Car Insurance Claim Question

[Hit the ground]

Hey lads - just wondering if anyone out there can give me a bit of informed advice on an insurance claim.

I crashed my car a couple of nights ago (no one else involved thank god) and have been quoted about €4,000 to patch it up - good bit of body damage.  I was going to put it through the insurance but everyone has been advising me against it as they say the insurance will rip me off!  I have fully comp cover and the car is only worth about €8,500.  Due to my being out of the country for a few years i have no no claims bonus anyway and have only a provisional licence despite me being 25!

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of something like this? - i don't see the point in having fully comp insurance if you cannot flippin' claim for half the value of the car but at the same time i don't want to get totally screwed for the next five years by my insurance company.  Any informed advice or info on your own experiences would be greatly appreciated as i cannot exactly afford to pay out €4,000 in cash (who can?) and obviously need to decide what I'm doing asap.

Cheers in advance - htg.

[Hit the ground]

hadn't thought of how depressingly apt my name was 

[Leg End]

i would def claim for that amount. if you only have a provisional liscence i take it someone was with ye at the time.
Your premiums might go up over the next couple of years but it wont be by four grand and even if it amounts to four grand over the next five years... rather pay it off over 5 years than one lump sum

[Hardy]

As far as I know, all you can lose by making a claim is your No Claims Bonus and since you haven't got one, you've got nothing to lose. Collect your £4,000, I'd say.

[Hardy]

Just to make you feel better - some quotes from Insurance claim forms:

"I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary than I thought."
Q: Could either driver have done anything to avoid the accident? A: Travelled by bus?
"On approach to the traffic lights the car in front suddenly broke."
"Windscreen broken. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo."
"The car in front hit the pedestrian but he got up so I hit him again"
"I pulled away from the side of the road, glanced at my mother-in-law and headed over the embankment."
"The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention."
"I collided with a stationary truck coming the other way"
"A truck backed through my windshield into my wife's face"
"A pedestrian hit me and went under my car"
"In an attempt to kill a fly, I drove into a telephone pole."
"An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my car and vanished."
"I was thrown from the car as it left the road. I was later found in a ditch by some stray cows."
"Coming home I drove into the wrong house and collided with a tree I don't have."
"I thought my window was down, but I found it was up when I put my head through it."
"The guy was all over the road. I had to swerve a number of times before I hit him."
"I had been driving for forty years when I fell asleep at the wheel and had an accident."
"As I approached an intersection a sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before."
"To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front I struck a pedestrian."
"I told the police that I was not injured, but on removing my hat found that I had a fractured skull."
"I was sure the old fellow would never make it to the other side of the road when I struck him."
"The pedestrian had no idea which way to run as I ran over him."
"I saw a slow moving, sad faced old gentleman as he bounced off the roof of my car."
"The indirect cause of the accident was a little guy in a small car with a big mouth."
"I had been learning to drive with power steering. I turned the wheel to what I thought was enough and found myself in a different direction going the opposite way."
"I was backing my car out of the driveway in the usual manner, when it was struck by the other car in the same place it had been struck several times before."
"When I saw I could not avoid a collision I stepped on the gas and crashed into the other car."
"The pedestrian ran for the pavement, but I got him."
"I saw her look at me twice. She appeared to be making slow progress when we met on impact."
"The accident occurred when I was attempting to bring my car out of a skid by steering it into the other vehicle."
"I bumped into a lamp-post which was obscured by human beings."
"The accident was caused by me waving to the man I hit last week."
"I knocked over a man; he admitted it was his fault for he had been knocked down before."

[stephenite]

Sent you a PM there

[guy crouchback]

i am in the insurance business and i can assure you that you should claim. usually following a claim you lose you bonus but as someone else pointed out you have no bonus to lose. what that means is that you will not see your premium come down next year but it should not go up much either( unless you were a named driver before you took out your own policy and got an intro bonus).

Now having a claim on your record in never a good thing and you could well find that in 3 years time that the claim is still costing you money.  and there are times when i would advise someone not to claim, usually up to €500 or in a case like yours maybe €800.

[Hit the ground]

Thanks for the advice lads,

PM'd you earlier guy crouchback.

[the Deel Rover]

Guy just wondering what your thoughts are on paying a few quid extra to protect your no claims does it really mean that for e.g say i have a €30,000 car and its fully comp i have built up 5 years no claims if i write of the car and make a claim would i still have my no claims bonus intact, there must be some catch is there ?

[Candyman]

I wrecked my car last year and it was a write-off, claimed off the insurance and replaced the car a few weeks later!!! Apart from the legal side of it, why would you insure your car if your not going to claim for an accident??? As Guy has stated, i wouldn't bother claiming for something small. My insurance quote for this year is only up by £300 which i think is pretty good considering the damage i did and i only had the car 1 month!!! 

[guy crouchback]

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Re: Car Insurance Claim Question
« Reply #9 on: Today at 09:59:24 AM »
   Reply with quote
Guy just wondering what your thoughts are on paying a few quid extra to protect your no claims does it really mean that for e.g say i have a €30,000 car and its fully comp i have built up 5 years no claims if i write of the car and make a claim would i still have my no claims bonus intact, there must be some catch is there ?

Full bonus protection in not quite all it seems to be. different companies have different levels of protection. some will cover claims up to €10,000 say, while others will give unlimited cover. what people don't realise is that it is only protecting you bonus with that company. if you have a claim you will find that the next year no other company in the country will touch you so you are stuck with your own company who can then charge you what they like( they can say they have just increased their rates).
full bonus protection is grand, and if its going free take it but i would never advise paying more then €50.00 for it.  ( i have never bought it for myself)

[Louth Exile]

Full bonus protection can be worth it, but it depends on the company, the cost and cover provided. If you are with one of the more repuable companies (those who don't try and wrangle out of paying every single claim), if it provides full protection (no limit and in any event) and is less than €50 then I would strongly recommend taking it. Some of the better companies currently provide protection for NCB in the event of a fire or theft claim as standard at the moment, for no extra premium

[supersarsfields]

I work in the business as well. I would agree with above. If you get a couple of years NCB then I would definitely say it should be protected, unless they are charging an arm and a leg for it.
I would also agree that for 4000 euro It'd definitely be worth claiming for. Usually anything over £800 is usually worth it unless it's a real expensive yoke in which case a claim against your policy may really increase your premiums.

[ONeill]

I once claimed off the wife. Serious. Got myself a new chanter and three drones. Her payments went up but that's her business. Should've been looking.

[the Deel Rover]

jesus all the insurance brokers must be reading this thread see the list of insurance links at the bottom of the page