Advice on whether to use car insurance ?

amc1

Hi, I am looking for advice on whether to go via my car insurance or personally cough up after a bump please.

Background :-

I'm with SwiftCover since Jan 2010 starting with 8 years NCD and having "protected no claims". My insurance started at around £280 fully comp. In Feb 2010, I had a bump - (no damage/claim to my car) but the 3rd party submitted a £600-ish claim for theirs. At renewal in Jan 2011 my insurance went up to around £440.

I have just had another bump (again no damage/claim to my car) but the 3rd party has had a garage quote for £485.

I would appreciate advice on whether to go via my insurance for this or should I keep outside of the insurance and cough up personally.

This is the info on my policy re. NCD :-

Protecting your No Claims Discount means you can make one claim in one policy year or two claims in a three year period, and your No Claims Discount will not be lost.
To benefit from this protection you must:

• Have at least four years No Claims Discount
• Be over 25 years of age
• Have had no fault claims in the last three years

If you're eligible you can protect your No Claims Discount when you first get a quote or arrange your renewal, or within 30 days of these.

If the incident is not your fault and we recover all costs from the person responsible, your No Claims Discount (NCD) will not be affected. If you are in any way at fault or we can’t recover all costs, your NCD will be reduced according to the scale below:

No Claims Discount At renewal your at the start of this No Claims Discount will be period of insurance After 1 claim After 2 claims 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 3 1 0 4 2 0 5 3 1 6+ 4 2 After 3 claims your No Claims Discount will be reduced to zero years, irrespective of how many years you previously held.

If you have our NCD protection, then you may not lose any of your bonus following a claim – even if you were at fault.

Your advice/tips/idead will be appreciated. Thank you.

lisyloo

Did you lose your protected NCD in Jan 2011 because you have a fault claim? (their wording is a little confusing).

Was the 3rd party in the car when you had the bump?
I'm asking that question to ascertain whether there could be a larger personal injury claim in the next 3 years.

You can do calcs to get quotes and work out roughly how much your insurance will go up by, but bear in mind that if someone was in the car, then even at 5mph they could make a successful whiplash claim and it could be 4 figures.

Quentin

Your protected NCD means if you make a claim you won't lose any NCD.

The costs may be more than just the bodyshop bill (eg car hire may be needed).

If you let the insurers deal with it, and you are held liable, then if it's cost effective you can reimburse your insurer to make it a non fault incident.

Do some dummy quotes online to see what difference it being a fault claim will make to your premium to help make your decision.

(You will still need to inform your insurer of the incident whether or not you decide to pay yourself)

amc1

- Did you lose your protected NCD in Jan 2011 because you have a fault claim? (their wording is a little confusing).

No, on my latest renewal docs (Jan 2012) I'm still paying £61 (tot £440) for protected no claims.

- Was the 3rd party in the car when you had the bump?

Yes, she was. Bump was at 5mph at traffic lights.

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- Do some dummy quotes online to see what difference it being a fault claim will make to your premium to help make your decision.

Do you need with Swiftcover or any insurer ?

- If you let the insurers deal with it, and you are held liable, then if it's cost effective you can reimburse your insurer to make it a non fault incident.

Didn't know this but I suspect the garage will up the quote from £485 to ?

Many thanks for your comments.

lisyloo

Do you need with Swiftcover or any insurer ?

You can get quotes both for going thorugh the insurance and not for going through the insurance and then compare.
Bear in mind that a claim will have to be declared for 3-5 years and also losses/accidents still need to be declared even if you don't claim, so rise in premiums will not just be one-off for one year.
However this means you can get a ballpark for what it will cost for going through the insurance.

Didn't know this but I suspect the garage will up the quote from £485 to ?

You need to find out what the 3rd party wants you to pay.
Do they want bus fare, taxi, hire car? or is a coutesy car included in that quote?

How are you going to be sure that they don't do a whiplash claim in 6 months time?
Do you know how to tie this down legally so it's "full and final" serttlement and they can't come back (I don't)? or do you need to pay a solicitor for this?

If the person is an adult they have 3 years to claim off you for any injuries.
I'm not saying they will but you need to consider that they might.

P.S. People do succesfully claim for whiplash at 2 mph so don't think they can't just because it was a little bump.

amc1

- You can get quotes both for going thorugh the insurance and not for going through the insurance and then compare.
Bear in mind that a claim will have to be declared for 3-5 years and also losses/accidents still need to be declared even if you don't claim, so rise in premiums will not just be one-off for one year. However this means you can get a ballpark for what it will cost for going through the insurance.

- would I do this via Swiftcover online or over the phone ?

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It's looking like going via the insurance is the safest option even tho premiums will go up just in case a subsequent whiplash claim is made.....

Quentin

amc1 wrote: »

- would I do this via Swiftcover online or over the phone ?.....

See post #3:

Do some dummy quotes online to see what difference it being a fault claim will make to your premium to help make your decision.

lisyloo

would I do this via Swiftcover online or over the phone ?

Personally I would use a comparison site for getting a ballpark view from lots of quotes. Then you can do it on-line in 10 minutes.
I don't use my real email address or phone number.
If you don't want credit checks you could go as far as using a false name (but not anyone real a that address).

Remeber that you have to declare the accident even if it's not a claim (read the questions carefully).

It's looking like going via the insurance is the safest option even tho premiums will go up just in case a subsequent whiplash claim is made.....

It's the safest option.
Once the claim is fully settled you could look at re-imbursing the insurer if it's worthwhile. They tend to drag their feet for as long as possible so it may not be before Jan 2013, but it would be worth checking at that time.

amc1

On the comparison website, retaining protected NCD it would seem to go up by around £250 by adding the 2nd at fault accident to £660 cheapest.

£390 would seem to the Swiftcover price but this is without protected NCD.

Will Swiftcover say that I can no longer have protected no claims at my renewal in Jan 2013 ?

Any advice on no claims discount and protection appreciated....

Quentin

If you have made 2 claims by the time renewal comes due, there is no point paying extra for protection at renewal. (As you will have used up the "lives" allowed - 2 claims within 3 years)

lisyloo

As you will have used up the "lives" allowed

If it's calendar years then the Feb 2010 accident will "fall off" in Feb 2013.
I woudl read the three year period as a calendar three year period, so perhaps that needs to be clarified.

As they say
To benefit from this protection you must:

• Have at least four years No Claims Discount
• Be over 25 years of age
• Have had no fault claims in the last three years

The I'd say they are within their right to decline the protection BUT they gave it in 2011 when there was a fault claim in 2010, so the answer is that SwiftCover are the only people that know.
They might be able to confirm their policy, but I don't thin you'd get a definite answer for Jan 2013 as they are entitled to change their business decisions.