Accidental damage to car

Spectreon666

Hi,

Just wondering if it's worth making a claim on my car insurance. I accidentally damaged my car in the car park where my car is kept. I scraped the side of the car against a pillar quite badly. There's more damage to the the very bottom panel below the doors aswell. As far as I know I have a no claims bonus protection on my car so I'm hoping that if i do claim then my insurance will not be hit next year when I re-insure my car. Would this be the case?

Thanks for any replies

CiniO

Spectreon666 wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering if it's worth making a claim on my car insurance. I accidentally damaged my car in the car park where my car is kept. I scraped the side of the car against a pillar quite badly. There's more damage to the the very bottom panel below the doors aswell. As far as I know I have a no claims bonus protection on my car so I'm hoping that if i do claim then my insurance will not be hit next year when I re-insure my car. Would this be the case?

Thanks for any replies

First of all, check how many claims you can make during what period with you NCB protection.
Often it's something like one claim in 3 years.
So if you claim now, you can't make any more claims in the next 3 years, without loosing you NCB.
Other thing is, that after you claim, you will have to stay with your insurer, as NCB is protected only if you stay with them.
Whenever you will want to switch insurers, new insurer will be notified of the claim, and will calculate NCB according to it.

Atlantic Dawn

Depends on your driving history but if I presume a full no claims I wouldn't claim unless the damage was atleast 3k or more, the loss of the no claims will cost a lot of money.

Spectreon666

Thanks, I'm going to ring them tomorrow and find out. I intend to stay with my insurer as they have been decent to me. I've around 1 - 2 yrs with my NCB. In regards to my driving history, about 2 yrs ago my dad made a claim in regards to an accident when I was driving the car at the time. It was a freak accident when one of my friends opened the back door into an oncoming car which clipped the door. My dads insurance was wasn't affected but mine was. I was the 2nd driver at the time and didn't have a full policy.

My car is worth 2500k but damage repair and panels respray could be up to 1k or a bit more. Don't fancy doing half a job myself just to make it look ok, I'd rather get it done properly.

hoodrats

might be an idea to put it through your insurance if it does,nt affect you bonus. you could use your cash to get your eyes tested.:)

rebel.ranter

You also need to check what the "excess" is on your policy. The excess us the amount of the repairs that you will have to pay yourself.
Example:
Damage: €1,000
Excess: €400 (typical value)
What insurance company will pay towards costs: €600
What you pay (the excess) towards repair: €400

Some cheap policies (cheap for a reason) have high excesses on them. Not all policies are the same.

paddydriver

Put it through insurance if you have protected NCB - but like someone else said, you will need to stay with them.

Broker told me that if a bigger claim comes about later on, and you need to claim for that and not risk losing the protected NCB, or if your insurer decides to start ripping you off then you can pay back the claim and its off the record.

dev100

Insurance companies are businesses. They are never good to you Show them no loyalty ... But thats only my opinion:) I assume you have Fully Comp? Have you step back protection or the full no claims protection? Is your insurance expensive at the moment?

First off dont ring them about your mishap until you have got an estimate
to fix the car. If the car is only worth 2.5k id get a bare minimum job done with car being of relatively low value. If you can get a quote under 1k pay it yourself. . Is it really worth being restricted to the same insurance for the next 3 to 5 years with no choice of getting cheaper quotes especially when you take into account your excess...other insurance companies need you to be claims free to take you on for certain period of time. Its really up to you:)

stevenmu

Definitely get an estimate first, then you can start to work out how much it will cost in terms of NCB over the next few years.

Also think about how it affects the value of the car. For e.g. if your car in perfect condition is worth €2500, and repairs and/or insurance costs you €1000, but the car with the damage is worth €2000, then there's not much (financial) sense in fixing it at all.


(of course sometimes it can be about more than financial sense, if you love a car it can be worth spending the money, but at least check it out first)

Spectreon666

Just on the insurance website and it states the below (in italic). I have €200 excess on my policy and 30% no claims. It looks like my NCB will be reduced to 20% which isn't too bad. I need to be 3 yrs no claims to fully avail of the NCB Protector (not affect my insurance at all). After the accident above with my dads car, my current insurance company quoted me the cheapest by far of about €1350 others were quoting me at over €2000. Currently its about €1000. I'm going to talk with my insurance company anyway to see where I stand with them to see if it's viable to make a claim. Personally, I think the car is worth it and it's well taken care of. Plus in these times I don't want to spend any extra than I have to, so if it works out then I'll make a claim and hopefully stay accident free after that.

Our No Claims Discount Protector Plus cover is available on private car policies. With this cover if you are claims-free for three years on your policy a single claim will have no effect on your discount. Where this doesn't apply your discount would not be forfeit entirely but reduced as follows in the event of a claim:

50% discount reduces to 30%
45% discount reduces to 30%
40% discount reduces to 30%
30% discount reduces to 20%
20% discount reduces to 0%

dev100

Spectreon666 wrote: »

Just on the insurance website and it states the below (in italic). I have €200 excess on my policy and 30% no claims. It looks like my NCB will be reduced to 20% which isn't too bad. I need to be 3 yrs no claims to fully avail of the NCB Protector (not affect my insurance at all). After the accident above with my dads car, my current insurance company quoted me the cheapest by far of about €1350 others were quoting me at over €2000. Currently its about €1000. I'm going to talk with my insurance company anyway to see where I stand with them to see if it's viable to make a claim. Personally, I think the car is worth it and it's well taken care of. Plus in these times I don't want to spend any extra than I have to, so if it works out then I'll make a claim and hopefully stay accident free after that.

Our No Claims Discount Protector Plus cover is available on private car policies. With this cover if you are claims-free for three years on your policy a single claim will have no effect on your discount. Where this doesn't apply your discount would not be forfeit entirely but reduced as follows in the event of a claim:

50% discount reduces to 30%
45% discount reduces to 30%
40% discount reduces to 30%
30% discount reduces to 20%
20% discount reduces to 0%

Seriously get an estimate first.

Do not tell your insurance company anything until you have those figures. Plus the value you have on car will never be the value what insurance companies place on it. They could decide its uneconomical to repair it . Just give you a cheque and the car becomes their property... If you look at your cost of insurance now and what it may be in 2 to 3 yrs time it could be halved if you dont put put any claims in. Id preferr to get my renewal costs down instead and be able to shop around for best prices

Im claims free (touch wood )but yet this year my renewal cost went up despite never had an accident. I queried this and was giving all the excuses etc I just went and sought a cheaper quote elsewhere if we take your case You cant do this ...