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market value sounds quite fair really. If your car gets nicked, you won't get a brandnew one back!!
Yes I wholly appreciate that, but with a car there are price guides eg cap or glass's to gauge a value . Not aware of any such guide for grounds kit.
The issue I have is the insurer expects me to replicate our losses by sourcing used kit from dealers with written quotes, we all know there are huge differences in the condition of say a 3yr old machine. Unlike replacing a car where there are thousands of used to choose from this is not the case for garden machinery. Try sourcing an Echo semi long hedgecutter that is worth buying! The onus is on us to source and get written quotes can you imagine how long this will take ? That's assuming you can find particular used machines. The whole system is in the insurers favour.
as a genral rule of thumb it will devalue at 25% each year. if you do manage to find one that do new for old your premiums are going to be sky high
On that basis anything 4yrs old is worthless so is not worth insuring which is clearly not correct.
Have you tried Hiscox business insurance , not with them myself but they say rapid tool replacement to keep a business running in the event of a mishap .
Bit of a minefield though when it comes to machine brand choice replacement , right tool for the job value I very much doubt will happen , more likely to be a compromise ,
You may just have to build up a machine contingency fund over time instead of paying out insurance premiums , in reality machines need replacing due to wear and tear or require spares ,running repairs etc , so some money needs to be set aside anyway but obviously not all at once like when a full van load gets stolen .
Hiscox are market value but thanks. It seems to me that with insurers its heads they win and tails you lose
Sadly, I'd say most commercially used stuff isn't really worth anything after 4 years work. As you say, if they give you half the new value, you'll never find a satisfactory secondhand one for that money but will just have to put it towards the cost of a new one. I had stuff nicked a couple of years back.. about £1200 worth new. It didn't feel quite so bad when I replaced the items with a newer better model. .
to be honest, stuff that we've used commercially for 4 years probably is pretty worthless though we could possibly flog it on Ebay to some unsuspecting domestic-use customer!!
Peter, thats how it works with them and its on your purchace price not the current RRP and will want purchace receipt. as a exsample a £600 machine in 4 years time will be valued at £190 but the new price could have gon up £100 in the 4 years since you bought it. also i think they wil not include VAT
I forgot to add your premiums will go up as you have had a claim