Hit and run, parked car

JayMul

Came out to move my car this evening and noticed a massive scrape and dent along the side of it, the wing mirror is also in bad shape. After speaking to one of the neighbours they said they heard a bang last night and when they came out they did see a car speed off around a corner but didn't get the reg. I didn't hear anything. The Gardai have been around and filed an incident report, not much they can do without registration or details.

Luckily I have full protection on my Insurance so that's the route I'll be going. The question I have is about my excess - €300, do I have to pay this in this situation? If I do can I claim the excess off the MIBI or any other facility? Any information would be really appreciated thanks.

ironclaw

Pretty sure the excess always applies unless its another person hitting you and their insurance is paying out (Which isn't the case here)

However, that said, you should price the repair before approaching the insurance company. Mightn't make sense to put a claim on the record and go through the hassle if its anywhere near the excess amount to put right.

JayMul

It will definitely cost over the excess, massive dent in both doors huge scratch down whole side of car. Paint removed to reveal metal on both doors. Wrinkle on back door where it got crunched. Wing mirror given a jolt and is a little loose also the indicator glass is cracked. Being an Accord CDTi Exec I'd imagine we're talking over a grand at least.

djimi

Just bear in mind the effect a claim will have on your policy for the next few years. NCB protection or not, the premium may still increase, and with a claim against your name it may be difficult to change insurer.

It would be worth getting a quote to get the damage fixed yourself and then weigh up the cost against the potential effect on your premium after you claim. It might make better sense to take out a credit union loan or something like that to fix the damage.

You cant claim off MIBI unfortunately. My girlfriend is in the same situation, and when we asked about MIBI we were told that we would need to know the identity of the car/driver and they would have to verify that they were not insured to drive the car.

endacl

Isn't it great to have fully comp insurance?

:rolleyes:

I feel your pain op.

JayMul

What you're saying is good advice guys thank you, I'm not going to take it though mostly out of principle and being a stubborn old fool.

blondie29

Hi OP

You're paying insurance for a reason, I think you should look into claiming off them. I damaged my car in one of the bad winters few years ago, did about 2k in damages.

Everyone was telling me to fix it myself that I'd lose my NCB. I claimed off insurance, my premium went up couple hundred the following year but was back to normal again after that.

No way was I dishing out over 2k. Look into it & see what they say. Good luck!

pcardin

endacl wrote: »

Isn't it great to have fully comp insurance?

:rolleyes:

I feel your pain op.

Exactly, never got the point of having it either. Always cheaper to fix without involving them.

pcardin

blondie29 wrote: »

Hi OP

You're paying insurance for a reason, I think you should look into claiming off them. I damaged my car in one of the bad winters few years ago, did about 2k in damages.

Everyone was telling me to fix it myself that I'd lose my NCB. I claimed off insurance, my premium went up couple hundred the following year but was back to normal again after that.

No way was I dishing out over 2k. Look into it & see what they say. Good luck!

Good for you and your insurer. Not the same scenario for everyone thought. My insurer is penalizing me for third year in row now for a bit less than 700e claim. For me it would deffo work out cheaper if I didn't call them/claim back then. :mad:

JayMul

pcardin wrote: »

Good for you and your insurer. Not the same scenario for everyone thought. My insurer is penalizing me for third year in row now for a bit less than 700e claim. For me it would deffo work out cheaper if I didn't call them/claim back then. :mad:

Who are you insured with?

djimi

JayMul wrote: »

What you're saying is good advice guys thank you, I'm not going to take it though mostly out of principle and being a stubborn old fool.

You have to do the maths. An insurance claim can seriously **** you up for a few years (even a relatively small one), and it would be utterly riduclous to let stubborn principles tie you to an expensive insurer for the next three years.

It may well work out cheaper to claim of course, it all depends on the cost of the repairs. But I would suggest that for repair work under or around a grand it would be better not to use your insurer.

ants09

djimi wrote: »

You cant claim off MIBI unfortunately. My girlfriend is in the same situation, and when we asked about MIBI we were told that we would need to know the identity of the car/driver and they would have to verify that they were not insured to drive the car.

According to MIBI website - MIBI compensates victims who have been involved in an accident caused by uninsured or unidentified vehicles.

So i be looking into claiming of the MIBI op if i was you.

djimi

ants09 wrote: »

According to MIBI website - MIBI compensates victims who have been involved in an accident caused by uninsured or unidentified vehicles.

So i be looking into claiming of the MIBI op if i was you.

I rang them about this last week. Unidentified vehicles only applies to personal injuries (where a pedestrian, or presumably cyclist, was involved in a hit and run). It does not seemingly apply to damage to property.

For damage to cars they need a reg number of the offending vehicle.

Sobanek

Yeah, surprised MIBI isn't mentioned at all.

That's why our premiums are so high - a part of it goes towards MIBI. (At least that's what I heard)

ants09

djimi wrote: »

I rang them about this last week. Unidentified vehicles only applies to personal injuries (where a pedestrian, or presumably cyclist, was involved in a hit and run). It does not seemingly apply to damage to property.

For damage to cars they need a reg number of the offending vehicle.

The new MIBI (Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland) Agreement comes into operation on the 1st May 2004. It extends the scope of MIBI’s liability, (subject to certain provisos) for compensation of victims of road accidents involving uninsured or stolen vehicles and unidentified or untraced drivers to the extent of compulsory insurance under the Road Traffic Act, 1961 as regards personal injury or damage to property.

djimi

ants09 wrote: »

The new MIBI (Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland) Agreement comes into operation on the 1st May 2004. It extends the scope of MIBI’s liability, (subject to certain provisos) for compensation of victims of road accidents involving uninsured or stolen vehicles and unidentified or untraced drivers to the extent of compulsory insurance under the Road Traffic Act, 1961 as regards personal injury or damage to property.

I was in this exact situation last week. I rang MIBI and spoke to them; they do not cover damage to property where the offending vehicle has not been identified. They will only cover damage to property where the vehicle has been identified and it has been found that the driver/vehicle was uninsured.

Quote from their website all you like; they will not help the OP in this situation (or rather, if they do Id be very interested to hear about it).

Galadriel

The same thing happened to my parked car over the weekend; smashed wing mirror, side indicator casing was smashed and the bulb ripped out, but somehow they also hit the exhaust which is on the other side of the car. So unless I was unlucky enough to be hit by two cars over the weekend or just one very drunk person :mad:

JayMul

I rang the MIBI and I can confirm they don't insure this particular situation, only in the case of where there is also personal injury involved will they cover damage when the driver is unidentified.

I did an online quote with my insurance company citing the claim and it only added an €120 for the first year reducing for every year passed. So I'll be sticking to my principles. So over four years it will cost me around €500 euro including the excess.

Putting the claim in now.

JayMul

Just looking at different companies and how they treat this situation. Axa don't appear to increase your premium as I imagine it would come under vandalism, Liberty Insurance won't insure you even under malicious damage claim. Amazing the difference, Axa is more expensive though.

agent graves

why do insurances companys raise the premium after you claim? isnt the whole point of insurance that if there is an incident that your covered.. its like your being punished for claiming..

ironclaw

agent graves wrote: »

why do insurances companys raise the premium after you claim? isnt the whole point of insurance that if there is an incident that your covered.. its like your being punished for claiming..

Because you made a claim and increased, mathematically anyway, your risk. Hence you are a liability on paper. It doesn't matter what the claim was for. Its simply a formula based on how much you cost the insurance company.

Insurance, in my eyes, is literally for if the car is a ball of scrap or serious damage. Its not for scrapes, bumps and scratches like many people think it is. Hence why you should always weigh up the increase in premium versus say a credit union loan or similar.

In the OPs case, the damage is severe enough to probably warrant a claim but at the end of the day insurance companies are a business and out to make money. Nothing more.

Just looking at different companies and how they treat this situation. Axa don't appear to increase your premium as I imagine it would come under vandalism, Liberty Insurance won't insure you even under malicious damage claim. Amazing the difference, Axa is more expensive though.

Liberty are cheap for a reason. People really need to read the small print. The cover is minimal.

JayMul

Insurance is going to cover the damage, estimate came in at €2500.

JayMul

Update: My insurance renewal quote came in last week including the claim mentioned above. It's 100 euro cheaper than last year :pac:

Voodoomelon

A great result! Bet you were bricking it come renewal time.

Irishcrx

agent graves wrote: »

why do insurances companys raise the premium after you claim? isnt the whole point of insurance that if there is an incident that your covered.. its like your being punished for claiming..

It's a bit mad alright , fully comp insurance but if you ever need it you can't really claim unless it's ahuge amount or you'll be stung for the next 3 years or so.

I had my laptop insured with gadget insurance and my son destroyed it with a glass of coke one evening (He's only 2) and I was worried about something going wrong with the claim , it's an expensive gaming laptop around €1300, it was actually fine I went through the procedure and within two weeks they had replaced it with an even better model for me. Premium didn't increase either.

JayMul

Voodoomelon wrote: »

A great result! Bet you were bricking it come renewal time.

Yeh I wasn't looking forward to it. Pleasant surprise.