I had the unfortunate situation where my 2003 Mercedes Benz 220 CDI A/T was written off in an accident on November 2013. My vehicle was insured by Auto & General for 'market value'. It seems that A&G's concept of 'market value' differs widely from industry accepted sources. Their 'market-related' valuation was R59 000.00, -R30 000.00 below the Trans Union valuation.
TU is a very well respected industry-wide source of motor vehicle Trade-in and Retail values. My vehicle was in mint condition with a service record and, at 211 000km was below the average of 220 000km for a 2003 vehicle, 9 000 kilometers below the average.
The value of my vehicle, as determined by Trans Union, was 'Trade' = R88 900.00 and 'Retail' = R103 800.00 in the Nov'2013 to 'Dec'2013 edition of their document. According to industry sources the 'market value' of a vehicle should be somewhere between the 'trade' and 'retail' values.
A&G paid R59 000.00, in my estimation -R30 000.00 BELOW the trade value!
I also did my own survey of 15 advertised vehicles and found that the average price for a vehicle like mine was R82 400.00. Most of the vehicles surveyed sold for R89 900.00, confirming the TU valuation
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