This happend not so long ago, here in Singapore!
A guy had loaned the money to purchase is car from the bank, it must have been a NTUC bank, anyway, he thought well, I may has well get the insurance from the same place. I believe the loan was over 118,000$ any way his car was stolen, and the NTUC insurance only paid him 50,000$.
Their excuse was, that was the market value for that car at the time it was stolen, the car was 1 old.
So the guy stopped paying the instalments, and they started to prosecute him for the remainder of the loan 60,000$
This is a prime example of being ripped off by baks and insurance companies, they will always find a way to screw, you, knowing that you will also have to take them to court if you have the money, most do not,
But this time the courts didn't help, they discovered that their investigations showed the vehicle to be worth more tha 70,000$ so why did they only award him 50,000.
The reason was because they didn't trust the guy, and he may have sold the car.
But to me, the only thing this article proves to me, is that, no matter what you pay for your car, as soon as you drive away from the garage, your insurance will no way cover the price of the car, they will always try for a loop hole, an excuse to screw the owner.
So the moral of the story is if it happens to you, stop your instalments on the car, if you disagree, with an accident award, let them take you to Court, and argue your case. but also be warned, your car will never be worth that you paid for it, you can probably write 15% off in the first week and maybe 20% or more the first year, yet you still pay a premium insurance payment on the full price of your vehicle, because they always ask you how much the car is worth, and you would obviously say what you paid for it.
In stead, you should ask them what the car is worth, and why you shouldn't pay the insurance premium accordingly, to their book price at the time, because that is more likely what they are going to pay out. the next is to remember that your insurance premiums should also decline in accordance with the value they are going to pay out on the depreciation of the car each year..
They are actually ripping off billions of $ from customers, if you really look deep into a vehicles true worth, because they actually go on market trade price, and not retail value or the price you paid.
Why do they always ask the customer what the value of the car is??? Becuase then you are at fault, your mistake, not theirs! Be warned. Never trust these con artists!