Damage through insurance or not?

wozzza72

Hi
My wife’s car door caught the wind and opened onto her brothers VW Golf GTd 18 plate causing a small dent. We’ve had a few quotes around the £500 mark as it’s caught the ridge in the upper part of the door. Our voluntary excess is £250. Question I have is: is it worth putting this through the insurance? Will her next policy be a lot more expensive with a small claim like that?
Any help gratefully received.

Ayr_Rage

Try your local dent expert, I had a similar ding and it cost around £50.

Iceweasel

You'll likely find that there is a compulsory excess too - so insurers are unlikely to contribute much to the cost.

She should of course be reporting this incident to her insurers, as per her policy rules, whether she claims or not, so yes, her premium will go up next time

Mark_d

If you involve insurance your premium would go up.  If your wife's shopping bag, containing tins, was blown against her brother's car and caused a dent then how would you deal with the situation?
As @Ayr_Rage suggested, dents can often be repaired fairly cheaply.  But in any case I think it would be preferable to pay for the repair rather than risking your no claims discount.

DullGreyGuy

wozzza72 said:

Hi
My wife’s car door caught the wind and opened onto her brothers VW Golf GTd 18 plate causing a small dent. We’ve had a few quotes around the £500 mark as it’s caught the ridge in the upper part of the door. Our voluntary excess is £250. Question I have is: is it worth putting this through the insurance? Will her next policy be a lot more expensive with a small claim like that?
Any help gratefully received.

On whose car is the damage? Yours or the siblings? 

Iceweasel said:

You'll likely find that there is a compulsory excess too - so insurers are unlikely to contribute much to the cost.

She should of course be reporting this incident to her insurers, as per her policy rules, whether she claims or not, so yes, her premium will go up next time

Excess doesn't apply to third party claims so it depends on which of the vehicles is damaged. Similarly Motor only tends to have a compulsory excess for young or inexperienced drivers, which still only applies to own damage claims, so only if the wife is under 25 is that likely to apply and then only if its own damage.

wozzza72

Damage is in the brothers car. Wife is 48. Damage is only minor but on the crease of the door.

sheslookinhot

You should sort the damage yourself.