the back. Nobody batted an eyelid as they obviously thought it was being recovered to a garage.

Both our D1's are on agreed value, given they are appreciating .... partly due the market , but largely due the work I have put in to them banishing tin worm .

I also keep an extensive file of photo's proving their condition, and in the event of any claim would use a loss assessor to deal with "insurers" and their agents.

I have learnt the very very hard way that this is necessary - YMMV, and I'd hope it does - I wouldn't really want anyone else to suffer an aneurysm due the stress of dealing with an insurance claim!

Well that’s the thing, they say they will pay the “full market value” in the event of a total loss.
But where are they getting the valuation from? We bought a VW Up two years ago and out of interest asked for a part exchange offer on the 90 TD5 CSW we owned at the time.
Their offer was £6,000....half the actual value.
I put the Landy on Ebay and it went for £12,000, and that was cheap. To buy a similar replacement last year (after the missus got fed up with the VW) cost me £14,500

You have to argue. Find ones similar spec to yours and use them as proof.

A mate had the only white Sylvia S14 with a specific body kit that was written off.

Insurance offered him market value of £4k. He said find me one in white with the same body kit (factory option) in the UK and ill take it. They could not and paid out the full £12k it was insured for.

Same as my 110. I havnt been able to find a single 110 anywhere close to my spec for less than £25k IF at all.

That’s a very valid point.
It’s more difficult with Defenders. They all look good on the photos
This one for instance.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264653042141

I viewed this last year when we were looking for one, still for sale, it looks great on the photos but is actually in fairly unloved condition and in need of a good deal of TLC and jobs doing.
Plus the ABS light is on. And it’s a CAT C. lt’s a basically sound Landy, but needs a few thousand spending.
TBH the one l ended up buying at £14,500 wasn’t much better. It’s great now, after l’ve spent £6,000 on it !!

But the insurance will take that as an example of a “mint” low mileage XS as good as the one you owned.
Here’s another one that looks reasonable on the initial pictures

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153921759331

But it’s truly rough, l viewed it last year.

Well, l’ve gone with AF Agreed Value. They quoted only £50 more than the online company and that was for the Agreed Value part of the policy.

lightning said:

Well, l’ve gone with AF Agreed Value. They quoted only £50 more than the online company and that was for the Agreed Value part of the policy.

Click to expand...

Ouch - from what you said in the first post. However, I think agreed value is essential in the "modern world", as is a loss assessor when a claim arises.

Just hope Flux actually pay out. They are not the best, i cant wait to be away from them again.

I looked online and their reviews are
better than many, they score 4.5/5 from 15,000 reviews on Trustpilot

They are the only ones who will do agreed value on newer Defenders, so it’s them or nothing if you want agreed value.

Other companies will do it but only if it’s a “classic” or second car. I also investigated a Gap lnsurance policy but you can’t get one on a 15 year old vehicle.

Motor insurance is a dreadful con with variations in both prices & conditions that totally defy logic.
Went on a comparison website recently for our 'daily' & got 77 quotes from £220 to over £1500
The biggest laugh is that providers specialising in women drivers seem to have the highest quotes for, yes you've guessed it, women drivers

Just got a renewal quote from my existing insurer. It's not brilliant, but at least it's competitive and better than what I can find on comparison sites so I'll stay where I am for the time being. I find I get one or two results that are reasonable, i.e under £500, and all the other companies are ridiculous prices, especially the ones with a 'black box' which is counter-intuitive. I can't imagine I'm a huge risk, as I haven't had an accident or got any motoring convictions since I got the Land Rover (touchwood) eight years ago (prior to which I didn't have a car for many years). Plus I'm a middle aged man in the education sector, so you really can't get more boring or conventional.

But maybe that's the point. Maybe they look at the demographic boxes I tick and think I'll be able to afford fancy prices and be very risk averse, so I'm fair game.
I'm not expecting my insurance company to be any use in the event of theft or accident, of course. I'm just doing it because it is a legal obligation. It's a kind of tax to support the government's friends in the industry.

Well, nobody had come on here with an insurance horror story, although arguments with insurance companies about the value of a Land Rover have surfaced from time to time.
The issue with Defenders is that you could have twenty green 2005 Station Wagons and every one will be worth a different price. Some will be worth £8,000 and others twice that figure.
Also
Unlike with cars, mileage is less of a pointer. For example
There’s not much value in a 2005 Mercedes ML 4x4 with 140,000 miles on the clock. But a 2005 140,000 mile Defender can be worth good money if it’s been looked after.

The issue is convincing the insurance company that yours is a very clean one worth £14,000 when everyone else will say the same about theirs.

Plenty of photos and keep receipts for any work done on it.