Car insurance claim - how much does it affect me?

[DanceLikeAMon...]

Afternoon all.

I was backing out of the car park at work this afternoon and was paying so much attention to the snow that I failed to see a car parked behind that I backed into and dented their wing.

Totally my fault and I've given him my details to do it through the insurance as I've only got £100 excess, but never having made a claim before I was just wondering how much it will affect future premiums.

I've only got one years NCB which I will obviously lose, but anyone got a rough idea what % my premiums will jump up next year - or is it dependant on the size of the claim against me (Which I don't think will be massive)?

Ta moochly!

[JonB]

I can't give you a specific answer as I don't work in the industry per se. However I would be led to believe that your premium would probably suffer more if you did damage to the third party as in the insurers eyes you would be more of a liability to insure.

I'm not sure though, some insurers when they quote you ask for how much the overall claim cost. So it maybe based on cost.

I wouldn't worry too much though. On a group 1 citroen C1 I paid £392 fully comp last year with 2 years NCB.

I did a quote last night for a group 6 1.6 Golf MKIV with no NCB, 21 yo and 1 at fault claim costing £4500 and was quoted £445 fully comp. So it may not affect your premium as much as you think.

End of the day mate, don't feel bad about your accident, it happens to everyone. It is hard to concentrate 100% of the time on everything around you, especially when condition are as adverse as they are.

What insurance company are you with btw? I'm with Bell and their claims department is absolutely poo, i've been doing all the chasing and only found out my car was a total loss after I rang them! It's been two weeks and I still don't have a courtesy car!!!!
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[DanceLikeAMon...]

Cheers for those reassuring word Jon.

It's First Direct I'm with. I've no idea how good or bad they are (yet!) as the only correspondence I've had is them sending me my insurance quote and thanking me for my money.

[G]

Your excess is only paying for your own stuff - you won't have to pay out at all. However, I'd be tempted to see how much it costs and consider paying out of my own pocket.

Some companies care about the amount, some don't ask.

Remember a claim will affect all insurance policies you take out for the next three to five years. However, with decent no claims from other policies, I was surprised to still be offered £100 TPO on a GSXR1000 despite two claims from two years ago.

[DanceLikeAMon...]

Cheers G, I thought you paid the excess on any claim. That's good to know.

I did think about offering the guy cash, but he was a real nerdy character (taking photos of the bump, making me write the exact time it occured in the January page of his pocket diary etc.) so I couldn't be arsed.

Fully comp on my car is only about £250 at present, so it hopefully won't leap up too horribly! (he says typing with fingers crossed)

[JonB]

Not one to kick you whilst you are down, but I have served a couple of customers who are claiming through third party insurers for courtesy vehicles who are with First Direct and I haven't heard pretty things about their claims process. However you might be lucky.
____________________
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[damz]

may be worth paying for it yourself, its a lot cheaper for everyone if you pay for it yourself. if insurers take it to get repaired the garage will claim all kinds of stuff is broken/damaged and rack up a fortune because insurers always pay out. now of course you wont pay for this but when you need to insure again it will add quite a bit of you have an expensive claim.

i bumped into a vectra a few years ago, must have been around 2mph or less, visible damage was a scuff on the bumper. total cost.... £1.6k, they replaced the entire back end of the car when there was no need to simply because insurers will pay out.

find out how much it would cost to repair yourself before going to insurers, paying a higher premium for the next 3 years and loosing a years ncb might be worth more than you save.
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Current Bikes RVF400 - 94
Cars: RX7 FD, Eunos Roadster
Former Bikes: FZR 250R 89, ZX7R 98

[DanceLikeAMon...]

Yeah, but as I mentioned further up he didn't appear to be the sort who would let me get it fixed for him. Too late now anyhoo as I didn't take any of his details and his car hasn't been in the carpark since I hit him.

[JonB]

[G]

[MarJay]

I went to an accident repair centre with my Mrs's Peugeot 206 which had a dent in the wing from some dozy cow who reversed into it and left her details. They gave me two options:

1.) pull out the dent and respray, cutting it in on the panel

2.) replace the whole panel, spraying the door and the bonnet too to cut in with the panel so the repair wouldn't be noticeable.

Option 1 (£600)

Option 2 (£1200)

I was told only to go for Option 2 if I was going through insurance as Option 1 is a perfectly acceptable and not noticeable repair.

Go figure.
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Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[DanceLikeAMon...]

My crappy week continues

Re-mounting my wall speakers in my living room and managed to drill straight through a water pipe, so that was £85 to the plumber (pricey, but he was here within 10 minutes of me calling on a snowy Saturday and had it all sorted in 30 minutes so can't complain too much).

These things happen in threes, so any bets on what is going to happen next? Almost fell on my arse on the way to supermarket to get beer while a load of teenagers laughed at me so maybe that's the last one.

Think I'll go buy a lottery ticket now.