Thames Insurance admin Feb 7, 2016 No Comments

Work out the retail value of your car in 3 easy steps to make sure it’s not over or under-insured.

It’s a good idea to do an annual check on the retail value of your car. For starters, your car depreciates in value every year, which means you could be over-insured, so your insurance premium may be higher than it needs to be. On the flip side, and this is where the nasty surprises can happen, you may be under-insured. No one wants to find that out when they have to claim.

The retail value of a car (which is usually a higher value than the market value) is the average price a car dealer would sell it for. In insurance terms, this means that if your car is covered for its retail value and it is written off in an accident or stolen without being recovered, the settlement amount will be based on the car’s retail value. If your car is insured for its retail value, it will be much easier to replace a damaged or stolen car with a similar make and model.

The market value of a car is almost always lower than the retail value and takes into account a number of variables, including mileage, vehicle condition, service history and accident reports. If you were to sell your car privately, the market value would be the price that you could likely sell it for. Because this figure can vary from car to car, short-term insurers need to find a way to standardise the market value.

Santam’s online calculator can work out an estimated retail value of your vehicle. There are 3 simple steps to follow:

Step 1: Guess how much you think your car is worth.
Step 2: Provide us with information about the make and model of your car.
Step 3: The result.

Go to the online calculator now

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *