Help please - accidental damage

mike_lee77

Hi money saving chums - can you help please

We recently dropped a 4-year-old laptop and now the screen does not work. Swift covers me for accidental damage. The laptop is a Compaq (now hp) nx 6310.

I do not have the receipt and cannot remember how much it cost. Internet is not helping, as the laptop is too old.

Two questions
1) Is it worth claiming bearing in mind an excess of £100 and potential increased premiums?
2) If it works on a like for like comparison, do I find an equivalent spec laptop and establish a cost for Swift?

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers
Mike

lisyloo

1) Why not run some "virtual quotes" yourself. E.g. go to a comparison site. Get quotes without claim, note prices, then edit quote details - add on claim, reduce no claims and note prices again.
The difference may apply for 3-5 years, so multiply up and add excess.
Quotes vary with postcode so sorry but you really have to do this for yourself.

2) Some insurers will supply you direct or give you vouchers (they get discounts for bulk arrangements with their suppliers), but it's not a bad idea to know what you should be getting.

Is there any possibility your laptop could be repaired?

InsideInsurance

It doesnt matter how much it cost it matters simply how much it costs today to buy an equally speced machine.

Googling shows it had a fairly wide range but even the top end model of it is well below an entry level machine today. So either you will get a replacement basic laptop after you pay £100 or looking at online prices then I would guess a cash settlement between £150 to £250. AD claims tend to have the highest impact on premiums so you'll need to check the premium loadings with 0 NCD, 0 years claim free and 1 AD claim. Whilst the impact is over 3-5 years it does reduce overtime as you rebuild the NCD, no claims period and the claim goes back into history so I wouldnt times the loading by 5.

To test the loading make sure you rerun your current "no claims" premium as premiums are going up massively at the moment and if you are a few months into your policy it would have probably gone up up to 10% just because of price inflation since then which you need to net off to see the impact purely of the claim.

lisyloo

Whilst the impact is over 3-5 years it does reduce overtime as you rebuild the NCD, no claims period and the claim goes back into history so I wouldnt times the loading by 5.

This does bring up an important point, which is that it isn't possibly to know the loading in future. You can only approximate.
Also bear in mind that the effect of 2nd and 3rd claims escalate the loading.