Should I claim for camera damage?

keymoo

I have a home and contents policy that covers a camera lens that suffered damage during a storm while camping. I have £50 excess on this policy for this item, and the repair cost is £227. I have contacted the insurance company and they confirm it is covered but that this may affect future premiums.

So my question is, is it likely my premiums would go up by  £227 - £50 = £177 next year?

In other words, should I just cough up the money myself or make a claim?

CSI_Yorkshire

keymoo said:

So my question is, is it likely my premiums would go up by  £227 - £50 = £177 next year?

Your premiums wouldn't suddenly drop back to 'normal' after next year.

So the actual question is "would the total extra premiums you need to pay until the claim drops off your record be more than £177?"

DullGreyGuy

Impacts on premiums tend to be done by percentages so the impact will depend somewhat your current premiums are.

Having already informed them of the incident however the impact may have already occured as there is often little difference between claims and incidents and most Home insurers now require you to declare all incidents irrespective of if you claimed or not 

keymoo

My total premium was £344.30 plus £25 legal cover so £369 in total. So, from what you're saying, because I've already notified them of an accident, the premiums will go up anyway, so I should claim?

DullGreyGuy

keymoo said:

My total premium was £344.30 plus £25 legal cover so £369 in total. So, from what you're saying, because I've already notified them of an accident, the premiums will go up anyway, so I should claim?

Depending on the insurer yes, the fact you have notified them of the loss may mean you will already see part of the price increase next year irrespective if you claim or not. If you do claim however the impact is likely to be larger as it will set your claim free year count to 0.

 1 option is to go to your insurers website and do a dummy quote using made up details that are very similar but not identical to yours and quote with X years of no claims but an incident and then again with 0 years of no claims on Contents and a claim. That will show what percentage they are currently uplifting premiums at and it's likely to be a similar percentage in 9 months time or whenever your renewal is. 

 As has been said though, claims have to be declared for 5 years and so its not just a next year impact but it does tail off fairly quickly as long as you dont have another incident in the meantime.