A badger has hit my car, what cover do I have?

henrygregory
henrygregory Posts: 567 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
edited 22 April 2012 at 6:26PM in Insurance & life assurance
Does anyone know if animal damage is covered on car insurance? I hit a fox or badger this evening.
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Comments

  • vij
    vij Posts: 254 Forumite
    Wildlife damage is covered on all comprehensive policies but it will be a fault claim due to badgers not carrying liabilty cover.

    You will need to pay your excess

    If you do not have protection on your no claims, it will be stepped back by 2 years meaning an increase on the base rate + increase of around 20%.

    If you do have protection on your no claims your premium may still increase due to the base rate of your insurance changing, and you will lose one of your strikes against the NCD if you do not have protection for life

    I dont know what the scale is for increasing the base rate, I doubt your insurer will be able to advise you either as each year you will have other increases as well. You may be able to geta rough idea by running some online quotes and comapring them with your current price, remember the price may go up by next year but it will give you a feel for the prices in comparision to the current premium

    Write off occurs when it is not economically viable to repair the car, rule of thumb here is that it will cost more than 50% of the vehicle value to repair the vehicle

    You need to advise your insurer of the incident asap, they will arrange for the vehicle to be repaired and to get you a courtesy car if this is part of your cover. Some insurers will only provide the courtesy vehicle while yours is in the shop for repairs, others will provide while you are off the road.

    At least you are home safe.
  • geri1965_2
    geri1965_2 Posts: 8,736 Forumite
    vij wrote: »
    it will be a fault claim due to badgers not carrying liabilty cover.

    :D That made me laugh.

    Worst accident I had on my bike was when I braked to avoid a squirrel and flew straight over the handlebars and hit my head on the path.

    Poor badger. :(
  • vij
    vij Posts: 254 Forumite
    Im glad I got someone to smile this morning :)
  • jackieb
    jackieb Posts: 27,605 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    I hit a deer and it caused over £500 of damage. I'm with Direct Line and they paid out. I had protected No Claims though, so it didn't affect my premiums.
  • Will you stop 'badgering' us with your irrellevant posts?!

    Your insurance should pay out and like those above have said, you'll just have to pay your excess. My partner hit a meandering fox a few months back, caused loads of damage but we just paid the excess...
  • henrygregory
    henrygregory Posts: 567 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 22 April 2012 at 6:41PM
    Thanks for all of your help and for taking the time to post!
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,636 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Give your Insurers a ring and report the claim, they will normally get their local approved repairer to come and collect the car on a low loader. Some will bring a courtesy car with them as well.

    The weather has been reasonable recently so you should find the garage will have plenty of courtesy cars and can repair your car fairly quickly.

    Most of the big Insurers have their claims departments open on Sundays others have a message taking service.

    For the future it would be worth having your Insurers claim number in your mobile as you can ring some from the roadside and they will arrange the collection of the car for you. (The only problem I have found with this method is that if you are a long way from home some will take it to the nearest repairer to the accident and then leave you to make your own way home. You then also have to get back to the garage to collect the car yourself)
  • Henrygregory- I was in same situation as you a couple of weeks ago, only mine wasnt a badger but an unconsiderate driver in the middle of the night. Hit my car and just drove off.
    I too have protected No Claims bonus and excess of £250. Ouch that hurt the most.
    My renewal is just in and has increased £60. I think from what I can make out if I change my policy and go with another insurer, its a lot more expensive to protect the NCD. I cant get any cheaper and have tried loads of companies.
    Loved our trip to the West Coast USA. Death Valley is the place to go!
  • lisyloo
    lisyloo Posts: 30,077 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Your insurer will sort everything out.
    They will have "approved" repairers (this doesn't mean they are any good, jsut that the insurer has a discount there).

    The loading in future depends on a number of factors IME, but on of them is the size of the claim.

    I had a small claim, no injuries. I have 9 years NCD, in my forties, no convictions.
    Sometimes it appears there is no uplift, other times it's small (£20).
    Other people have had different experiences, so I think it depends on MANY factors and not just one, but the size of the claim will have an impact.
    If there were no injuries in your case and just car damage then that's favourable.
  • Henrygregory- I was in same situation as you a couple of weeks ago, only mine wasnt a badger but an unconsiderate driver in the middle of the night. Hit my car and just drove off.
    I too have protected No Claims bonus and excess of £250. Ouch that hurt the most.
    My renewal is just in and has increased £60. I think from what I can make out if I change my policy and go with another insurer, its a lot more expensive to protect the NCD. I cant get any cheaper and have tried loads of companies.

    Almost forgot, ring the insurer they will give you an approved garage they use and if your insurance allows - you get a hire car
    Loved our trip to the West Coast USA. Death Valley is the place to go!
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