Cars and Insurance

In September 2005, I decided I needed to replace my car. After much searching around I discovered that to get anything within my requirements, Diesel, mid range, estate or hatchback at the very least, I was going to have to spend at least seven and a half thousand euros. Then I would be buying a car about five years old which was probably an ex rental or lease vehicle.
A fact you have to accept when you buy a car is that you have three choices.

a/ Buy new. A huge initial outlay, immediate depreciation in value but a car that is as reliable as it gets.
b/ Buy second hand. And maintain. Lower initial out lay but the probability of higher maintenance costs. Risky, but if you don’t want to run to the price of a new car. That’s the choice
c/ Buy second hand and cheap and run the thing until it dies. No thank you! At my time of life, I deserve more, and am prepared to pay more.

The car show rooms I visited made it clear to me that to obtain a car in my budget range, they were indeed doing me a great favour. I was shown two Renault Megan Estates year 2000. The first had dents on every corner, bald tyres, a filthy engine compartment and 60,000 Kms on the clock. I was not impressed. They showed me the second later on that day. They put it through the car wash and it was there engine running with air conditioning on full blast. I took it for a test drive. It was a welcome escape from the summer heat, I decided I could live with this! I was pleased with it.

Looked in the engine compartment, like a new clock. A power unit that you would be proud to lift the bonnet on one lazy Sunday morning when you think it is about time you checked the oil, radiator and fill the water squirters. In fact on a modern car, that is about all you can do yourself these days.

In terms of looking at the engine and showing off your knowledge of the internal combustion engine, pointing it’s basic components out to grandchildren. Forget it! No more “That down there is the Starter motor next to the alternator below the radiator which cools the water which cools the engine. That is the distributor cap, there is the coil that makes the spark and over there is the carb. That is short for carburettor” Now it is “That is the plastic cowling that keeps the dust of the engine, and those pipes are something to do with the Power steering, aircon, turbo, thrusters, fuel injection, space warp drive thingy! Oh I don’t know, ask your mother!”
Any way after some negotiation for the repair and tarting up of some minor body work scratches, I stretched my budget and bought the thing for seven and a half thousand euros. I was very happy with the car and I managed to negotiate insurance through the same dealer fully comp and paying twice yearly.

I took delivery of my car a week or so later and was delighted with the economy and freedom it provided me with. When winter came, I went in it to work in England. It was about then that I turned off the air conditioning. That was when I discovered why the dealers had tried to sell me the other car first, and why the air conditioning was set to it’s coldest and more to the point, loudest setting. It drowned out the sound of the failing clutch mechanism which occurred whenever you put your foot on the clutch pedal. It wasn’t until my return to Spain, that I was able to get this repaired. The cost was six hundred euros.

Then during the course of 2006, I replaced tyres, fitted a really nice radio CD, replaced an electric window motor, all in all gladly invested a further thousand or so euros in general servicing and maintenance of the car. Following this vehicle husbandry routine I can safely say, that my seven and a half thousand euro Renault Megan was a better maintained car than it was when I bought it, and represented a much higher investment to me than the original purchase price. By this time it was May 2007. This is when it was stolen!

So reports had to be made to police. This was when I realised I had no idea what the registration number was, I could check the documents. No I cannot. In Spain you are required by law to carry vehicle document originals in the car, along with insurance documents and copies of your passport or identity card. The only reason I can think for this, is so when the car is stolen, the thief has all the necessary paperwork in his possession to legally transfer the car into his name! All my insurance documents where in the car. I hadn’t a clue what the name was of the insurance company was. I eventually checked my bank statement and found the name on a direct debit.

So the Insurance company was contacted re the claim. They asked for all the paper work. I told them that was stolen with the car and they requested a load of other stuff which involved queuing in the Alicante Traffico for three weeks, and now as we approach middle of August I have heard that the insurance company would like to pay me four thousand two hundred Euros.
I know that there is an understanding within the insurance industry, that to claim on insurance should never put you into more advantageous position than had it not been necessary. Well believe me there is no danger of that in this case!

If I take my four thousand two hundred euros back to the dealer where I bought my car and say “That car I bought off you was stolen, but it is ok because I have the insurance money, so can I have another one please” I just know that there is not going to be enough money there. So how and why have they come up with this figure?

Suma attached a value of five and a half thousand euros to my car for taxation purposes. I would be lucky to replace it for that, but it is a more realistic value and using contacts I have in the motor trade, I would be in with a fighting chance.

Any money that I have to spend on maintenance as before is lost I know. That money was not insured, neither was my favourite CD’s, which also went, but the car was.

So come on Insurance industry. Give us a chance. It’s bad enough, inconvenient enough, upsetting enough and costly enough, having our cars stolen in the first place without having to run the gauntlet with your greedy claims department. You’ve had my premiums on time with no question for 35 years.

Now it’s your turn to get real and pay out gracefully!