Car Insurance Values

[Kuya John]

How does it work in Philippines?

Here in UK when you purchase a car new or secondhand it pays to shop around for insurance.

Just like house insurance, the value you put on the car or house may differ from it's true worth.

So for example you buy a car second hand for 300.000p and have a unfortunate accident, the car

is written off a year later, the Insurer may say it's value is only 180.000. What then?

Point here being, if you inflate it's worth does not mean you could claim accordingly........JB

[Mike S]

I would assume that is correct ..... we had ours purchased by the dealer as they will be doing any work that is required should we need insurance repairs ...... we would want genuine Suzki parts and replacement of these parts by the dealer rather than substitute parts that might void the warranty on the car ..... after the warranty has expired we will shop around and compare it to the dealers price at that time .... but that is 3 years away ....

[DavidK]

Anybody who expects an insurance company, in any location, to overpay is living in cloud cuckoo land. Getting them to pay at all is something of an achievement. 

[Ynot]

In Australia you can buy car insurance to cover the "market value" what the car would achieve in the open market, or the "insured value" in which case the insurer will pay out on the stated value in the policy..  When you apply for the insurance the insurer already is aware of what you vehicle is worth in average condition by using RedBook or some other vehicle value guide which is based on vehicle sales Australia wide.  So in regard to the insured value cover, if the insurer agreed to cover your car for say $ 30,000 Aud, and then within 6 months you travelled 50,000 kilometres that would under the "market value" cover reduce the value on any payout, however under the ïnsured value, if you made a claim, irrespective of the kilometres travelled or the condition of the vehicle at the time of the claim they would payout on the ïnsured value ' or agreed value as some insurers call it.  

[robert k]

How does it work in Philippines?

Here in UK when you purchase a car new or secondhand it pays to shop around for insurance.

Just like house insurance, the value you put on the car or house may differ from it's true worth.

So for example you buy a car second hand for 300.000p and have a unfortunate accident, the car

is written off a year later, the Insurer may say it's value is only 180.000. What then?

Point here being, if you inflate it's worth does not mean you could claim accordingly........JB

In the US they call it Gap insurance. The difference between what the book value for a car and what you owe on it. It costs a little more but worth it on new cars that depreciate immediately.

 

I had bought a new Ford Ranger for a work truck and drove 48k km in 9 months before a woman trying to cross a highway pulled out right in front of me. The truck was bad enough off it should have been totaled but the lady's insurance company, Allstate wanted to repair it. I had a message on my answering machine from the estimator saying he needed to talk to me to determine whether the truck should be totaled or whatever. Unfortunately the message got deleted. I bought a new truck because I couldn't be without and my tools would not fit into the rental. The estimator changed his mind and the truck was not totaled, they decided that they would try to repair it to save money. Long story short, after many return trips to the frame straightening machine, and repairing damage they had inflicted trying to repair the truck, three windshields  which they kept cracking trying to install them into the warped cab I had an independent inspection done for a diminished value claim which awarded me $3,975 and pointed out many small details that still needed to be repaired. It had been 11 months in the shop and cost more than replacement. In retrospect I should have gone to MY insurance company and paid the $500 deductible because they had a fiduciary relationship with me and they would have been much more sensitive to being sued. I had lost much more than the $500 deductible in lost work alone dealing with the other insurance company. Live and learn.

[OnMyWay]

Nice stories about our home countries but the real question is, how do the Philippine insurance companies handle it?

 

In the U.S. we have various sources for "book" values (Kelly Blue Book, etc.) but I have never heard of anything like that here in PH.  Perhaps the insurance companies have a tool they use but most likely it would be biased in their favor.  Without an impartial source of values, the market value is subjective.  E.G., the seller of the Pajero gave a market value, but where did he get that?  Comparisons on OLX?  (BTW, that looks like a good deal!)

 

Claims might be a good reason to use an agent to buy insurance.  The expat guy I use was highly recommended and one reason was that he really goes to bat for you if you have a claim.  I will ask him about this topic and report back.

 

I agree that there is no way the insurance companies are going to pay you based on what you say the value is.  They may charge you a higher premium based on a higher value you state, but they would be open to huge fraud claims if they just paid out based on that value.  E.g., I buy a vehicle for 1 mil and declare a 1.5 mil value, then total it.  .5 mil in my pocket.

[scott h]

This is my personal experience

 

How does it work in Philippines?

 

I bet a relative or a friend of a relative either runs an insurance agency or knows someone who runs an insurance agency. This is where we got all of our home an auto insurance.

 

If that fails, when a person registers their car or gets a drivers license at the LTO there are usually Kiosks all over the place that will insure vehicles. Just for fun, (and since I have nothing better to do lololol) I did some comparison shopping. All the quotes were with in a couple of hundred pesos of each other. (competitive prices I have found is rare here, whether it be TVs, cars or refrigerators).

 

We loaded up on personal injury insurance, like it or not, if a person is involve in an auto accident, each party looks at it like possibly having the winning lottery ticket. For example: our maids brother, wife and child were involved in a motorcycle vs motorcycle accident. Minor, no major injuries and I guess he was at fault, neither had insurance and the other party not only wanted repairs to the scooter, but reimbursement for the child's school tuition for the two days that he missed school.

 

We have a high deductible, basically because by USA standards cosmetic repairs are very, very cheap. My example is that we own an older Vios, runs great but seriously had a dent in every panel and every fender, the only parts that are not beat up is the hood, roof and trunk (boot). We took it to a pretty large, established body shop. To repair and paint the entire car was 40k pesos. Back home we probably would have sold the car for parts. :cheersty: