Avoiding NCD loss on car insurance

marlot

Given your insurer already knows about it, I'd just put it through the insurance.

eDicky

marlot wrote: »

Given your insurer already knows about it, I'd just put it through the insurance.

However, the quotes I received with declaration of the incident but without claim on it, were only slightly higher, if at all, than what I pay now...

eDicky

Given that the fault was obviously mine and my own insurance will be paying if the claim is made, Mr B will not suffer any loss of NCD. Is that correct?

Quentin

eDicky wrote: »

Given that the fault was obviously mine and my own insurance will be paying if the claim is made, Mr B will not suffer any loss of NCD. Is that correct?

Yes .

Quentin

eDicky wrote: »

This morning I did a comparison using the Google site. The cheapest with 21years' no claims and with the incident declared at zero claim cost was £205, and the cheapest with zero no claims discount and £800 claim cost was £540, a difference of £335 for the first year which will presumably decrease over successive years. A completely different range of insurers was shown.

Mr B requires me to pay him £686 to cover repairs and bus fare (although I feel I should add another £20 for goodwill and possible car hire), in order for him not to proceed with the claim.

So the difference in cost to me, between paying him directly and the increased insurance costs over the next few years, is probably minimal and uncertain, unless anyone can (most likely) foresee better than I. I can send him a faster payment by internet banking today for him to receive tomorrow.

I am undecided - what should I do..?

You have got the wrong figures. If you put this through insurance as a claim the premium in future will be less than you think


You made a mistake regarding your NCD after a claim.


You don't lose it all.


You will still have 3 years NCD if you let your insurer deal with the claim.


(After a claim, no NCD is awarded for the current year and you lose 2 years of your existing NCD from a max of 5)

eDicky

Quentin wrote: »

You have got the wrong figures. If you put this through insurance as a claim the premium in future will be less than you think

You made a mistake regarding your NCD after a claim.

You don't lose it all.

You will still have 3 years NCD if you let your insurer deal with the claim.

(After a claim, no NCD is awarded for the current year and you lose 2 years of your existing NCD from a max of 5)

Aha - many thanks again Quentin - you can see that I am even more ignorant about these things than you ever imagined!

I have emailed Mr B asking him to reinstate and continue with the claim, which I can now see is probably the best course.

Thanks again to everyone, it's been a steep car insurance learning curve the last few days for me. I just hope I'm being half as useful (in other areas) for people on this forum as you have been for me!

I'll update anything further.

Quentin

If the repairs to your car will cost more than your excess you may as well now use your policy to get that done too (you will have to pay the excess, but there will be no other impact to you as the two sets of repairs will count as a single claim)

lisyloo

I am undecided - what should I do..?

I would go through your insurer.
Mr B could start having some longer term effects from his whiplash which he has so far dismissed.
he has a certain amount of time to register a claim. I think it's 3 years.

If there isn't a very clear case on the financial front, then I'd go through the insurance for the certainty of knowig that if Mr B makes a further claim that you will be financially protected.

There might be a way to protect your payment from further claims (like a "full & final" settlement letter) but to be free from risk you need a solicitor (and further cost). You could get legal advice from a forum but you'd have no protection if that well emaning advice turns out to be legally flawed.

Basically this comes down to peace of mind and I'd go through the insurer.

eDicky

Quentin wrote: »

If the repairs to your car will cost more than your excess you may as well now use your policy to get that done too (you will have to pay the excess, but there will be no other impact to you as the two sets of repairs will count as a single claim)

Understood. I'll have a closer look at the front of my car when I get back, but all I noticed was a cracked number plate and the grille slightly displaced from its clips, hopefully I can just push it back in. I doubt that repairs would cost as much as my excess which I think is £350, perhaps even 400. It's a Volvo and I didn't hit him very hard. His Skoda seems to have more damage than I noticed at the time.

eDicky

lisyloo wrote: »

I would go through your insurer.
Mr B could start having some longer term effects from his whiplash which he has so far dismissed.
he has a certain amount of time to register a claim. I think it's 3 years.

If there isn't a very clear case on the financial front, then I'd go through the insurance for the certainty of knowig that if Mr B makes a further claim that you will be financially protected.

There might be a way to protect your payment from further claims (like a "full & final" settlement letter) but to be free from risk you need a solicitor (and further cost). You could get legal advice from a forum but you'd have no protection if that well emaning advice turns out to be legally flawed.

Basically this comes down to peace of mind and I'd go through the insurer.

Thanks for alerting me about such possibilities Lisyloo, which of course I had not considered. It was a fairly low impact collision as we moved off at the lights, unlikely to cause whiplash but you never know...

Mr B has acknowledged the email I sent him so presumably the claim will now proceed.