Advice on predicament - Car Ins

NonGeographicalMan

rs65 wrote: »

Was there any damage to the lamppost? If there was, then Quentin's advice that strictly speaking the incident ought to be reported to your insurer is very pertinent. If your car was identified as causing the damage, and you haven't reported it in accordance with your policy, your insurers may be entitled to refuse indemnity.

However many lamp-posts in town centre areas (particularly the ornamental Victorian style cast iron type affairs) are extremely strong and a small light modern car can sustain a significant amount of damage from hitting one at only 5mph or so without suffering any obvious damage itself. The same is usually true of concrete walls and metal posts in car parks.

molerat

If you are in the correct age group a claim may not impose a significant premium increase. A couple of years back I had an at fault accident which caused major third party damage so a claim was the best way forward. Hire cars all round and lots of repair work ended in a £10 premium increase next renewal and 70p this year (and yes I have shopped around and could save £10 by insuring with Berts At The Back Of The Pub Insurers but some things are worth paying a bit more for ).

NonGeographicalMan

molerat wrote: »

If you are in the correct age group a claim may not impose a significant premium increase. A couple of years back I had an at fault accident which caused major third party damage so a claim was the best way forward. Hire cars all round and lots of repair work ended in a £10 premium increase next renewal and 70p this year (and yes I have shopped around and could save £10 by insuring with Berts At The Back Of The Pub Insurers but some things are worth paying a bit more for ).

I will repeat what I said above in more detail.

1 Claim Number 1 usually does relatively little harm to the next renewal premium as long as you are over 25, have a protected no claims bonus and have had car insurance for at least three years

2. Claim Number 2 will put you at risk of losing your maximum protected NCD if you have another claim in the next 3 or 5 years (depending on insurer) in relation to the date of Accident 1

3. Claim Number 3 in a three year period will render you near uninsurable with all but the insurance industry equivalent of Pay Day Lenders. For a majority of insurers you may in fact be near uninsurable for up to five years if they consider your past claims in a five and not three year window.

Hence whether you make even Claim number 1 will tend to depend on your driver profile (are you a high risk or high mileage or parking your car on a high risk of vandalism or burglary street most nights or do you do a low mileage, are always ultra cautious and sensible in your driving and always park your car ar night in your own security gated driveway). If you are one of these never claimed for 15 years, drive few miles, never spin off the road on the ice or wet patch going round a corner going too fast good boys then you may be happy making Claim 1. If on the other hand you are a driver to whom claims happen more often than you would like to admit you may be reluctant to make a voluntary Claim 1 (in a situation where no one else is involved so you actually have a choice) because of the risk you might then get unlucky and Claims 2 and 3 also happen to you in the next three to five year window.

Your propensity to not claim on low value claims not involving any other parties will be even higher still if you are a higher risk driver who also currently drives a group 17 to 20 vehicle. For group 17 to 20 vehicles insurers will usually just walk away from covering you after a couple of accidents in the last three to five year window, although no doubt will still cover you at a hefty price on some nice little Group 1 to 5 Econobox....

So the answer to what one's claims strategy should be is really a matter of Horses For Courses..................