Insurance claim 2 months later

essex_jim_2

Hi all, apologies for being a bit naive here. But my missus hit a small bollard on a camping holiday about 2 months ago and hit the crash bar on the front of our car. We just assumed it needed maybe replacing at some point, life got in the way and just didn’t get round to fixing it. But the other day I had an oil leak, taken it into dealer and whilst they said the leak wasn’t a result of the prang (and they paid for that under warranty) on the health check they said the air con system and crash bar was damaged badly following the bollard hit. 

It’s coming up with them about £2k to replace everything. They’ve said I should just put it through insurance and they’ll find another garage and I’m due to pick the car up tomorrow. 

But as someone who has literally never claimed through insurance before, I’m assuming telling them it was 2 months ago is a no no? Just say it was last week? Would they then ask where I did it, photos etc? 

DullGreyGuy

essex_jim_2 said:

But as someone who has literally never claimed through insurance before, I’m assuming telling them it was 2 months ago is a no no? Just say it was last week? Would they then ask where I did it, photos etc? 

Insurers will only care if the time that has past means that the damage is now worse than it was before... think the moderate dent with paint loss that could have been pulled and touched up but now is rusting to hell and so needs the panel replacing. 

Its unlikely 2 months is going to cause any issues... have dealt with claims being reported 1-2 years after the incident.

Bigphil1474

OP, worth checking with a local independent garage how much they would charge to fix it - might be a lot less so you don't have to go through the insurance. Don't lie to the insurance company. Depends on the car, but the extra future insurance payments might be more than the cost of getting it fixed, except maybe at the dealership.