Insurance claim or not? Bump in slow moving traffic

scoobie

Whilst queuing in slow-moving traffic a car bumped into the back of my car. We exchanged details. 
It was a minor nudge
The only damage to my car is a reversing sensor is now a bit lose, but it still works and I can push it back into place. The garage thinks a piece of plastic holding the sensor in place has probably broken but once it was pushed back into place it doesn't move, unless you push it. Basically it's not held in place tightly like the other sensors.
I've been quoted £420 to fix it. My excess is £400, so there is no point in me making a claim. I'm fully comp, full no claims bonus.
It's quite an old car.  
I don't think the other vehicle had any damage but I don't know for sure. 
My thoughts are this is pretty minor, I'm not sure it's even worth the paperwork. I think it could cost both parties a bomb if the insurance companies are involved. 

TadleyBaggie

scoobie said:

I've been quoted £420 to fix it. My excess is £400, so there is no point in me making a claim. I'm fully comp, full no claims bonus.

If you make a claim off the other driver, your excess is irrelevant.

uknick

Sorry, but I'm puzzled.  You get hit from behind causing about £420 worth of damage and you're not thinking of claiming from the other party.  If it was hard enough to break the sensor mounting, what other damage might there be?

Are you concerned about a possible increase in your future premiums due to a non fault claim? 

scoobie

uknick said:

Sorry, but I'm puzzled.  You get hit from behind causing about £420 worth of damage and you're not thinking of claiming from the other party.  If it was hard enough to break the sensor mounting, what other damage might there be?

Are you concerned about a possible increase in your future premiums due to a non fault claim? 

Yes, I am worried about my future premiums. 

The quote is disproportionate to the level of damage. Once it was pushed back into place by the garage (for free) it's exactly like it was before, albeit if you push on it it will move, but it is reasonably tight fitting, just not 100% like before. 

And it's working fine. 

It feels really minor overall. 

To put it another way, if I'd done this myself I wouldn't bother getting it repaired. I would if it had stopped working, but it hasn't

Car_54

In my experience, any increase due to a non-fault claim will be pretty small.
Also, you are obliged to tell your insurer in any case, and it’s best to get your story in first before the TP claims you reversed into him and caused whiplash injuries to him and his four passengers.

daveyjp

In my experience increase due to no fault is a lottery.

I've had two no fault claims.  First one (LV) the renewal quite was twice what I'd paid the year before, another (GA) it made no difference.

scoobie

Car_54 said:

In my experience, any increase due to a non-fault claim will be pretty small.
Also, you are obliged to tell your insurer in any case, and it’s best to get your story in first before the TP claims you reversed into him and caused whiplash injuries to him and his four passengers.

thanks. When you say pretty small, how much was the increase?

Brie

Who has quoted you £400 to fix?  If it's a dealership I'd suggest trying a small independent garage (get some recommendations from locals).  I was quoted about £2k to fix a Lexus by the dealership and the small garage sorted it for less than a quarter of that.  VW quoted £1k to fix a problem with water accessing the inside of the dash and into the foot wells (2 inch deep puddle after a heavy rain).  Halfords surprised me by fixing it for £50.  

But there's also the issue of not informing an insurance company that you had an accident.  You're supposed to do that.

scoobie

Brie said:

Who has quoted you £400 to fix?  If it's a dealership I'd suggest trying a small independent garage (get some recommendations from locals).  I was quoted about £2k to fix a Lexus by the dealership and the small garage sorted it for less than a quarter of that.  VW quoted £1k to fix a problem with water accessing the inside of the dash and into the foot wells (2 inch deep puddle after a heavy rain).  Halfords surprised me by fixing it for £50.  

But there's also the issue of not informing an insurance company that you had an accident.  You're supposed to do that.

Yes, it's a dealership quote. 75% of the cost is the actual replacement part itself - a completely new sensor. When all I suspect is needed is a bit of glue somewhere. They said it's probably a broken plastic lug, but that means an entire new sensor from their perspective

scoobie

daveyjp said:

In my experience increase due to no fault is a lottery.

I've had two no fault claims.  First one (LV) the renewal quite was twice what I'd paid the year before, another (GA) it made no difference.

Interesting. Sounds like they all have different formulae then for how much to bump up your premiums even if you're not at fault

tifo

scoobie said:

Whilst queuing in slow-moving traffic a car bumped into the back of my car. We exchanged details. 
It was a minor nudge
The only damage to my car is a reversing sensor is now a bit lose, but it still works and I can push it back into place. The garage thinks a piece of plastic holding the sensor in place has probably broken but once it was pushed back into place it doesn't move, unless you push it. Basically it's not held in place tightly like the other sensors.
I've been quoted £420 to fix it. My excess is £400, so there is no point in me making a claim. I'm fully comp, full no claims bonus.
It's quite an old car.  
I don't think the other vehicle had any damage but I don't know for sure. 
My thoughts are this is pretty minor, I'm not sure it's even worth the paperwork. I think it could cost both parties a bomb if the insurance companies are involved. 

£420 to fix a parking sensor on an old car is very high, and since it works you're better resolving it privately then each of you sign a document that there are no further heads of claim. On an old car you'll be able to buy the sensor for £30-£50 if even that.

You can choose to inform your respective insurers but even if you don't go ahead and make a claim, you'll still have to declare an accident for the next 3-5 years and it will affect your premium.