Hit a deer, claim on insurance or just pay?

Lizmoretti

I hit a deer last night. Damage looks pretty bad, but I think it’s really just the plastic bumper and grille that needs replacing. I guess there might be more damage beneath but it wasn’t a particularly hard bang so it’s unlikely.

If I go through my insurance, I assume my premium will increase but having never claimed before I have no idea by how much.

 If the claim is £1,000, will my premiums increase in a way that ensures the insurance co. claws back all the money? 

ilikewatch2

If you go through the insurance the repair may cost considerably more than if you arrange it yourself - when my wife's car was vandalised the same bodyshop quoted £800 if I was paying or £1900 if it went through insurance.
We did take the insurance route and although our NCD wasn't protected the premium only went up by a few quid.

Sandtree

Lizmoretti said:

I hit a deer last night. Damage looks pretty bad, but I think it’s really just the plastic bumper and grille that needs replacing. I guess there might be more damage beneath but it wasn’t a particularly hard bang so it’s unlikely.

If I go through my insurance, I assume my premium will increase but having never claimed before I have no idea by how much.

 If the claim is £1,000, will my premiums increase in a way that ensures the insurance co. claws back all the money? 

Given you are free to switch insurer at renewal a strategy of trying to claw it all back is just going to cause people to move elsewhere.

The decision trees behind the pricing tools are increasingly complex and compound and so if you were high risk before this then the premiums will go up a lot, if you were very low risk before this then the premiums will go up a modest amount. You then have to consider your NCD as this will be a fault claim and so will result in a loss of NCD if you didn't buy NCDP. If you had 1-2 years NCD before you'll drop to 0 and so that may have a meaningful impact whereas if you had 3+ years you'll still retain some NCD and so the drop wont be as painful. 

You could always do two quotes online for a new policy using false details (another name, dob 1 or 2 days different to yours, neighbourhood address etc) one with a fault claim and the reduced NCD and one with an incident but no claim and your current NCD + 1 and see what the differences are likely to be. Its not anywhere close to a guarantee as pricing changes frequently and some insurers do ID checks and given your fake person wont be IDed they may decline to quote or increase the premiums. What you are really looking at is the proportional increase and then apply that percentage to your own premiums to give you an idea.

born_again

1st off get a quote & see if it's worth a claim.

RichardD1970

I hit a bollard a couple of years ago in the snow (slow impact 10-15mph). Damaged front bumper, structure behind and aircon rad. Took it to a local body shop and he wouldn't quote as he knew he couldn't get the parts at a decent price and 3rd party replacement wasn't available. 

Went through insurance, total costs just over £2000. Slight increase in premiums at renewal but I still got a cheaper quote switching.

Lizmoretti

RichardD1970 said:

I hit a bollard a couple of years ago in the snow (slow impact 10-15mph). Damaged front bumper, structure behind and aircon rad. Took it to a local body shop and he wouldn't quote as he knew he couldn't get the parts at a decent price and 3rd party replacement wasn't available. 

Went through insurance, total costs just over £2000. Slight increase in premiums at renewal but I still got a cheaper quote switching.

I guess the other positive is that the insurance company deal with everything for you?  No phoning around for quotes etc.

I’ve had another look and, apart from a dodgy fog light and front parking sensor, it really does appear to be nothing more than cracked plastic.  The only other concerning thing is the vehicle is saying there’s a fault with the SOS system.

I’ll mull it over…

Sandtree

Lizmoretti said:

RichardD1970 said:

I hit a bollard a couple of years ago in the snow (slow impact 10-15mph). Damaged front bumper, structure behind and aircon rad. Took it to a local body shop and he wouldn't quote as he knew he couldn't get the parts at a decent price and 3rd party replacement wasn't available. 

Went through insurance, total costs just over £2000. Slight increase in premiums at renewal but I still got a cheaper quote switching.

I guess the other positive is that the insurance company deal with everything for you?  No phoning around for quotes etc.

I’ve had another look and, apart from a dodgy fog light and front parking sensor, it really does appear to be nothing more than cracked plastic.  The only other concerning thing is the vehicle is saying there’s a fault with the SOS system.

I’ll mull it over…

For an insurer that is probably a whole new bumper and blending in with the adjacent panels and so not a cheap repair (assuming body coloured bumper). Clearly self funded you can go for some more basic fixes which may be more cost effective. 

born_again

How much is your excess?

henry24

Strange thing with deer if you go into a field and shoot one it belongs to the landowner so it's illegal but if it jumps onto the road and you hit it it's then a wild animal so the landowner isn't liable 

Brie

How big was the deer?  Full size white tail male?  Or a young monkjac?  And how big/sturdy is your vehicle?  The damage a monkjac could do to my tiddly toy car would probably be worse than the OH hitting a mature stag with the family monster truck.  Mine would have more body work damage.  Granted it also has less bells and whistles and OH would be looking at replacing sensors and light wipers etc.

Does one need to report to an insurance company when it's a car/deer accident?   Or only when it's car/car???

And how as the deer afterward?  As I recall if you have hit a deer you are not allowed to retrieve it (assuming it was killed) but the car behind you could.  The difference being that the next driver isn't responsible and as far as anyone might know you aimed for it to get some cheap meals. (not suggesting you did but know that it does happen)

ontheroad1970

Brie said:

How big was the deer?  Full size white tail male?  Or a young monkjac?  And how big/sturdy is your vehicle?  The damage a monkjac could do to my tiddly toy car would probably be worse than the OH hitting a mature stag with the family monster truck.  Mine would have more body work damage.  Granted it also has less bells and whistles and OH would be looking at replacing sensors and light wipers etc.

Does one need to report to an insurance company when it's a car/deer accident?   Or only when it's car/car???

And how as the deer afterward?  As I recall if you have hit a deer you are not allowed to retrieve it (assuming it was killed) but the car behind you could.  The difference being that the next driver isn't responsible and as far as anyone might know you aimed for it to get some cheap meals. (not suggesting you did but know that it does happen)

Urban myth.  It belongs to the landowner.  Even though the road is public access, the road still belongs to someone. So strictly, the carcass belongs to the landowner.