Minor incident, should I tell my insurance?

lisyloo

So I won't lose my no claims, but I will have increased premiums! That kind of defeats the objective.

Not quite.
If you claim there are 2 penalties (unfortunately). One is loss of NCD which is loss of a discount. The second penalty is increased premiums because you are now regarded as a higher risk.
If you claim you suffer BOTH (although you don't lose entire NCD).

If you don't claim you only suffer the latter, so no it doesn't defeat the object entirely.
You cannot avoid the latter because it's the accident that causes the pemium loading. That is a fait accompli and short of breaking Ts & Cs and keeping stum (which potentially has bad consequences) there is nothing you can do about it.
You can however decide whether you claim or not.
The sensible thing to do is to wait until you have seen the size of the bill, the do some virutal quotes to see how much your premiums go up with/without the claim and THEN make a decision.

This is despite the fact that I have driven for years and something like this never happened.

I know it feels like you are being judged, but they are just being objective about your driving history.

Insurance companies never take this into account.

Sorry this is simply untrue.
Your years of driving experience, your lack of other claims, your remaining NCB and your lack of convictions will ALL be taken into account to come up with your premiums. I know you are feeling hard done by but what you have just said is untrue as it's all taken into account.
We all make mistakes and we just have to take it on the chin now and again.
You are over-reacting without knowing how much it is. It might be £20 or £5.

It's amazing how one incident and erase all the years of good driving.

You don't know that. Stop over-reacting and calm down dear :-)
You'll still get your claims, convictions, driving experience snd remaining NCD taken into account and might only get a small loading for the premium.
If you are desperate to know how much this affects you then do some "virtual quotes" now with and without the accident, but you are wrong to say all the other aspects are erased. They are not.
BTW - Why didn't you get protected NCD? Just interested.

It's also unfair that you can lose your no claims for small incident costing few hundred £s, the same as a major incident costing thousands of £s.

As you have already been advised by Quentin, it would be best to pay the claim yourself in the former case.

MikeR71

Ok, the other driver contacted me to say his dealer could not fit him in today so he is going tomorrow to have it assessed. He is nice enough, I guess because I was honest with him and didn't hit and run and apologised admitting liability. So I hope this lasts.
He will tell me how much it will cost and I will decide what to so. I am still unsure whether to tell my insurance before then. I know the sensible thing to do is to tell them asap.

Anyway, the reason I didn't protect my NCD is I thought it cost too much to do. I never paid enough attention to it and thought it would cost £30somthing a month.

Quentin

Apart from having to pay any other associated costs on top of the repair bill, also bear in mind that it is not unknown for garages to discover further damage when the car is in the body shop and stripped down. If this happens this will also be down to you to pay!

JimmyTheWig

MikeR71 wrote: »

Ok thanks everyone.
So I won't lose my no claims, but I will have increased premiums! That kind of defeats the objective.

As has been said, your premiums will go up, but not by as much as if you didn't have a no claims discount.

But I understand the logic that I am more of a risk as I drove into a parked car. This is despite the fact that I have driven for years and something like this never happened. Insurance companies never take this into account. It's amazing how one incident and erase all the years of good driving.

It's annoying, isn't it.
Someone drove into the back of me on the motorway once. [The car in front of me braked hard suddenly. I had left a sensible gap and didn't hit him. The car behind me, and the two cars behind him, hadn't left such a sensible gap.]
Not my fault. No damage done to my car.
But it still increased my premiums for a few years.

But it isn't like it erases all the years of good driving.
Do a comparrison of insurance for someone in your position with this incident, then do the same details for someone who has only been driving a year or two. Or for someone who has been driving the same time as you but has had incidents every year.
I bet yours comes out significantly lower.

lisyloo

He will tell me how much it will cost and I will decide what to so.

Bear in mind that you may be affected by premium increases for 3-5 years.
Some companies ask for 3 years accident history, others for 5 years.
I tend to muliply up to get a ball park, but that's not strictly accurate as the loading tends to decrease over time.

So assuming you have 1 car, then what you could do is do a quote with 1 accident but zero claims and then do a quote with 1 accident, 1 claim and lower NBD (deduct 2 years). Note the difference, multiply by 4 (between 3 and 5) and then see if that is more than the cost of the claim.

I'd do something like that.
If it was close I'd probably pay direct because the "formula" above is guesswork and there are many variables in the future.

MikeR71

Ok, so I reported the incident, on Friday, two days before my renewal date. The other car's damage is around £600 which the insurance company will handle. My premium increased by only a small amount, £21. I paid it there and then before they change their mind.

So as the guy explained to me, I had 5 years no claims bonus but only lost 2 of these after this claim, so my discount went from 72% to 68%. Unless they hit me with a big increase next year, I am happy for now.