I’ve had several valuation requests this week for new agreed insurance valuations from former Admiral insurance customers. It seems that Admiral insurance has decided to close down its agreed value insurance policies and several customers have switched to insurers including Adrian Flux.
As the only independent classic car valuer recommended by Adrian Flux Insurance and many more insurers, I’ve had several emails for valuations from former customers of Admiral Insurance in the last few days and some interesting vehicles have been added to my client list.
Mini Mayfair Rolling Restoration Insurance Valuation
The first was Emma with a 1990 Rover Mini Mayfair. The car is mid restoration and does not present in the most cosmetic appealling condition. However, the owner has invested several thousand pounds over the course of her ownership in restoration and rebuild.
The restoration is now into the final stretch and the bodywork and repaint will be the perfect finishing touch. To look solely at the car’s exterior presentation and not account for the money that had been spent in structural rebuilding, with new sills, new boot floor, new cabin floors and so on, it would be tempting to value the car quite low. However, one look at the classifieds shows that values for Classic Minis are certainly rising.
Replacing Emma’s beloved Mini Mayfair would be quite a complicated business. She is now insured with Adrian Flux for the correct market value, in line with the value that she had on her previous Admiral Insurance policy so all is good.
Morris Minor Traveller Insurance Valuation
Next former Admiral Insurance customer was Nick with a classic Morris Minor Traveller that’d had a full restoration with a Minor specialist. I do love Minor Travellers, and see quite a few of them as part of my work. Two very beautiful examples come to mind.
One was part of a collection of 1965 vehicles I valued for insurance. Owned by a very nice couple in Cumbria, they had restored a beautiful farmhouse in a very scenic part of the county and wanted a collection of classic vehicles to go with them. The Minor Traveller was part of that. It was a very local car that had been owned by a woman in the next village, more or less from new. The car was restored to beautiful condition and remains on my private client register.
The second Minor Traveller was valued as part of a classic car probate valuation report last year. This was for a very large collection of beautiful cars. It had been bought in a Car and Classic auction by the late owner just before he died and was in surprisingly immaculate condition. It was exactly the sort of thing you try to find a use for in your own collection as it was simply too nice to imagine someone else owning it! I know it was going back to market and hope it has gone to a good home. Nick’s Minor was a superb example and it has also been valued a touch higher than its Admiral insurance valuation.
Great cars are now hard to find and insurance replacements are challenging. I read a Porsche thread last week where the owner had accepted a valuation of £40k on an air-cooled 911 with a full restoration. This is simply madness. Why take a lower value from an insurer – whose business model may involve paying you less – rather than the maximum value for the car from a professional valuer?
Classic Car Valuations Specialist provides online valuations for insurance, buying, selling or HMRC import purposes for classic and collector cars of all ages. You can order an insurance valuation, pay and upload photos using our online classic car insurance valuations form. Contact us with any questions.
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