I Hear what you have written but it still does not answer while your happy to accept a car is worth X at point of insurance sale the very next day the car is not worth anything like what you the insurance company have accepted the car to be worth 24 hrs earlier at point of Policy sale.
If as you say cars are only worth what the trade guide Glasses guide say it is then this should be put right by the insurance company at the point you sell us the policy and not when claims arise.
A car is worth what you paid for it which is far removed from what the Glasses guide says it is worth. Dont forget the Glasses guide is published for the trade and not for the public.
If we can show you an invoice for the amount paid for the car then that is what it is worth.
Also as The Acre has posted Insurance companies are more than happy to shell out hundreds and sometimes thousands to car hire companies without so much as a wimper but start moaning and penny pinching like mad as to how much they pay us for our cars with values they were more than happy to accept earlier at POS
Mike
i understand what you are saying. the insurance company i work for dont agree values - and values on on policy will only affect premiums if the car is worth £17000 +, all insurance companines are different and what you mentioned thats a more of a agreed value policy and there are specialist insurance companines out there that do that. we use the glass guide as a "guide" the name says it its self, we do a market value policy so we will look at the current market to see what you can replace your vehicle for. if you purchasded your vehicle say july 2010 for £4000 and then july 20114 make a claim, as the customer you have to proof that your vehicle is still worth what you paid for it, so its important which im sure most of you do keep all receipts for any work you do on the car even as little as tyres or breaks as this shows you are maintaining the condition of the vehicle, now there a cases where you buy a shed and spend 1000s making it better if thats the case if you have paper work to prove the work you done then we would pay you more than what you paid for the vehicle. i dont like insurance from a paying customer view but i guess i have the upper hand as i know how it works.
like i said though the company i work for dont have agreed values and all it does is helps us to establish what level of cover a customer should have as anything over £5k has to have fully comp.
if you agree a value on the vehicle they have to pay the agreed amount.
we are starting classic insurance on july 25th and we will ask for 5 photos of the vehicle and engineers report to confirm the condition and agree a value - if you made a claim you will get back the agreed value and that with any insurance company.
if anyone has problems though with theres let me know be more than happy to help you.