Insurer keeping refunds from registration and insurance for written off vehicles?

Friend of our son had his car written off by the insurer after driving through a large "puddle" during the recent Brisbane floods. His policy was for a "agreed value" (which I believe might cost more, but not sure of that?).

Something I had never heard of happening is that he had only two weeks before the incident paid his registration for a full year and about a month prior had paid his insurance premium for a full year.

The insurer cashed in the registration and insurance policies and kept the refunds..... cheeky!!!

I wonder if this is something commonly known and if all insurers do this (I assume so). I have never heard of it before.
 
I guess they can (obviously because they did :) )

If the young guy has been paid out, effectively the insurance co owns the car, so they may as well cash in the rego and insurance.

Did he get the full "agreed value" paid to him?
 
Yep, that's what they do.

I paid for 12 months' insurance on my car and two weeks later someone pulls out of a side street and writes off the car while my husband was driving (thankfully he was fine apart from being a bit sore for a few days). Wasn't even our fault yet we still get nothing back from the insurer. so they got a double payment from us when we insured a new car through them 2 weeks later.
 
IDid he get the full "agreed value" paid to him?

He did get the full value, which no doubt would be more than "market value" but I seem to recall that this cover costs more than "market value" cover (but happy to be wrong on that :)).

I just thought it was cheeky. He effectively loses up to $1500 or so by losing nearly one year rego and insurance.

I still think it is cheeky.
 
if he cashed in the rego before making the claim then fine.

if he has claimed and settled, then insurance own the car and have every right to recourse.

sorry, them's the brakes (pardon the pun...).
 
I had a car stolen back in 2000.

Something very similar happened. I waited the seven days for the insurer to accept it as gone.

Got my payout.

The guy was caught some weeks later though the car was a writeoff.

I said to the insurer now you have the guy surely you are suing him?

They said but we will never get anything out of him and anyway it is not your problem now. I just had issue with my insurer having in my file a claim for $5000.00 when they may recover part of the loss (I used to drive a VK commodore the stereo was worth more than the car...) I hoped their might be proceeds of crime or something to go toward the loss!

Anyway I got over it and got back my clean record over time.

Another tip is if the police ring you to pay to have your car towed back to their depot after being stolen. Tell them to leave it there or contact your insurer and you or they can collect. It is a waste and you cannot claim this back from the insurer after they have already paid out. They assured me this was how they would nab him getting it in for prints etc etc.

That was a $300.00 exercise in futility I won't repeat. Bit dissapointing you have to pay to get justice in this country...
 
I dont think that is correct.
If you make a claim on your insurance, I thought that you were re-funded the pre-paid amount? I might be wrong?

Yes, as soon as you contact the insurance company the vehicle is transferred to their possession. So rightfully the claim back on the licence is theirs.
However, they are responsible for all re-location costs.

I was in the unfortunate situation of sinking a boat offshore. Normally the insurance company would not bother to recover a vessel in this situation, however, it sunk in a 'heritage' listed area. They were liable for all costs associated with recovering the vessel - which by law had to be done.
I got my full insured value back :D

Cheers
Blacky
 
I dont think that is correct.
If you make a claim on your insurance, I thought that you were re-funded the pre-paid amount? I might be wrong?

Yes, as soon as you contact the insurance company the vehicle is transferred to their possession. So rightfully the claim back on the licence is theirs.
However, they are responsible for all re-location costs.

I was in the unfortunate situation of sinking a boat offshore. Normally the insurance company would not bother to recover a vessel in this situation, however, it sunk in a 'heritage' listed area. They were liable for all costs associated with recovering the vessel - which by law had to be done.
I got my full insured value back :D

Cheers
Blacky

personal insurance, yes.

vehicle insurance, no.
 
Same here with my last total write-off with GIO/SUNCORP in NSW. Had 10 months rego and was paying insurance by the month. Was in QLD on holidays and decided to put new tyres on my calais for the trip home the next day. That afternoon after spending $1000 on tyres car was totalled by a truck so I left the car there and came home via hire car. :(:(

Besides wasting money on the tyres GIO took rego including the premium plate fee then also deducted the outstanding 10 monthly payments for the remainder of the poilcy before they sent be the cheque. I was happy to get the money but to get back into the same type of vehicle it took several weeks and basically cost me a few $1000 to get back on the road in a car.

Was my third no fault write-off in a row so not too upset as previous ones were possibly margiinally in my favor. :)
 
Insurance Claim

I just made a claim on my car and the rules are once you enter into a contract with the insurance company you must pay for the whole year (even if paying monthly). I was lucky that i claimed 4 days before my contract expired. If i had claimed just one day after my new contract then the remaining premiums for the year would have been deducted from my payout. It is very similar to entering a contract with foxtel. If you wish to switch insurance companies you must first wait until your current contract has expired or you will be made to pay the difference.

If you live in Victoria and your vehicle has been involved in an accident and is deemed written off, your insurance company may claim this refund on your behalf and include it in your insurance pay out.

The above paragraph is a paste and copy from VicRoads.

Hope this helps.
 
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Wylie

I had a car written off with NRMA a year or so ago and they did exactly that.
When I complained they referred me to their terms and conditions booklet.

I don't know if other insurers are doing the same but NRMA are also taking the bond when u make a landlord's insurance claim so they are not on my preferred insurer list anymore
 
A similar thing happened to us: accident, car written off & paid out in full. We had 9 months rego to run and had only just paid the full years insurance. Since the plates were personal plates we removed them from the car and when we got the payout cheque from the insurance company we went down to Queensland transport and canceled the rego. We got a nice refund cheque from them as well. I suppose this worked because they were personal plates. The annoying thing is that we couldn't hold over the insurance onto a new car and couldn't get a refund. The accident was the other parties fault and I checked into whether I could sue the other party for 11 months insurance but it seems you can't.
 
All insurers do it the samecway for fairly obvious reasons.

You pay a premium and in return they agree to indemnify you to the limit of the value of the asset.

If they pay out on the full value of the asset...everyone takes their money and the contract ends.
 
Hubby had personalised number plates so he removed them from vehicle after being written off and eventually received a refund for rego from RTA after insurance company supplied a letter stating vehicle was a mandatory write off.



Regards
Sheryn
 
Hubby had personalised number plates so he removed them from vehicle after being written off and eventually received a refund for rego from RTA after insurance company supplied a letter stating vehicle was a mandatory write off.



Regards
Sheryn

Yes RTA will give you a refund but the insurer has already deducted the amount from the vehicle's payout figure.
It amazes me how they get away with it.
Why aren't fair trading putting an end to this unfair practice?
 
The insurance pays out on the 'market value' of your vehicle. (unless agreed value). Market value takes into account the condition of the tyres and rego time remaining. So a car with 12 months rego and new tyres will be valued higher than one with worn out tyres and 1 month rego. Of course the insurance company rips you off though, we all know that.
 
Wylie

I had a car written off with NRMA a year or so ago and they did exactly that.
When I complained they referred me to their terms and conditions booklet.

I don't know if other insurers are doing the same but NRMA are also taking the bond when u make a landlord's insurance claim so they are not on my preferred insurer list anymore

i think almost everyone does, in some shape or form.
normally they just don't cover first 4 weeks of rental loss
 
what's unfair about it? it's all written in the contract you sign when you get insurance.

"Agreed value" transfers the vehicle from you to them, regardless of condition. I'm surprised you whingers haven't wanted a refund for the petrol in the tank, for the new tyres last month, for the new spark plugs, for the $5 car wash.

You have no right to reclaim anything other than personal effects! Don't like it? Stiff. Personally, whenever I've seen the agreed value on my car I've thought "Steal it, Please!"
 
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