My understanding is that there is only one person accredited to carry out valuations across the whole range of Porsche Models and whilst this person does a very commendable job,
should the club not consider having more people accredited to provide valuations, perhaps down to register or regional level ?
(although you could argue that now, being aware of the likely delay that people apply for valuations four months before they actually need them?)
Yes, valuations are slow! We've known about it for my 10 years in the RS role, and it's raised every year.
Two things need to be considered here:
Firstly, insurers have a choice about accepting any valuation. My insurer allows a "self-cert" valuation, but of course, in the event of a claim, my personal view that my S2 is worth £150K won't be worth anything. Agreed values have to be reasonable, and "reasonable" can be argued if it comes from someone without the right qualifications.
PCGB valuations are done by one person, because he has industry approval. I probably know 944 values better than him, no offence, but I'm NOT industry-approved. In the event of a claim, some insurers could reject the approved value from me, or other non-approved valuers.
Most classic policies would pay out. Fact. The negative publicity would not be worth them arguing over £3K or £7K for an S2. But, do you want your car to be the one where they don't like the valuation, and challenge it?
Secondly, whilst the valuation might take some time, four weeks seems to be the current time, your car is covered form the time you send the form in as I understand it? If you have a claim before the valuation comes back, it's done retrospectively, and is just as valid. You don't need to plan ahead so far as I know: just insure with a policy that includes a guaranteed value, and get the forms sent off.
Some of us want to take the valuations on to speed them up, but we have the same issue as with indies or other clubs: they aren't as solid as the official ones. I guess that you could be 90% sure with a valuation from someone else, but it's that extra 10% that let's you sleep easy. Until there is an official recognition from the insurance industry that individual RSs can value cars, the Club's free service remains the only option that's completely reliable....
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