Quote:
Originally Posted by timon
I must admit I forgot the average cost for a physical inspection in the UK. Here in Holland the cost for a photos based report is 45 EUR versus 90 EUR for one that derives from a phyiscal inspection. I worked for insurances for years and we'd use photos in those cases where the damages were relatively small and there was no suspicion of exaggeration.
Photos may give a reasonable overall impression of the car and its damages but can also be very deceptive. I remember indemnifiying amounts of 30 000 Euros as well as 500 EUR in damages for equal cars (old BMWs) that were both considered a total loss. The first was heavily invested into, while the latter was just a means of transport. Photos don't succeed well in making the distinction (unless maybe you add photos of all the invoices the first owner presented).
Photos also miss details. Consider a rear ended car, what you see is a folded bumper but you miss the exhaust that took a hit and is bent in 10 places, as well as the broken brackets behind the bumper and who knows what more. These are things that are even missed on physical inspection and often lead to extra costs in the form of a supplementary report. In Germany, they're kind of smart and just add an extra percentage to the indemnity to cover unexpected costs.
UK insurers shouldn't be so reluctant and be happy they're not in Germany where the average price for an inspection is a whopping 1 000 EUR.
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The simple fact is that in the UK, unless a car is insured on the basis of an agreed value due to some declared special characteristics, it is deemed to be of normal market value and the insurance premiums and contracts are based on this underlying assumption.
Here, a physical inspection and report could cost anything from £100 to £200. This is a lot when most premiums are as low as £100 to £400 PA. We also have relatively high rates of fraudulent claims for whiplash etc. I believe, but would be happy to be corrected, that the situation in Germany is quite different.
With cars that are as old as ours and insured on normal policies, it does not take much in the way of analysis or investigation to determine that repairs will not be economically viable. For more expensive and newer cars, the situation is quite different and engineers would normally inspect the car.