In order not to feel cheated while trying to know the car value for insurance claims, you should understand how to determine the car’s value and cost of repair. After your car gets damaged following an accident, you want to make sure that your insurance company gives you the compensation you deserve for the repair job or the value of your totaled car.

Determine the Car’s Value

The good news is that there are many resources, both online and offline that help you determine car value for insurance claims. Some of the best resources to consider include Kelly Blue Book and the NADA Guide. It is however important to note that most insurance companies will not compensate you for a vehicle that has been totaled – that is if the cost of repair is more than the cash value assigned to the car. The onus lies on your insurance company to decide whether or not to fix your car or pay for its book value after it has been declared totaled.

However, you can also file a claim to prove that the insurance company is paying below the book value of the damaged car. In other words, you can file to increase your claim or settlement. To make your claim more substantial, you need proof which includes service history, mileage records, and an affidavit from your mechanic indicating that the car is worth more than what was stated by the insurance company.

Understanding The Process Of Car Value for Insurance Claims

Upon filing a claim with your insurance company, they will refer your case to a claims adjuster. They will investigate and verify if your claims are genuine. Once the verification process is complete, they will make an initial determination on what it will cost to fix the vehicle.

The adjuster’s estimate is only a benchmark. It is an estimate that the insurance company is yet to approve. So the ball lies in your court. Will you accept the adjuster’s offer or you’d like more additions to the estimate? You don’t have to feel pressured into accepting the claim payment offered by the adjuster.

Your insurance company will request a quote for the worth of a similar car from your mechanic, car dealer, or garage for comparison purposes.

As expected, your insurance company will always want to pay for the lowest bid. No one will want to go into a business dealing to run at a loss. So don’t be surprised by this move. On your part, you want to make sure that your car is restored to its original condition; likewise, the insurance company does not want to cover an inflated cost for fixing the car.

One of the things that could affect your compensation claim is known as betterment. If you fix your car using brand new parts, your insurance company may argue that the repairs have actually enhanced the car’s value and therefore they can legitimately reduce your claim by the difference between the new and old part.

You don’t have to accept your insurance company’s settlement, you can always negotiate. There are experts that can help you get the most out of this deal.

If you are a classic car owner, you will need to have it insured. Before getting insurance coverage on your prized possession though, you need to know which insurance policy would be best for you. Unlike regular cars, classic cars appreciate in value with the passage of time. For regular cars, the contrary is the case. As such, a conventional car insurance policy might not sufficiently cover your car. You’ll need something more. In this case, an agreed value car insurance might just be what you’re looking for.

Agreed Value Car Insurance

To ensure a full indemnification in the event of a loss of value on your classic or antique cars, it is best you take out an agreed value car insurance. What is agreed value?

Agreed value is an amount that an insured and his insurer agrees on beforehand to be the value of the vehicle to be insured. Thus, in the event of a total loss, the insurer must pay the total sum of the agreed value to the insured.

There are several ways this value is arrived at. Usually, it is based on a professional appraisal of the vehicle to be insured. If at any point the value of the vehicle increases, the insured could request for a change in the agreed value to reflect such increase.

Why is Agreed Value Best for Insuring Classic Cars?

As a classic car owner, you will want to protect your investment to the fullest. Regular car insurance policies can’t do that for you as it might not cover the real cost of the car. Thus, in the event of a total loss, you would only recover an amount that might be nothing close to what your asset was worth. With agreed value, you can choose the amount you want your car insured for. If the insurance company agrees to it, then you can rest assured that you’ll fully recoup your losses and maybe even more if anything should happen to the car.

The Cons of Agreed Value Insurance

One of the major disadvantages of taking out an agreed value insurance that is higher than the market value is higher premiums. Since the agreed value for classic cars is usually high, the insurer would have to keep paying high premiums to hold on to the coverage. Sometimes, one might think why he needs to keep paying such high fees when nothing has gone wrong with the car for the longest time. To be on the safe side, you should keep it insured because you never know.

Also, there are some insurance companies that revert the terms of an agreed value insurance to that of market value upon renewal of the insurance coverage. As such, you must be careful when filling the form to renew your classic car insurance policy.

In conclusion, while taking out an agreed value insurance might be expensive, it would definitely be worth it if something unfortunate happens to your car and leaves it totaled.

Over the past few years, education expenses have been growing at a higher rate in India. The cost of government engineering courses is 9 to 10 lakhs  and in top private colleges, it is 15-20 lakhs. In the coming years, the cost may rise between 25 to 35 lakhs if we apply an inflation rate of 10%. 

These education expenses can quickly drain all your savings. In order to save money for your children’s education, most of you are blindly putting your hard earned money into several child policies that are basically insurance policies, bank fixed deposits, physical gold without knowing that these options would provide poor returns that do not even beat the inflation. 

Estimate the Cost of Education

Don’t worry, it is not that difficult, proper financial planning can help you achieve your future goals. One of the most important aspects of financial planning is to determine the amount of money you need to save for your children’s education. Once you are aware of the amount, start investing in the best investment plans in order to meet your financial goals. 

Investment options for your Child’s Higher Education

There are various investment options available in the market one can go for-

• Mutual Funds
• Saving Schemes
• Term Deposits

Mutual funds are considered as one of the best investment plans if you wish to save a large amount of money for your child’s future needs. Equity investments are termed as the best for creating wealth in the long run.  Calculate the estimated return on the invested capital by using a lump sum calculator and make the best suited plan as per your financial needs. It is always advisable to invest in equity through mutual funds because of its volatile nature and requires special knowledge. It is always better to start investing as early as possible to gain higher returns in the long run. Let’s find out some reasons why investing in mutual funds can be a good deal.

Why to invest in Mutual Funds for Child Education Planning?

1. SIPs– Mutual funds via SIP is best suggested by experts as it indulges disciplined savings and protects you from market fluctuations. Also, the power of compounding has a multiplier effect on your money. SIPs are the most convenient investment option available in the market as there is no need for manual payment of installment, the amount will get auto-debited from the account. 
2. Mutual funds are Transparent– Mutual funds get you all the essential information. You can check where and how your money is being used as an investment. The investment strategy is declared publicly and the net-asset value  is updated online daily. You will be able to check the performance of your investment.
3. Accepts Small investments– Mutual Fund Systematic Investment Plans (SIP)allows you to make investments of rs 500 every month to avoid any financial burden. This small amount would not affect your monthly expenses and gradually you can increase the installment amount as per your financial plans. Small and regular investments help you achieve your long term goals. Also, compounding and cost averaging both works together to help your money grow in the long run.
4. Managed by Professionals-Your portfolios are professionally managed by experts for which they take very less amount. These professionals with years of experience help you in effective assets allocation to handle downside and upside of your wealth.
5. Diversified- Mutual fund allows you to invest in other assets & commodities such as bonds, cash and gold. Through this, you will be able to reduce the risks of investing in one stock and enjoy higher potential returns.

Savings are good but to ensure success of your financial goals,we need to invest in the right asset. There are several traditional saving options available such as RD and Insurance policies. The average rate of interest over the last 10 years is just 7.5% and the interest amount is fully taxable for investors who come in the highest tax bracket. If we go with insurance policies, the rate of return is just 6 %. According to the experts,equity is considered as the best performing asset for long term investment.

It feels bad when taxes eat a substantial part of returns on your investment. Therefore mutual funds allow investors to enjoy tax friendly investments. Long term capital gains of upto 1 lakh rupees per year is completely tax free. If your amount exceeds 1 lakh, you will be charged only 10% tax.

Best Child Plan Mutual Fund

The investment strategy you are going with should be based on the age of your child and future requirement. Suppose your child age falls between 11-15 years so your investment strategy should include the most important step of his career after 10th class. You need a great investment scheme to beat the rising inflation rate and create a corpus for your child’s future goals.There are several child investment plans one can invest in to gain higher returns in the long run. Below given list shows some of the best mutual funds schemes for your child’s bright future. Go through the data to analyze in terms of returns, rank and performance of the funds.

Giving the best quality education to his children is every parent’s dream. To fulfill this dream, mutual funds are a good option if you want to achieve this crucial goal. Mutual funds allow you to invest through various options like debt funds, equity funds, and income funds that help you to decide the best investment scheme. Systematic Investment Plan is an ideal option if you want to invest in your child’s education for a longer duration. Go for professionally managed mutual funds to enjoy higher returns in the long and that too with a very less installment amount with full convenience.