when is it worth claiming on car insurance?

baxbya

does anyone know the threshold for how much a car repair costs to be worth using your insurance? I slid into a kerb, popped a tyre and did something to the steering - when I get a quote for repair - how do i know whether it's worth claiming on insurance considering how much it'll go up next year etc.?

cjgoodsell

I would only claim if it the repairs were triple the price to my exess e.g. £150 xs x 3 = 450

lisyloo

how do i know whether it's worth claiming on insurance considering how much it'll go up next year etc.?

Do "virtual" quotes.
i.e. go onto confused.com
Get quotes without claim.
Then edit details to add in claim and reduce NCD (if appropriate).

Compare values.
Multiple the increase i premium times 3 (for 3 years).
Add in excess.

If you have other vehicles or are a named driver on other policies then bear i mind that those may increase too.

baxbya

thanks - how many no claims do i lose if i make a claim?

LoopyPrune

Are you protected no claims? If so you can usually makes 2 claims before they start reducing the years. If you are unprotected no claims then your back to square one. Usually the terms are somewhere inside your policy booklet.

For tire damage its never worth claiming. Steering can be dependant on the model of the car. Can you give more details about the model, year etc?

baxbya

THANKS - no claims arent protected. It's a jaguar x type 2litre diesel.

baxbya

It's more complicated than I explained as it's my friends car and he says I have to pay cash to fix it regardless of cost - I'm trying to point out that if it's over x ammount, I would rather pay the excess and the increased premium on his insurance but he's having none of this and won;'t give me his insurance details.

lisyloo

If you are unprotected no claims then your back to square one

Hmm.....I think you lose 2 years no claims for every incident, not the whole lot.

He's correct that it's not just the excess.
The loading in his premium will affect him on his policy for 3 years, plus any other policies he's on. So if for example his wife has a car this is six lots of loadings to consider.
Plus he may be affected for 5 years on his NCD depending on his situation.
So if he's on two policies then that's six loadings and 10 drops in NCD to consider.

My gut felling is that it's likely to be cheaper to pay if you are talking tyre damage.

It's also his policy not yours.
Why should he take the chance of all these loadings?

You should pay for the damage in full.
This is yoru friend isn't it??

LoopyPrune

Hmm now we getting into dangerous territory. Does he have you listed on his policy or does his policy cover any driver etc? If not then his insurance company will not touch the claim. If you were driving under 3rd party only using your own policy then your insurance wont want anything to do with it either. I would suggest you get 3 quotes from different garages and pay him the average of the 3, or you can refuse to pay anything and there aint a thing he can do apart from myabe a small claim court (But you said you were friends so this would not be the prefered route)

Personally I never drive anybodies elses car no matter what, but I don't know your circumstances so I would have to say pay the guy cash, the fact remains you damaged his property in your care and you need to make good on them repairs.

The reason I say 3 quotes is because he might just take it to a Jag main dealer therefore your going to be paying for main dealer service which is heavily inflated over say a reputable non main dealer.

baxbya

Thanks for opinions - would appreciate sticking to the original question though. I have considered all other q's before posting and was left with the one I asked.

I would never claim for just a tyre, I just don;t know what damage has been done to steering or how much it's going to be (or why he's so against me claiming on the insurance to which I've offered to pay all excesses / all related (only his) increased premiums if it ends up cheaper- hence trying to work out which is the best way to use it).

I could wait for the quote and contact insurance but he needs it done 1st thing tomorrow so am trying to work out a threshold figure now so it doesnt hold us up tomorrow - I cant get his help as he is out drunk at present .

Thanks to anyone who can help with the original question.

lisyloo

It is pretty much unquantifiable, because even if you do quotes now, there is no guarantee the loadings won't be greater in 1 x 2 or 3 years later and if he has other accidents then that's a variable.

However you have been given all the relevant information.

PER POLICY he's on (this includes other cars and other vehicle e.g. motorbikes), there will be a loading for the claims, most likely for 3 years.
The exact figure depends on his age, gender, postcode, car, accident history, mileage, conviction record and claims record, so there is no way anyone can put a figure on it.
But you have to take

LOADING * 3 years * number of policies.

To get an approximation, however bear in mind this may vary in 1, 2 or 3 years, so it's only an approximation and therefore he might be out of pocket when insurers change their prices.

Then there is the NCD loss.
If he is protected there will be no hit.
If he is unprotected then there will be a loss of 2 years no claims.
Worst case is he goes from 2years -> 0 years and is affected for 5 years.

So
Year 1 40% discount goes to 0
Year 2 50% discount goes to 30%
Year 3 60% discount goes to 40%
Year 4 65% discount goes to 50%
Year 5 65% discount goes to 60%

Adding that up I make the worst case exactly 100% of his premium and that assumes he only keeps ONE vehicle for the entire period.

I don't think there is anymore information you can be given.
Hope that helps explain it in more detail.

I don't think anyone can give you anythign more specific because as said before it depends on his age, gender, postcode, car, accident history, mileage, conviction record, claims record, job, level of cover etc.

Personally I would be very much against you using my insurance. I'm not judging just trying to give you an insight into his thinking,
1) All the figures can change over the next 5 years, so it's very risky for him. He could change postcode or job and that might give a higher figure.
2) If he has further accidents or gets further vehicles then he could be affected in a way you cannot calculate right now. So again it's quite risky for him.
basically it cannot possibly be quantified and all the risk is on his side on higher premiums.

I hope that demonstrates that he will be quite badly affected in a way you cannot quantify up front if you claim.