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#Post#: 19907--------------------------------------------------
Insurance claim or not -advice welcome
DIR By: mogul87
Date: April 18, 2024, 8:29 am
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Hi
Background
Have a Kamiq on lease from VWFS (lease ending July 2025), my
wife had a bump with a DPD van, when turning left, which was
parked on a bend/junction in a narrow street.
Currently only had 1 year of NCB - as only owned a car for 1.5
years (My licence is 15 years old - age 37. My wife's licence is
6 years old - age 33).
No points, previous incidents etc.
Insurance is with Churchill with me as the main driver and my
wife as an additional driver. Paid £850 p.a. last year for
insurance (£500 the year before) (ending in mid-July 2024)
I notified the insurance company about the incident on the same
day (and my wife reported it to the police online as the DPD
driver did not give their insurance details and only gave the
number of their manager who also refused to give insurance
details and said it would be dealt directly between insurers).
My wife provided her details (but the DPD driver did not ask for
them and wasn't provided insurance details - hence the
notification to the police since neither party really exchanged
insurance info).
The DPD courier van (white van without any logos) got a slight
scratch but my car had more extensive damage due to initial
contact and then the manoeuvre after (...which really made it
worse)... the DPD driver was extremely apologetic and said he
had to park there due to volume of deliveries and being in a
rush. In any case, given they were stationary, my insurance
company would consider this my (wife's) fault so any claim would
be at fault. Unclear if the DPD van guy will claim for the
scratch on his van but possible. They may think I will claim on
their insurance based on what was discussed though but can
always make a claim of course.
Damage
DPD courier van:
HTML https://i.ibb.co/tx5th22/9ff54be6-d86a-4b42-9b3e-68b1dc8425a0.jpg
My car:
HTML https://i.ibb.co/kqLhdrd/af1eada7-9fae-403e-8939-2102a5b467bb.jpg
I took my car to a Volkswagen-approved bodyshop and they said
that both passenger doors will need to be changed and the
passenger side will need a full paint so quoted around £2,800 or
so for a private quotation (inc. parts etc of which around
£1600-1700 is just the doors inc. VAT)., 5 days labour at £900
and £200 for paint I assume)
My excess is £400.
Questions
1. Should I self-fund the repair or make a claim on insurance?
Any guesses what my insurance premium increase would be. I have
already notified the insurance company so regardless of if the
DPD driver make a claim, guessing premium would increase anyway
but really want to know if I actually will save money by paying
for this privately
(i.e. would the increase in premium be much higher if I actually
claim and then have to pay more than £2,800 in higher premiums
over the next 5 years vs. self funding)
2. When I renew my policy - should I enter the accident under my
wife's details as an additional driver or mine? It's a bit
unclear as for eg. the question in "Confused.com" for both of us
separately is "Have you had any motor accidents, claims or
losses in the past 5 years, no matter who was at fault or if a
claim was made?" so I will have to say yes to accident for her
and give the claim details.
However, do I have to enter the same incident again in my name
too as I am the main driver / policy holder? Or can I say no for
me if full disclosure is made under my wife's name.
There is also a question in the consued.com details of "whether
the claim made was under a policy held in their name" which I
will have to say no to when entering details under her name.
3. Is there a timeline to make a claim under your own insurance?
For eg do we have to get it fixed under the current policy year
(ending mid-July 2024)
Any other advice is welcome as this is the first such incident
for us
#Post#: 19910--------------------------------------------------
Re: Insurance claim or not -advice welcome
DIR By: 666
Date: April 18, 2024, 10:42 am
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1. If the TP does make a claim, it will be recorded as an "At
fault" claim on your record. Claiming for your own car should
make little or no difference to the effect on future premiums.
2. Insurers want to know about (a) claims on your policy and (b)
accidents involving you or any named driver. So, both.
3. Six years, but generally the sooner the better.
#Post#: 19911--------------------------------------------------
Re: Insurance claim or not -advice welcome
DIR By: slapdash
Date: April 18, 2024, 10:51 am
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In order to assess potential costs/savings:-
1. Do a dummy quote with an incident and a zero claim value.
2. Do a dummy quote with an incident and a £2,800 claim value
and adjusted no claims years in accordance with your policy
(which is likely 2 years loss).
As an approximation multiply that by 3. That is roughly the
cost.
However, in reality, going forwards you should be gaining more
no claims. So repeat 2 each with 1 extra year of NCD and driver
age. Add up 5 of those. That may be a better approximation.
#Post#: 19929--------------------------------------------------
Re: Insurance claim or not -advice welcome
DIR By: sparx
Date: April 18, 2024, 3:08 pm
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IMO, some damage is already done by notifying your insurer.
You'll HAVE to disclose this going forwards whether you claim or
not. Some (at least mine did) still load premiums for non-fault
notifications.
Realistically, you need to figure out how much your insurance
premium will be going forward. Some dummy quotes (with dummy
details, and no DL numbers entered, on a car similar to yours
but with no reg entered) may help, as per slapdash. You could do
a further quote to mimic a year down the line if you wish also
(put the claim date in the past).
Just be warned that you may get questioned if they twig its you
- make sure to use details as close as possible to yours but
without identifying numbers like car reg, dl numbers, your email
address, etc. The insurance companies are VERY good at linking
dummy quotes.
#Post#: 19969--------------------------------------------------
Re: Insurance claim or not -advice welcome
DIR By: slapdash
Date: April 19, 2024, 5:11 am
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To complete dummy quote paranoia some would go to a library or
similar to use a new to them device. Dummy quotes have been
mentioned in ombudsman decision centering around misdeclaration
and there are reports of some insurers demanding additional
documention and sometimes cancelling.
My insurer applies NCDs of 60%, 65%, 69%, 69%, 72%, 75%.
With no NCD your £850 will go back to £2125. With 2 yrs it will
go to £744. It's only the first year that will be significantly
more painful.
With no loadings or premium changes the extra costs over 5 years
would be £1900 plus your excess.
It seems likely the third party will probably claim anyway.
#Post#: 19983--------------------------------------------------
Re: Insurance claim or not -advice welcome
DIR By: andy_foster
Date: April 19, 2024, 6:52 am
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I had an insurer (Adrian Flux) cancel my bike insurance because
I was insured SD&P only but had also gotten a quote for business
use as it would have been useful to be able to ride to informal
meetings if the extra cost was minimal.
Having told them on the proposal what I would be using the bike
for, and confirmed to the satisfaction of their agent when she
phoned me, they then decided that I needed to tell them again in
writing. I responded by telling them that I didn't need to tell
them the same thing again and they re-instated the policy.
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