Hi all,

My wife was t-boned at an intersection recently, the other driver was at fault.

My wife and the other person have both contacted their insurance, and both of them are with AMI.

After telling AMI what has happened they have told us it sounds as though we are not at fault and have therefore waived our excess and given us a claim number for repairs at the panel beater we chose. They have also told us that the sum insured for our car is $1700, well less than the $3000 it was originally, but they lower it every year.

They have also told us that if the repairs cost more than $1700 the car will be considered a write off and they will pay out $1700 or market value, whatever is LOWER.

My frustration is that the car is certainly worth more than $1700 and the panel beater also said it could be repaired until he found out it was insured for $1700, he assumed it would be $2500 - $3000. After I told him it was $1700 he said it would now be a write off.

One thing has sprung to mind though and I wanted to know my rights about it before calling insurance, hypothetically if the other driver who was at fault had insurance with another company and not the same one as us, that other company would not know the sum insured for my car (the $1700), and would there for compare the cost of repair to market value and pay the cheaper option, which would mean our car would be repaired, or market value would be paid to us, which I assume would be about $2500.

The fact that we both have insurance with AMI means AMI know the sum insured is $1700 and they will pay that out for a write off and not market value, which I think is dodgey.

I can understand if I was claiming for our car being stolen or if I was at fault and damaged the car, but the fact someone else caused the damage means it should be repaired or market value paid to us? seems we are getting short changed?

Thanks!