Broken house door window, Claim or not to claim?

sleepyjones

Some little sh*"he^d kid threw a stone at my front door tonight, smashing the outer layer of double glazing (It's one of those white PVC type doors with glass at the top).

It's a bit premature 'cause Im not sure what my excess is and I'm not sure how much it will cost to fix, just wondering if anyone knows, off the top of their head, if it's worth claiming this on insurance ... I'm gathering it's not like cars, where it doesn't affect your no claims bonus?

I reported it to the Police straight away and have a crime reference number if that makes a difference?

This is probably a "no brainer, just get it fixed yourself", but I literally know nothing about insurance, so sorry if it is a stupid question.

paddyandstumpy

Personally I'd try and repair it yourself.

If you report the damage it'll go down as malicious damage, and regardless of whether you claim or not you'll likely face increased premiums and reduced choice (I know of several insurers who won't touch a client with a mal dam claim in their 5 year history).

You're policy document will likely say any incidents need reporting to them, and at renewal/when searching for a new policy you'll likely be asked for any claims/incidents/losses in the last 3 or 5 years, so you need to decide whether to declare this or not.

Quentin

sleepyjones wrote: »

just wondering if anyone knows, off the top of their head, if it's worth claiming this on insurance ... I'm gathering it's not like cars, where it doesn't affect your no claims bonus?

You can get a good idea of what effect making a claim will have on your future premium by doing dummy quotes online with and without this in your history.


Then find out your excess and do the sums to see what is the most cost effective way of getting the repair paid for

Mr.Generous

Small sealed units cost very little, they can be tricky to change on a door though. I definitely wouldn't claim, you'll pay it back over and over in inflated premiums.

sleepyjones

Thanks paddy'

Got a wee guy coming out tonight to have a look, see how much it'll likely cost to fix / replace.

sleepyjones

Turns out it's not just a wee panel, it's the whole height of the door so I think we're looking at about £250 + plus any labour ... guys gonna get back to me with a proper costs (that's just an estimate) ... seen a lot of salvage / second hand panels going for around £70, so might just go for one of them and see how much it'll cost to install.