Post Accident Advice: Insurance & Repair

DeanM

Hi All,

I had never had an accident before in my 2.5yrs driving but unfortunately that changed yesterday. Coming up to a set of traffic lights, there was a side road, i saw a car and watched for just a split second to make sure it didn't pull out in front of me, as I have seen this happen before. as i checked that car, i didn't notice traffic ahead slow down. i looked back, saw the cars ahead, distance didn't look ideal so i pressed the brakes a bit harder. As the road was wet, and my car doesnt have ABS, the car just slid and kept going into the back of the other car and steering wheel made no difference. tried to steer away, but car kept going forward. I realised since that in the absense of ABS, i should have pumped the brakes but it is too late for that now! I think if the road was dry, or the car had ABS, i would have stopped in time, or at least reduced the damage.

So there are two issues, my car and their car! What to do about my car, and how to pay for theirs.

The other car.
The other car was an 08 ford mondeo. After the bump, it looked like minimal damage. like it was just a bumper knocked out of place a bit but a couple people told me that it may look like that but there could be internal damage. They were right. the quote from marina crash repairs, cork city, was €2485. It's my respnsibility, and I accept that I have to pay it, and want to do so asap so as to minimise the hassle to the other party. I am just wondering how would be best. I have insurance that would cover it of course but i was advised that if i could avoid a claim that might be best but i think it is beyond the threshold of trying to avoid a claim.
my details are, i'm 28, 2yrs no claims discount, no previous accidents/claims. my insurance in January this year was €414 on a 1.4L 01 ford focus. I am wondering how much the insurance could possible go up with a claim? and for how long? I heard my insurance could go up to about €1000 and stay up for about 4-5yrs. Is this likely? If i only had 2years no claims, would that mean in 2yrs it might be somewhat reasonable again?

My car.
If the above quote was the only cost, i would probably just avoid making a claim and try to pay it off. My insurance is 3rd party fire and theft. So unfortunately my car isn't covered and i have to cover that cost as well. I brought it to a garage and they said it could be about €800 with second hand parts (front bumper, bonet, head lights). It is an 01 ford focus lx with about 155,000 miles and NCT and tax due end of june. I have had it 2.5yrs now and has been going great. The garage said the value is probably only about €1200, so if it was just my car i had to worry about, or if i had comprehensive insurance to get the value of the car, i would be looking to just replace it and not bother with the repair. but with that claim for €2485 i'm wondering is it worth trying to repair it as it's the cheapest option and try to get another couple of years out of it? or not worth it?

Claim, or not?
Since i have both cars to worry about, the cost is about €3.5k if i get my car repaired. maybe €4.5k if i replace my car with something around the €2k range. Would anyone like to share their experience of similar situations? any advice on what the best option would be? Any ideas as to what i can expect from insurance after a claim?

Thanks for reading!
Regards,
Dean

Atlantic Dawn

What kind of age group are you? If your in your 20's insurance might go over €2k, 30's insurance might go up to €1.5k. Depending on your age you could be looking at in or around the same of a penalty if you go through your insurance or if you pay the €2485 outright with the rise in premiums until you get back the full no claims bonus. Personally with that kind of price I would go with the insurance unless you are very young.

DeanM

Thanks for the reply. I wrote in my post that i'm 28.

Those numbers seem pretty high. If it was to go up to €2k then, after 2 years, i would have paid more than the repair cost, and probably continue to pay more insurance.

jkiamasnake

Its the sudden "sore neck" and "sore lower back" you need to be more concerned about OP!!! Hopefully there wont be any issue for you though!!

DeanM

jkiamasnake wrote: »

Its the sudden "sore neck" and "sore lower back" you need to be more concerned about OP!!! Hopefully there wont be any issue for you though!!

Yes, hopefully not! But, they seemed like decent people and were nice enough about it. it was a woman in the car, and her husband came to the scene after, and first thing he did was ask was i ok and i appreciated that. So, hopefully that won't be an issue.

thebiglad

I cannot see your insurance going up quite as much as you fear so long as the claim stays only for the damage for cars, as previous poster says if a sore neck develops then all bets are off

People are more inclined to claim for the sore neck if dealing with anonymous and deep pocket insurance company than yourself.

Your problem will be potentially that when the repairs get underway even more damage can be found and the costs rise further.

Insurance premiums in general are heading up, your premium prior to No Claims Discount is about €700 so that will be the minimum cost you'll pay at renewal, then add say 50% for a claim (not including any injury element) so you would be looking at around €1,000. Now, your policy does not renew till January so you must drive for next 6 months and then the full 12 months of next year with no more claims in order to start getting your no claims discount back (30% in year one), your premium will then start to decrease again but probably still be around €1,000.

So at this point you will have paid €1,000 - €1,500 extra premium - it is cheaper than paying the repair costs yourself and spreads the cost over 2 years. Main problem will be the limited choice you have at renewal of your policy as many insurers will not give you a quote.

The issue will come if you have a 2nd accident before January 2017 in which case a greater premium cost will be applied to you.

You do also have the option to let the insurer deal with the claim now and then pay them back in December and have the claim removed from the record.

Not a yes/no answer you probably want but something to think about hopefully.

You need to move fairly fast if you are going to repair the other car as they may have Comprehensive insurance and intend to repair the car via their own insurer.

Finally, are you sure the garage is giving you a good rate on the repairs or are they charging you at the rate they would charge an insurance company - you will find there is quite a difference for the same repair.

DeanM

Thanks thebiglad, very good information.

We spoke after the incident and decided to get a quote, and see what the cost would be and proceed from there as regards to claiming insurance or paying cash. I'd expect to be claiming on my insurance. The insurance numbers you suggest do seem more reasonable than paying the repair. And it it is good to be aware of the option you mentioned of paying them back in december. it is an option and would give me some time to think about it or save for it.

Not a yes or no answer, but providing the right information i need to decide how to proceed! So, very much appreciated!

I will ring them and ask them if they can do any better on the quote if i can pay myself and save them the hassle/paperwork of dealing with insurance company. Not sure if it is likely, but it sounds like from the estimates you provided, if it does not drop below €1500, it is still worth going through insurance. Even then, it might be worth just letting the insurance deal with it so that i can just worry about repairing/replacing my own car.

Thanks again for the advice!

_Brian

Of course, if they took your insurance details and reported the accident to their insurance company your insurance company will be notified will be expecting a call from you.

Are you not liable to contact your insurance company within 7 days of any accident.

DeanM

_Brian wrote: »

Of course, if they took your insurance details and reported the accident to their insurance company your insurance company will be notified will be expecting a call from you.

Are you not liable to contact your insurance company within 7 days of any accident.

I know that, but as i said above, we discussed it and they are letting me decide whether to go through insurance or pay directly. As i also said above, they were nice and very reasonable.

Probably am liable to contact them within 7 days. but it only happened yesterday, so there's plenty of time. I contacted the guards and it is on record with them. I am just getting quotes in order and will contact insurance either this afternoon or tomorrow at the latest. Even if i don't claim.

_Brian

But my point is even if you don't claim. By virtue of contacting your insurance company, notifying them if liability if the accident.
Insurance is based on risk, will your premium not increase anyway as your proven higher risk due tithe accident. It would be worth knowing, no point in paying out yourself and your insurance going up anyway.

ARCD

_Brian wrote: »

But my point is even if you don't claim. By virtue of contacting your insurance company, notifying them if liability if the accident.
Insurance is based on risk, will your premium not increase anyway as your proven higher risk due tithe accident. It would be worth knowing, no point in paying out yourself and your insurance going up anyway.

I was in a similar situation to the OP about 6 years ago, had an accident with about 2.5 years No Claims Discount. Reported it to my insurance company but settled the damages myself. My premium did not increase at my next renewal, in fact my quote was significantly lower than the previous year. It's probably unlikely that the OP's insurance would increase if there's no claim

DeanM

_Brian wrote: »

But my point is even if you don't claim. By virtue of contacting your insurance company, notifying them if liability if the accident.
Insurance is based on risk, will your premium not increase anyway as your proven higher risk due tithe accident. It would be worth knowing, no point in paying out yourself and your insurance going up anyway.

Don't know man, but good point. could be true. I don't know to be honest but at this stage I am planning on going through my insurance.

DeanM

ARCD wrote: »

I was in a similar situation to the OP about 6 years ago, had an accident with about 2.5 years No Claims Discount. Reported it to my insurance company but settled the damages myself. My premium did not increase at my next renewal, in fact my quote was significantly lower than the previous year. It's probably unlikely that the OP's insurance would increase if there's no claim

That makes sense because thebiglad above advised that i could have insurance settle it, and reimburse them before my renewal to have the claim removed. Both of your statements seem to back each other.