Insurance question, to claim or not ?

jos28

The OH gave the car an unmerciful scraping against the pillars while trying to park (so glad it wasn't me). A friend who did something similar found he was covered by his policy and only had to pay the excess. His insurance company said he was covered for claims under €3K without affecting his No Claims Bonus. My insurers never heard of such a thing.
If we make a claim they will load our policy by €200 for 3 years which is a lot cheaper than paying the €2500 for the repairs. I'm just nervous that there will be hidden clauses. Any advice would be much appreciated.

mathepac

So is (200 x 3) + your excess < repair cost?

Do you have any other insurance with this company that might be effected (another car)? Are you both comprehensively insured on the car and might there be another loss of NCB on another policy at risk?

jos28

Paying the loading and the excess would be a lot cheaper alright. We are both comprehensively covered and have no other policies with the insurers. My husband is the main driver and I am named. The only other car I drive (very rarely) is my sons, I am a named driver on his policy.

MugMugs

And you lose your no claims bonus. Ncb loss + loading + xs =? Oh and the best underwriter couldn't guarantee that set amount for loading over that duration.

tin79

jos28 wrote: »

The OH gave the car an unmerciful scraping against the pillars while trying to park (so glad it wasn't me). A friend who did something similar found he was covered by his policy and only had to pay the excess. His insurance company said he was covered for claims under €3K without affecting his No Claims Bonus. My insurers never heard of such a thing.
If we make a claim they will load our policy by €200 for 3 years which is a lot cheaper than paying the €2500 for the repairs. I'm just nervous that there will be hidden clauses. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Its not an 06 D silver jeep by any chance is it? Saw a Touraeg absolutely wrecked down one side from a pillar a couple of days ago - the noise was awful. Squeeeeeeeeeekkkk!

si_guru

You have paid for accidental damage cover - use it. There's nothing wrong with doing that. If you don't you may as well had TPFT for the last X years...

MugMugs

Depends on the severity of the damage and the circumstances involved.

jos28

tin79 wrote: »

Its not an 06 D silver jeep by any chance is it? Saw a Touraeg absolutely wrecked down one side from a pillar a couple of days ago - the noise was awful. Squeeeeeeeeeekkkk!

Not guilty of that one

jos28

MugMugs wrote: »

the best underwriter couldn't guarantee that set amount for loading over that duration.

That's what worries me most about making a claim. In reality we are both over 50 with full clean licences and have never made a claim before so surely they can't punish us too much. I think I will get a couple of quotes during the week and then decide.

oldyouth

I never heard of an insurer loading a premium for a €2k to €3k claim. Are you sure that the €200 increase mentioned wasn't the reduction in your no claim bonus? Sounds like a 3 year step back to me.

jos28

The person I spoke to said that we would lose our NCB for 3 years and that our next renewal would be €200 dearer, the following year we gain back some our NCB and that would be reflected in the renewal price and so on. I am going to read the policy to make sure that we cannot make a small claim without losing our NCB as the girl I spoke to did not seem very knowledgeable.

oldyouth

jos28 wrote: »

The person I spoke to said that we would lose our NCB for 3 years and that our next renewal would be €200 dearer, the following year we gain back some our NCB and that would be reflected in the renewal price and so on. I am going to read the policy to make sure that we cannot make a small claim without losing our NCB as the girl I spoke to did not seem very knowledgeable.

Yeah, that's a step back NCB alright. You are right to check the policy wording just to be sure