To Claim or Not to Claim - Tree Fallen on Car

lebeauespoir

I'm in a quandary about whether or not to claim on my car insurance for damage done when a tree fell on my car in a storm while I was driving down a public road. I've only had my car since May 2016 and it's being paid for by PCP. I've been quoted £1042 and £1250 for repairs by two different garages.

If I go through insurance I will pay £250 excess and be reduced from 15+ years no claims bonus to 3 years no claims bonus. I have also been advised it may affect the trade-in price at the end of my PCP contract.

I'd rather not pay out £1k ish in car repairs (I have got it, but we're doing up our house and need all the money we can get together for that), but I'm wondering if it might be cheaper in the long run that way rather than losing my NCB and future car value at trade in.

I'd be very grateful for advice on this because I'm tying myself in knots trying to decide which way to go!

horseymchorseface

did you not protect your NCB?


you would need to report the incident whether you claim or not to the insurers

paddyandstumpy

The future trade in value could be effected by the repaired damage. Irrespective of whether you claim on the insurance or cover the cost of repair yourself.

Only you can decide if you should claim and have reduced bonus (don't you protect it??) or cover the cost.

Another option, you could try and recover the cost from the tree owner. However, if the tree fell due to a storm, it may be hard to prove the tree owner was negligent (if they aren't, they aren't liable).

lebeauespoir

Thanks for your replies.

No, I didn't protect my NCD - my stupid mistake - you live you learn...

I really don't think I'd be able to claim from whoever owns the tree - it's either the Highways Agency or a farmer.

I'm just trying to work out which option would be cheapest in the long run...

paddyandstumpy

Do dummy quotes online, starting with one now with no claims and your 9+ NCB, then a quote with a 1 year old fault claim and 3 years NCB, a 2 year old claim and 4 years NCB and so on, this will show you the increased insurance cost as an indication.

If the 5 year increase is less than the cost of repairs, its cheaper to let the insurer pay.

Some insurers let you protect NCB at 4 years. When you get back to it I would take it this time!

lebeauespoir

Thanks for the useful advice - I will do the comparisons and I'm definitely planning on protecting my No Claims Discount in future!! I would advise anyone reading this to do the same if they are feeling as complacent as I was!

lebeauespoir

Just in case this helps anybody else in a similar situation - after doing comparisons it seems that the insurance cost will stay more or less the same, it's just the excess that has increased, with a compulsory excess being added to the voluntary excess. This being the case, I have opted to go through the insurance company.