Car insurance - how long to report incident

lolaclare

I have a dent in the front of my car that I did about a year ago but never got around to getting fixed or claiming for on my insurance for.

Today I managed to scrape the side of my car and it looks terrible and really does need fixing.

My question is, as I am claiming for and getting the scrape repaired, I may as well get the dent sorted too; but is there a time limit for reporting damage and will they still pay out for it considering it is almost a year old?

TonyMMM

They might, but it will probably count as two claims.

You could claim for the new scrapes, and ask the bodyshop doing the repair work to fix the dent at the same time and bill you seperately for it. They may be able to do some sort of deal for you.

Bigsmak

Your payments will go up next year if you claim.. Make sure it is worth it for a scrape.

lolaclare

So there's no time limit for claiming for damage?

It is a scrape and a dent in the side of the car so I think it will be quite expensive to repair. And the dent at the front is quite big. I might get some estimates for the repair cost before I contact my insurer.

As they are two separate incidents, I guess I'll have to pay the excess twice? Is there any way of finding out how much my premium is likely to increase next year if there are two claims this year?

Quentin

lolaclare wrote: »

So there's no time limit for claiming for damage?

It is a scrape and a dent in the side of the car so I think it will be quite expensive to repair. And the dent at the front is quite big. I might get some estimates for the repair cost before I contact my insurer.

As they are two separate incidents, I guess I'll have to pay the excess twice? Is there any way of finding out how much my premium is likely to increase next year if there are two claims this year?

There is a legal limit of 6 years to claim for damage from the responsible third party.

Your policy will detail if there are any time limits for claiming off the policy.

When getting quotes from local garages stress to them that you want the quotes for yourself, not for insurance purposes (it should be cheaper).

You would have 2 excesses to pay, and it would be 2 claims for NCD purposes. (If your NCD isn't protected, check your policy to see what effect 2 claims will have on your existing NCD).

You can do "virtual" anonymous quotes online with and without the claims to see what difference they make to the policy. Also vary your NCD when doing this.

lolaclare

I'm actually just a named driver on my husband's car insurance and the car is in his name.

Both incidents were while I was driving and there were no other cars involved (just bumping into/scraping against inanimate objects ).

Will claiming for these two incidents affect his No Claims? Will the fact that I'm just a named driver mean that the effect on the premium will be less than if I was the policy holder?

As far as I can tell, my insurer (Direct Line) just says to inform them as soon as possible after an incident.

vax2002

They will get the money back, many many times over, find a garage and get it repaired privately, you will save thousands over the next 6 years.

Quentin

lolaclare wrote: »

...Will claiming for these two incidents affect his No Claims? Will the fact that I'm just a named driver mean that the effect on the premium will be less than if I was the policy holder?

As far as I can tell, my insurer (Direct Line) just says to inform them as soon as possible after an incident.

Yes it will affect his NCD. None will be added for the curent year, and he will lose (maybe all) his NCD. Check your poliocy to see how much 2 claims will cost the NCD. (If he has protected his NCD there will be an affect, but not so bad!)

You as the named driver won't make any difference - the premium will rise because of the 2 claims irrespective.