I thought I would share my story just in case anyone here is insured with Vigil or looking buy insurance. I took out a Vigil policy for my walky in March 06 with agreed value of $35k (although they were willing at the time to go to $40k). Given the price that walky's are now fetching (I know the price that 4 or 5 have sold for over the past few months, not just the ad price) it is increasingly obvious that sub $40k sales are a thing of the past. For this reason I wanted to increase the agreed value to $45k, however the response from Vigil was not what I expected. The guy on the phone told me that $35k was as far as they would go, and to send through pictures to justify any changes that would increase the value. I told him that visually there are no changes from the pics I sent in March and that I wanted increase the value in line with recent sales. Then came the quote of the century, "We don't base the insured value on what cars sell for!". To me it is a no-brainer that cars should in fact be insured for their sales potential, but obviously not for this guy. I asked him to send the photos he had to his brokers, hoping they would have a clue, and he bluntly refused. When I calmly asked to speak with someone else as the call was going no where he told me that he was terminating the call and hung up. After calming myself down I tried to call the lady who organised the original quote, but she has now left the company. I also asked for George, who apparently is a good bloke that was mentioned on another thread but he too has left. Finally I was put through to the the customer service manager, who I must say was quite nice but had no idea about the cars they insure. After speaking with a broker (who also has no idea) she said that unless I could show how I have improved the value with wheels etc they could not insure it for over $35k. I said that I have changed many mechanical parts to improve the driving, but she said it needed to be something you can see. I guess if I ever rebuild the motor this won't count as improving value! I also tried to explain to her with this type of car the less you do mod wise the better the value, but she just could't get a grasp of it. It appears that Vigil has merged with another company, and this has seemingly sent their service south. They will also be cancelling the pay by the month option in the next few months. She even tried to get me to wait until the renewal was up in a few months to change the value, because it would be easier for them. This is a bit long winded, but I just wanted to warn people. In contrast Torque underwriting were happy to insure the car for $50k, he actually pulled out a value guide. My car is not a show car, but given it's condition I think $45k is not an unreasonable value.

I cancelled a policy upon selling a car, in which I find out months down the track they had still been taking $50 out of my account each month. I told them to reimburse me, as I had it in writing with a fax stamped and dated, they said they'd look into it, but it got lost in the move between offices.. I wrote it out again.. and faxed it off, and then a few weeks ago I received a letter asking if I would like to continue my policy.

My cars are through Suncorp, normally they are really good. But didn't want to go over $27,000 on a walky. Shannons were great, NRMA seemed really helpful, in the end Shannons were cheaper and at agreed value. I couldn't go past them.

I used to be with Shannons but they were $400-$500 more expensive.

they are more expensive because they have a superior product, take it from me. ask craig who he's insured with!

yeap... my walky is (all my cars are) with shannons... very easy to deal with... they understand what cars are worth TO REPLACE.... I wanna insure mine for more, and they have asked me to take it to them to assess. I will be doing that soon. And I don't think they are that expensive really... YOUR choice of repairer aswell... Little bit more money for piece of mind... I think it's worth it...

I am with shannons. Was insured for 43 grand. I asked to up it. They said no worries we can lift it to 50 grand at no extra cost. I said i wanted it insured for 60 grand. They said no worries just send photos to confirm klms and condition . All done in a two minute phone call . i highly recommend them

Walkie, Thanks for sharing that experience with us, unfortunately your scenario today just backs up all the other storties I have heard of that company. I am yet to hear a positive thing about Vigil. I'm sure thery are not always that bad, however hanging up on customer who is dissatisifed is totally unacceptable. I'm sure if this was escalated to Vigil and let known how this negative experience is being shared across web forums the guy would most likely be getting the SACK! Anyway, good to see Torque helped, I have used them for years with no probs. I also used to use Shannons and found them excellent for quite a few years... until I had an absolutely unacceptable experience over the phone with some "a55ehole" (with an ego bigger than texas) which prompted me to cancel my policies on the spot. You were right in upping your cover...Walkies in the sub $40K range are now almost unheard of. Cheers, Dave.

dave, thats a pretty average story... there are some people within the company that for some reason think they are god's of insurance so its a shame you ended up with one!

yeah the guy I deal with at shannons is an absolute tool.. no idea that one.... Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

ahahha yes he is! But i heard his vl is going to chop yours!

The guy I dealt with was cool as! He has owned 31 Torana's, 3 A9x's and was totally stoked to hear I had just purchased a walky. Don't forget to mention you have a Cams licence, if you have one.

I was insured through RACQ but have since changed to Shannons-agreed value over the phone for $30000 back in beginning of 2006.Only problem was i had one of the basic mongoose car alarms fitted back in 1998 so Shannons wanted me to upgrade to a four point alarm(which i have done).Soon as i get my drivers seat re-upholsted i'm taking my Walky in for assesment for $40000+.

just rang shannons to up my insurance (been with them for almost a year) and they said that the chances are not that good as the value for a walky is at $25000... wats with that??? but wen i first rang they were more than happy with agreed value

Shannons used to have a policy whereby they would only insure for agreed values over $25k if you take in the car for them to inspect. Ask them and they might increase the insured sum.

Quote: Originally Posted by jasonswal just rang shannons to up my insurance (been with them for almost a year) and they said that the chances are not that good as the value for a walky is at $25000... wats with that??? but wen i first rang they were more than happy with agreed value It really depends who you talk too. Hang up and try later or get a recomendation of who to talk too. Someone on here should help you.

Quote: Originally Posted by sly It really depends who you talk too. Hang up and try later or get a recomendation of who to talk too. Someone on here should help you. cheers thanks for that will try another day, does anyone know anyone ther that could help?

Should defo be able to get more than $25k for it... yours would be in the 40k bracket id say.... EVL 51R used to work for Shannons in Perth. PM him and he might be able to get someone to help you out Jason.

I rang Shannons to enquire about raising the insured value. They said that even though they may have auction examples for much higher values, they would only consider the matter once having viewed and valued the vehicle. Was spose to follow that up quite a few weeks ago but I haven't had a chance to. I'd be pretty cut with myself if mine was stolen with the money these are getting at the moment.

I had a shannons guy look at my car at a car show a while back, and he told me the maximum they would go is around 10 grand, and if he pulled some strings -maybe- 12. Bearing in mind I explained that the car had about 20k in reciepts, genuine s2 calais turbo with sunroof, rebuilt rb25/30, 18's, bodykit, almost every under car part replaced (with reciepts). I told him it would be far more than 10,000 to "replace" it, but he didn't seem to agree... Anyway I asked him for a quote, took all my details and said he'd call in the next week, I never heard back! Sounds like you have to speak to the right person, I'm surprised vigil wouldn't know the value of a walky?