I crashed....what to do?

hitman79

Ok had my first crash this morning and wondering should i go thru my insurance? I've done €2200 worth of damage between my car and the car i hit. I've fully comp insurance but dunno should i claim and risk my policy going thru the roof or pay the €2200. Any advice guys??

Mozoltov!

If you have your NCB protected I'd just let the insurance company handle it. If you can afford the €2,200 then fire away.

hitman79

Mozoltov! wrote: »

If you have your NCB protected I'd just let the insurance company handle it. If you can afford the €2,200 then fire away.

I dont have my NCB protected(well dont think i do as its not very clear on my policy). I pay about €400 a year for insurance so just wondering roughly how much it would go up if i claimed? Could i end up paying more than €2200 over the coming years on my policy?

Mozoltov!

hitman79 wrote: »

I dont have my NCB protected(well dont think i do as its not very clear on my policy). I pay about €400 a year for insurance so just wondering roughly how much it would go up if i claimed? Could i end up paying more than €2200 over the coming years on my policy?

They normall take in to account of claims in the last 3 years. Ring them tomorrow and see if your NCB is protected. If it isn't, we'd only be throwing imaginary numbers around of what you'd be paying on renewals if you have to claim.

mathepac

Just remember that there are two forms of NCB protection -

• Step back (they'll take 1 or 2 years off your NCB depending on policy / circumstances)
• Full protection (your NCB is fully protected)

Step back may be included free in some policies as a sales gimmick - check it, it can be very valuable; full protection is usually only a relatively expensive option. In either case you will still have to pay your policy excess (from €100 to €500 depending on policy)

Vertakill

I would've thought this was fairly cut and dry...

You (only) pay €400 p/yr yet you'd be willing to shell out €2200 of your own money in one go to keep your NCB?

It would take around 3 years of being consistently rode by the insurance companies to amount €2200 of insurance fees based on your current annually rate.... ie. it's very unlikely to happen.

Personally, it just makes absolutely no sense to me to pay €2200 out of your own pocket as well as paying your annually €400, all in order to hang onto your NCB.
If you were paying over €1000 p/yr, I'd entertain the idea of paying myself... but definitely not if I was only paying €400.

hitman79

Mozoltov! wrote: »

They normall take in to account of claims in the last 3 years. Ring them tomorrow and see if your NCB is protected. If it isn't, we'd only be throwing imaginary numbers around of what you'd be paying on renewals if you have to claim.

If i ring them and tell them what happened without going ahead with a claim are they gonna hit me harder nxet year knowing i've had a crash but didnt claim?

mathepac wrote: »

Just remember that there are two forms of NCB protection -

• Step back (they'll take 1 or 2 years off your NCB depending on policy / circumstances)
• Full protection (your NCB is fully protected)

Step back may be included free in some policies as a sales gimmick - check it, it can be very valuable; full protection is usually only a relatively expensive option. In either case you will still have to pay your policy excess (from €100 to €500 depending on policy)

My excess is €300. Looking at my ploicy again im almost sure i dont have the NCB protected.

Vertakill wrote: »

I would've thought this was fairly cut and dry...

You (only) pay €400 p/yr yet you'd be willing to shell out €2200 of your own money in one go to keep your NCB?

It would take around 3 years of being consistently rode by the insurance companies to amount €2200 of insurance fees based on your current annually rate.... ie. it's very unlikely to happen.

Personally, it just makes absolutely no sense to me to pay €2200 out of your own pocket as well as paying your annually €400, all in order to hang onto your NCB.
If you were paying over €1000 p/yr, I'd entertain the idea of paying myself... but definitely not if I was only paying €400.

Cheers for the heads up....i was thinking they might put me up to maybe 1000 next year, then 900, then 800 etc so i'd end up paying more than 2200 over 4/5 years

snowman707

hitman79 wrote: »

If i ring them and tell them what happened without going ahead with a claim are they gonna hit me harder nxet year knowing i've had a crash but didnt claim?



My excess is €300. Looking at my ploicy again im almost sure i dont have the NCB protected.


Cheers for the heads up....i was thinking they might put me up to maybe 1000 next year, then 900, then 800 etc so i'd end up paying more than 2200 over 4/5 years

as Vertakill states your're still going to paying at least 1200 over the next 3 years anyhow, are u taking this into consideration /

slave1

Can you be 100% certain that the 3rd party won't put in a claim against you?
Pass this over to your insurance co., this is the exact reason why you are insured...

hitman79

slave1 wrote: »

Can you be 100% certain that the 3rd party won't put in a claim against you?
Pass this over to your insurance co., this is the exact reason why you are insured...

Im pretty certain he wont put in a claim. All he wants is the minor damage to his car fixed. Im going to ask my insurance company how much my policy will go up if i claim before going ahead with claiming thru my insurance.

djimi

If it was a few hundred quid or even up to a grand that youre talking about then I would say pay it out of your own pocket or sort it out with a credit union loan or something, but for the amount in question Id say youre better off to let your insurance company sort it out. If you have step back protection on your NCB then your insurance is not going to double or triple next year; you can work it out - 1 year usually = 10% discount so if you are paying €400 with 3 years NCB then you are paying 70% of your actual premium which would work out around €570. If you step back to 1 years NCB then based on this years premium youd be paying about €515. Even if they up your premium based on a claim I cant see it rocketing up enough to justify covering 2 and a bit grand out of your own pocket.

The biggest sticking point about claiming is that you will almost certainly be tied to your current insurer for the next 3 years as most companies will not take on new business unless the person in question is claim free for a certain length of time, usually 3 years.

Of course, my maths and calculations and therefore advice could be way off the mark, so if I get corrected for talking bollox then I apologise!

cpoh1

If you claim and your NCB is not protected your policy will double from 400 to 800 most likely and be reduced as you rebuild your no claims again. Its a no brainer claiming for an acident like this.

Jimmy Bottlehead

With an amount that high, it's the reason you pay insurance.

JimmyCrackCorn

Get your insurance company to handle it, then pay the insurance company the money if you don't want to loose your NCB.

Handling this yourself is a bad idea.

MidlandsM

hitman79 wrote: »

Im pretty certain he wont put in a claim. All he wants is the minor damage to his car fixed.

Don't believe this for a second. Claims are going thru the roof in this recession. He'll have a SOT (known as a solicitor in the insurance game) representing him in no time and a Property Damage and Personal Injury claim in the post.

If not, you'll be very very very, lucky.:pac:

DonJose

JimmyCrackCorn wrote: »

Handling this yourself is a bad idea.

Especially after reading his username.

hitman79

Cheers for all the advice guys...Turns out i do have the no claims protection so im going to go thru my insurance. I reckon i've paid 10k of insurance fees in my life so im entitled to claim rather than being out of pocket. Cant wait to get it all sorted and get back on the road

celticbest

I had a crash a few years back and was in a similar position to yourself.

In the end I decided to go through the Insurance & IMHO it was the best thing I could have done, my premium went up by about €150 a year for 2 to 3 years & it is now back to normal.

Going through my Insurance saved me 1,000's of Euro's