Do I claim on my car insurance or take the hit? Voices of reason needed!

Jimby509

I am 42 Male driver of VW Touran 2006.

I have never had crash/bump/scrape in 20 years of driving until last week. 

I was turning into a car park and there was no gap in stationary traffic in the lane I had to cross through to gain access.  This led to me causing a long line of cars waiting behind me which in turn blocked both lines of traffic due to never ending roadworks.

I should have given up and driven on but tried to squeeze my car through the gap in stationary traffic leading to a large deep scratch and dent along my car.  The van I scraped against was undamaged somehow.

The car is a mess and defo a write off.  In addition it's MOT is in Oct and needs work but had a new clutch not so long ago and has been an excellent family car 175000 on the clock.

I checked my insurance and there is an excess of £370 it also states the car value is £770 (I have no idea where this price comes from as its about £1500 to buy a replacement like for like).  There were two car seats in the car worth about £350 combined.

I have 9y no claims with bonus protection.  I am not even sure what this means or the implications.  The car was brought by me as a Cat C write off 7 years ago.

I want to call my insurer to discuss the options but then if I decide not to claim I understand the accident may still be recorded and affect future premium costs?

Is this a no brainer? At the moment every penny counts and if I could get it written off for the cost of another 2006 touran it would really help.

I have no experience of claiming so any voice of reason would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Car_54

Where do you get the £1,500 figure? Prices on Autotrader etc. are asking prices, which almost no-one ever pays. The insurers generally use the retail prices from the trade guides (Glass's etc.). Bear in mind also that a cat C marker reduces the value.

Mildly_Miffed

Let's see how bad.

Is there any reason you can't just keep driving it?

TooManyPoints

There is almost certainly a clause in your policy which says you must report any incidents to your insurer. It is  particularly important to comply with this where third parties are involved. An unusually high number of them seem to suffer recollections of events which alter vastly in the time between the incident occurring and them having a day or two to consider what advantages they can gain from it. It's a very strange phenomenon which has baffled many of the world's top scientists but can possibly be explained by delayed shock.

If you trawl through this and other similar forums you will find reports of this strange affliction.

born_again

Jimby509 said:

I am 42 Male driver of VW Touran 2006.

I have never had crash/bump/scrape in 20 years of driving until last week. 

I was turning into a car park and there was no gap in stationary traffic in the lane I had to cross through to gain access.  This led to me causing a long line of cars waiting behind me which in turn blocked both lines of traffic due to never ending roadworks.

I should have given up and driven on but tried to squeeze my car through the gap in stationary traffic leading to a large deep scratch and dent along my car.  The van I scraped against was undamaged somehow.

The car is a mess and defo a write off.  In addition it's MOT is in Oct and needs work but had a new clutch not so long ago and has been an excellent family car 175000 on the clock.

I checked my insurance and there is an excess of £370 it also states the car value is £770 (I have no idea where this price comes from as its about £1500 to buy a replacement like for like).  There were two car seats in the car worth about £350 combined.

I have 9y no claims with bonus protection.  I am not even sure what this means or the implications.  The car was brought by me as a Cat C write off 7 years ago.

I want to call my insurer to discuss the options but then if I decide not to claim I understand the accident may still be recorded and affect future premium costs?

Is this a no brainer? At the moment every penny counts and if I could get it written off for the cost of another 2006 touran it would really help.

I have no experience of claiming so any voice of reason would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

For now. They may look closer later on & find something that warrants a claim.

Nobbie1967

Just keep driving it. As long as the doors still open and there are no sharp edges, it should pass the MOT. Pointless claiming as you’ll get very little for it after they’ve taken your excess off their their valuation of a Cat C with 175k on the clock and you’ll lose your NCB. As to whether you inform the insurer, that’s between you and your conscious.

paul_c123

I can't believe you wrote off the car in an incident at that speed, yet the van is undamaged. Pics please.

Stubod

...at that sort of value I would drive it "as is", (assuming it is safe to do so), then look to replace it when you can. I would not say anything to the insurance company at this stage as it will probably cost you more in insurance in the longer term, particularly as it (appears), to be totaly your own fault?

(Although as I understand it, you are supposed to report all accidents, regardless of whether you claim..up to your conscience...)

Mildly_Miffed

paul_c123 said:

I can't believe you wrote off the car in an incident at that speed, yet the van is undamaged. Pics please.

"Write off" is simply a shorthand for saying that the insurer will pay you the value of the car, rather than repair it.

For an 18yo 175k car with a declared value of £770, anything much beyond a tiny scratch on the paint will have the insurers throwing it in the bin.

OP - that £770 is auto-populated by many insurers when you fill in the proposal, based on their guide prices and what you've told them it is. The time to query that was when you got the quote. By buying the policy, you agreed that was the value.

paul_c123

You need to declare the accident anyway - not doing so will leave the door open to an insurance cancellation (which will be punished by a higher quote for insurance in the future) if the other party ever did claim at a later date. The fact that you have NCB protection isn't relevant unfortunately, because its an accident, not a claim, you'll be informing them of.

If you wish to claim and they do write it off (I understand you've not contacted the insurance yet? So not written off yet, if it does go that way) you'll have £770 towards another car which is fair enough for a 175k Cat C car. I realise "better the devil you know" but then if the MoT is due soon, etc???

Where is the car now and aren't the car seats removeable?

fatbelly

I-m surprised an 18-year old Touran isn't a mass of dents and scratches.

I'd just carry on using it.

Eventually coparts will give you something for it but it sounds like there's life in it yet