Non accident write off?

Smalltownhypocrite

Hello, I was wondering if anyone has any experience/advice to share on my situation.

I own a fairly old cheap car (2005) and honestly its a bit of a nightmare for a while but the other day when the lock broke. There only 1 external manual lock on the whole car (electronic lock died years ago) and its jammed/collapsed so theres no way to get into it. Likely need to smash a window to gain access then once in have someone remove the internal door panel and change the lock.

Its looking at being well over £100+ to get out a locksmith (which I just don't have right now) and my husband suggested if we report it to insurance they will likely write off the whole car as it will costs almost as much as the whole car is worth.

If I went down that route what would happen?

Would I get a pay out of enough to buy a new car? (nothing fancy just another cheap run around)

Would I lose my 'no claims'? 

Would it need to be declared in future (since its not a crash)?

TadleyBaggie

I doubt the insurance will be interested at all, this is more of a wear and tear maintenance issue, that's nothing to do with insurance.

Goudy

The insurance won't both with it, you have a fault, it's not like it's had an accident or been stolen.
If you have breakdown cover, they might help but it will depend on what sort of cover you have.

There are various ways to legitimately (and unlegitimately) get into a car without the key.

Is it a hatchback with a lock on the boot you could get through?

On the times I have locked myself out, the RAC have used a plastic wedge in the top of the door frame to open up the gap between door frame and car body and then used a wire coat hanger to pop open the door from inside.

I have seen people use a bit of cord as well, same trick with the wedge but used a loop in the cord to wrap around the lock button and lift.

Plenty of videos on Youtube to help.

Once in you should be able to get someone to fit another lock cheap enough.
If you searched the likes of Ebay for a new lock and key, that shouldn't cost too much.

Either that or just don't lock it anymore, just never leave anything of value in there!

DullGreyGuy

Smalltownhypocrite said:

If I went down that route what would happen?

Would I get a pay out of enough to buy a new car? (nothing fancy just another cheap run around)

Would I lose my 'no claims'? 

Would it need to be declared in future (since its not a crash)?

They'd decline the claim as its not an insured peril

You'd get nothing, even if you were to invent a different scenario the money would be what a fairly old cheap car with no working locks is worth less the excess

Yes, it'd be a fault claim, unless declined, and so would reduce your NCD by 2 year to a maximum of 3 years ncd

Yes you'd need to declare it in the future irrespective of if its declined or paid out