# HELP - Insurance Claim for Car and IVA



## stephchica (May 23, 2012)

Hello everyone!
Only in Spain for a few months and had a prang in my UK volvo. It is fully comp insured in Spain ...
The quote for damage was only 40% of car value so insurance company agreed to do repair.
Yesterday, we are advised that the invoice being sent to the insurance company has leapt to 75% of car value - close to the point where it would have become a write off. The insurance company are in writing to say it would be repaired so don't doubt that they will pick the cost(?), however they are now telling us that we could be liable to pay the IVA on it. The garage (Volvo registered) however are telling us that we won't have to pay the IVA - we are talking about 600 euros, so significant!
I am assuming that as we are in the EU we couldn't claim the IVA back? Any info/advice gratefully received!
Steph


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

stephchica said:


> Hello everyone!
> Only in Spain for a few months and had a prang in my UK volvo. It is fully comp insured in Spain ...
> The quote for damage was only 40% of car value so insurance company agreed to do repair.
> Yesterday, we are advised that the invoice being sent to the insurance company has leapt to 75% of car value - close to the point where it would have become a write off. The insurance company are in writing to say it would be repaired so don't doubt that they will pick the cost(?), however they are now telling us that we could be liable to pay the IVA on it. The garage (Volvo registered) however are telling us that we won't have to pay the IVA - we are talking about 600 euros, so significant!
> ...



I don't understand how the insurance company can say that they will NOT pay the IVA.

The cost is the cost INCLUDING any and all incurred taxes!


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## stephchica (May 23, 2012)

snikpoh said:


> I don't understand how the insurance company can say that they will NOT pay the IVA.
> 
> The cost is the cost INCLUDING any and all incurred taxes!



Thank you - it didn't make any sense to me either! The information we are being given is inconsistent, so it's difficult to know what to believe ...


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

stephchica said:


> Hello everyone!
> Only in Spain for a few months and had a prang in my UK volvo. It is fully comp insured in Spain ...
> The quote for damage was only 40% of car value so insurance company agreed to do repair.
> Yesterday, we are advised that the invoice being sent to the insurance company has leapt to 75% of car value - close to the point where it would have become a write off. The insurance company are in writing to say it would be repaired so don't doubt that they will pick the cost(?), however they are now telling us that we could be liable to pay the IVA on it. The garage (Volvo registered) however are telling us that we won't have to pay the IVA - we are talking about 600 euros, so significant!
> ...


Insurance companies ,whether in Spain or any other country , work under eu rules & cannot reclaim iva/vat paid to the repairing garage . (They are vat /iva exempt. ) BUT if you , the claimant , are iva/vat registered they will ask (normally ) you to pay the iva/vat part of the claim as you can then reclaim it from the taxman. This cuts down on their outgoings & is perfectly legal.
I had this happen to me once in the UK .


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## stephchica (May 23, 2012)

gus-lopez said:


> Insurance companies ,whether in Spain or any other country , work under eu rules & cannot reclaim iva/vat paid to the repairing garage . (They are vat /iva exempt. ) BUT if you , the claimant , are iva/vat registered they will ask (normally ) you to pay the iva/vat part of the claim as you can then reclaim it from the taxman. This cuts down on their outgoings & is perfectly legal.
> I had this happen to me once in the UK .


Thank you so much! That makes a little more sense to me now. We are NOT VAT registered however, so I guess in this situation they cannot ask us to pay it and will foot the bill themselves?


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## gus-lopez (Jan 4, 2010)

stephchica said:


> Thank you so much! That makes a little more sense to me now. We are NOT VAT registered however, so I guess in this situation they cannot ask us to pay it and will foot the bill themselves?


Yes, That would be normal.


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## stephchica (May 23, 2012)

gus-lopez said:


> Yes, That would be normal.


Thanks so much for your help - will sleep a little better tonight!


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