Vehicle Valuation

[R33 Impul]

I received a letter today from HBF my insurance company that reads as follows;

Your Comprehensive policy is due for renewal on 18/12/05.

Establishing the value if imported vehicles is often difficult and to overcome this our underwriting guidelines, require a current valuation certificate for all vehicles imported into Australia.

Please arrange to have your vehicle valued by an independent aurthorised valuer and forwrd a copy of this valuation to us. Unfortunately this valuation must be at your expense.

Once this valuation is received, we will issue an invitation to renew the policy.

So is anybody out there a "Independent aurthorised valuer." Please help.

You would think at my age insurance would be a piece of piss but no, this has got to be boardering on discrimination......I'm sure they would send this letter out to someone who owns a Astra, Pulsar, BWM, Volvo, Merc, Hyundia, Daewoo etc etc ....after all they are "IMPORTED" <_<

[madbung]

Try your local car yard..just tell them what it's for shouldn't be a problem..remember to tell them you want a retail valuation not wholesale or trade.

It would probably be best to go to franchise dealer ie: nissan, ford,ect I doubt they'd accept one from dodgy bobs used cars.

Edited November 11, 2005 by madbung

[Daniel_]

Or tell your insurance company to stick it

Paying them a fortune per year and they won't send out their own valuer?

[Steve]

Ditto, I am not sure how they compare price wise, but I am with unique and dont have a problem, they just rape me once a quarter and then its all good for 3 months

[mitchy_]

damn, i get a annual raping...

hurts for a bit, but then im fine for 12 months

[Gav]

Ring the insurance ombudsman for free advice. The insistance for a valuation at your expense may be borderline acceptable insurance practice.

After all, did they indicate that this would be required for renewal when you first signed up? Obviously they knew (or should have known) it would be the case at the time - so in effect this is a form of "Duty of Disclosure" in reverse.

Edited November 11, 2005 by Gav

[damono]

Dude, i got the exact same letter from HBF last week. I was just about to post on here. This sucks. Ive never made a claim with them, never lost my licence etc.., I have 55% no claim bonus (maximum), pay $1300 or so a year for the past 3 years on this car and this is how they treat me. Bullsh it if you ask me.

I've never had to get a valuation before and I didnt read of anything in the fine print when I signed up that I needed to get a valuation.

Not happy. Any1 have any ideas?

[dan_the_man]

Does the evaluation have to be with in a certain date or is it valid for 6 months? Perhaps if a few people got together and had a valuator come out to see them and do all the cars it would be cheaper

[damono]

It says, "once this valuation is received, we will issue an invitation to renew the policy from 10/12/2005 etc.."

So im guessing that I have to get it done by then or my car will be uninsured. 12/Dec is when my policy is due for renewal.

Fiddy, if yours is due soon, maybe we can go in together somewhere and get a deal...

[uneekwahn]

Ok, when you signed up with HBF, as you own an import car, part of your policy wording would have stated valuations every year or something similar.

Unfortunately there are NO red book values available for imported vehicles in Australia, so insurance companies require the owners of the car to provide a valuation.

I WORK for HBF and I've just had to get MY car valued as well, and I've had it insured for nearly 2 years and never knew about this clause until I got sent my policy renewal certificate.

I just went to the place where I purchased the car (Autoworx) and asked Paul to provide me with a valuation. He was more than happy to do so.

Jason.

[damono]

What cost am I looking at for a valuation?

I just find it wierd that they didnt ask for a valuation when i first insured the car 3 years ago, and now they're asking me for it. Seems convienient considering the cops are still cracking down on imports too

[uneekwahn]

Mine didn't cost a thing because I purchased the car from Autoworx.

I wouldn't worry about conspiracy theories as to why HBF are doing it, it's been in your policy since the beginning and they've just let it slide for 3 years is all

[ix9]

Complain complain, complain.

If i see another insurance thread I'm going to explode.

I'm with HBF too, but it looks like ive got until next year june (policy renewal time) to get a valuation.

EZPZ

This is the price you pay for imported cars people, deal with it.

[KeeFy]

LoL. Does Just Cars have the same policy? I wonder... *digs up policy*

[uneekwahn]

At the end of the day, import cars are a higher risk than aus spec cars because the parts cost more and predominatly young males drive them, and young males are the highest risk group for crashes.

as kym said, it's the price you pay for having an import!

And I'd much rather TELL hbf how much my car is worth than them, or some d1ckhead I don't know decide what its worth

[_8OO5TED_]

i know of several insurance companies who do not ask for valuations on grey imports, its the main stream insurers who do as they 'generally' have very limited knowledge of these types of vehicles ie RAC, HBF, GIO, Suncorp etc etc

[Steve]

do RAC and GIO insure grey imports?

[KeeFy]

RAC said they don't insure my car, which is a r33 GTS-t. Maybe it's too old . SGIO quoted me 5grand a year. 23yr old clean record. Been drivin for almost 4 yrs

[R33 Impul]

Jason & _8OO5TED, thank you for your informative information.

I also bought my line from Autoworx so will give Paul a call and see what we can arrange and weigh up my options from there.

Damono, let me know if you want to have a mini cruise up to Wangara one Saturday...........soon

[uneekwahn]

Paul and I were talking about you today actually

He mentioned someone in a 4 door and I said the guy with the impul, and he said no, another guy, and I said well the guy with the impul (I can't remember your name sorry) was looking for a valuation too