Glass's Guide- a parallel universe?

Just renwed our insurance; as the van is now 2 years old we move from new for old to an agreed value. The lady said, I'll just check Glass's Guide out of interest...

2Yr old Stanton with Prermium Pack, tracker and a few bits and pieces, £42-£44k.

Paid about £62k, new cost now about £66K.

I suppose Pete it lost 20% of the purchase price in vat which is just over £12,000 as soon as you bought the van and the other in depreciation, my Bourton is the same it loses a great deal as soon as you drive your new van away from the dealers, when I traded in my Suffolk for the Bourton I lost a similar amount.
Don

The others are right, take off tax, dealers profit then depreciate around £2 to £2.5k / annum

Strange that the 2014 Stantons I've seen for sale at Dealers in the last few months have all been around £55-56k. 2nd hand price is not based on the pre-tax value, is it? Crafty * Inappropriate Word *.  

If I have to replace van due to total write-off, they'll not be offering me one for £42k, will they? Or even £42k, plus a reasonable margin.

You should tell insurers that you can't replace for the value they state and come to an 'agreed' value, which is what you said you were getting.
Sounds as if they are only giving what they call 'market value'.

When I got a PEx valuation for my van one dealer told me that it was based on price I paid less Vat less £2500 pa for the age of the van. I have seen approximately the same formula used for other PEx deals people have done and has been mentioned by roli above. I actually got a bit better offer from another dealer.

Remember the forecourt price for a secondhand vehicle will include the dealer's profit plus VAT on the dealer's margin or on the whole pre-VAT price of the vehicle, depending on which scheme the dealer is using. The pre-VAT price will also include elements of costs the dealer has - staff, premises etc etc plus the sticker price won't be the price you pay after haggling, will it?

I was always of the opinion, that insurance is there to put you back in the position you were, before the event of a claim. Therefore, it should provide you with enough to enable you to buy another motorhome, identical to that which was lost,,,,,,otherwise, whats the point ?

The point is insurance companies make a profit.

But.....they can still make a handsome profit, and also provide us with the outcome that we pay our premium for, and the result we insure for. Then everyone would be happy !! I often wonder what the problem is !!!

Never had a claim on a Motorhome, but did have to claim on my car once due to my son writing one of our cars off. They paid me some £2000  less than we paid some 6 months before, was told I paid too much for it as I bought it from a main dealer! Go figure that one. It was a market leader insurance company.

I had same experience.

When our new caravan was written off in the hail storm of 2012 insurance paid out the price we paid, condition had to buy another new caravan, otherwise it would have been market value.

 my motorhome is on an agreed value which I pay £20 extra for, did query what I would actually  get in the unfortunate event I had to claim for a right off of theft, answer was I would get the agreed value, I did point out that there are not many vans the same as mine, so possibly would not get another one, then  told I would get the cash, to get whatever I could suitable for me.

Just hope I don`t have to claim, just got it as I want it.

All, when we bought our Winchcombe we were offered an additional 'gap' insurance in the event of the MH being written off/stolen to cover any 'loss' of compensation between what insurers would pay (no pressure to use any specific insurers or recommendations) and actual replacement costs for purchase of similar vehicle. IIRC this is valid for 5 years following purchase and was about £300 as a single 'one off' premium.
Like all insurance, hopefully we will never have to use it and I assume that it would be honoured if we had to make a claim.
Old adage; you don't know how good your insurers are until you have to make a claim...

Motor Insurance is generally based on the principle of indemnity, i.e placing the insured in a similar position as they were prior to the loss. When I dealt with insurance claims, the onus was on the insured to prove their loss and value, so often was the case that values were supported by auto trader and various valuing guides. In the end it's down to negotiation and if a similar vehicle cannot be found or sourced for the offer being made by the insurers, do not accept it and keep plugging away.
For a tip, it's good to negotiate at close to 5pm on a Friday, as the weekend beckons for the claims handler.