Reply With QuotePersonally, I'd just pay it direct and leave the insurance company out of it.
Hi all
I need to draw on the collective advice of TZ
At the weekend my wife annoyingly reversed my car in to her car. Now I need to decide whether to pay for the repairs privately or go through the insurance. To go privately to fix damage will cost £1100 based on quotes I’ve received. The risk is that these are just quotes and therefore could go up if the damage is greater than first thought.
To claim on insurance will cost £150 excess and then both my wife and my insurance policies will increase by approx. £100 each upon renewal due to the claim. We both have protected no claims but will still need to declare the crash for the next 5 years. If we are penalised at £100 a person for the next 5 years it will work out the same as just paying privately (I don’t know if this is how it works or not so I’ve made an assumption).
Normally Id rather pay out £150 now and keep a £1k in my pocket for the time being but there’s a catch. My car is less than 2 months old from new and I want it fixed by main dealer to ensure its exact same standard and warranty remains unaffected. However, by going through my insurer I would have to use one of their approved body shops and to be honest I don’t think I would trust them to do a satisfactory job.
So what would you do in this instance? I suspect I am just overthinking it (which I have a habit of doing) and should just go through insurance, otherwise what’s the point in having it.
Personally, I'd just pay it direct and leave the insurance company out of it.
It's just a matter of time...
You dont have to use the insurers repairer they will push heavily for this on a cost basis, i believe you can use your own but have to tip up the difference.
Personally, if it was a small dink, I would get it done privately. But for the amount you are talking about, think I would go through my Insurance. Remember, if you stick to the Insurance terms, you should tell them about the damage, even if you repair it yourself. I might struggle with that concept though.
You also mention protected no claims, you will keep your no claims, but that has no real bearing on the claim, they can still charge you whatever they want as can other insurance companies. If the repair is over 1k, I would be surprised if at renewal its only a £100 extra.
I would most likely pay it direct and avoid going through insurance - especially considering it hits both.
If it is only £1100 for a main dealer fix, it sounds like it is fairly minor damage, so I would also consider using a good independent repairer
+1, if you involve the insurance companies you'll suffer financially in the longer term.Originally Posted by Omegamanic
Hopefully you've given your wife the appropriate training input to minimise the risk of it happening again?
These things happen; I almost bumped my wife's car recently, it's a lot newer than mine and she would have been most upset.
Which is hilarious when you consider the astronomical amounts that insurers will pay out to their 'approved' providers for car hire, repairs, etc.
Car hire for the man on the street: £30 per day. Car hire via an insurer: £120 per day
Cost to repair a bumper and wing from local bodyshop: £350. Cost to repair a bumper and wing from insurer 'approved' bodyshop: £1000
Not exact figures, but not far off, and you get my point. It's a racket.
Pay it yourself and get the job done properly to your satisfaction, not the insurer's.
BTW, surely the wife is paying anyway?
A number of years ago I was involved in a strange accident. On the way into my work carpark in a queue of slow moving traffic a colleague in front of me suddenly slammed on his brakes and our bumpers 'bumped'. At the time of the accident he got out of his car came back to me and apologized for suddenly braking, he said he thought he saw something moving in the bushes. He later called my office phone and changed his tune, he was angry, saying he shouldn't have apologized, it was my fault and he wanted about £450 to fix his rear bumper. I couldn't argue with him so I paid up and that was that.
For some inexplicable, stupid and childish reason I told my insurer what happened. They were super friendly, told me exactly what to do (get an email from the guy stating 'full and final') and I was happy. Then the insurer absolutely shafted me...
Even though I paid up and it was 'full and final' they slapped me with a thing called 'possible pending claim'. My premium shot up and my no claims bonus cert was given with a cheeky little note on it stating full no claims bonus but with this 'possible pending claim' crap.
It was a nightmare to get re insured at a sensible price.
If I was you, given the small sum involved, I wouldn't dream in a million years of even speaking to your insurer about this but that was my experience.
it not quite how it works , first have you and your wife separate policies / are you a named driver on each others? you both have protected no claims ? this will protect you usually for up to three claims in any 3-5 years, however , as casbar noted , while your no claims remain in tact this will not stop the renewal premium going up/ being adjusted there is no set figure for this .
you can use your own nominated repairer but you will try to be persuaded to use insurers own , and aware most insurers now apply a additional x/s charge for the privilege e,g Aviva so your std £150 x/s+ whatever the policy says. + there may be a delay while the vehicle is inspected, a insurer own will be able to commence repairs immediately. also not under European exemption rules as long as the non dealer garage repairs the car with manufacturer parts and methods the any warranty can not be voided .
courtesy cars are provided by the repairer, at no cost to the insurer in the case of fault claims , however if its a non fault then a hire car is mainly supplied on a like for like basis by a hire company not the insurer and the cost is then passed to the third party insurer.
what's best to do is up to you hope some of the info is informative to help you to decide.
me? am a insurance engineer/assessor with a big green heart
Thanks for all the replies. My gut feeling was to take the hit and sort it outside of insurance to ensure its to my satisfaction. The damage to my car is paint damage on the front bumper and a small dent on a separate panel so I'm hoping there wont be any nasty surprises when they actually start the work eg I need a new bumper etc.
My wife is a named driver on my policy and vice versa. I calculated the £100 a policy increase by getting an insurance quote for both of us on moneysupermarket as is and then amending the quote to add an at fault claim and a no fault claim. My wifes policy only went up by £90 despite being at fault! Mine went up just over £100. That's only for year 1.
Honestly my wife is generally a very good driver, but she has the occasional slap dash moments which I do pull her up on at the time only to get some sarcastic response back. At least I can now say I told you so.
This is a well-timed post. I got hit by a stationary post which resulted in a dented rear bumper. I think as its plastic, it will probably just push out (fingers crossed)...I'm definitely not minded to go down the insurance route!
Cheers
Mark
I have read your methodology for it, but would still seriously doubt that your assumption is correct in the adjusted premium values. You could be looking at +£500pp, pa.
Your vehicle may also be recorded on a loss register - could even end up being Cat D by the time the fixer has finished charging the insurance!
Just sort it yourself. Much cheaper, much less pain. But get a fixed quote - don’t proceed on the basis of an iffy estimate.
Sort it out privately, I had someone reserve into my car, I paid for it privately cost me 300 and a few days with out the act, looked like new. Quicker less hassle than dealing with insurance.
Just had a look at my insurance policy and it would be an additonal £200 to use a repairer of my choosing. Claiming on insurance is getting more expensive by the minute!
I can also see insurers getting very confused by the situation! My wife was driving my car and at the time of the accident I was sat in my wifes car. Due to teh bushes around my drive I've turned off the front parking sensors on my car I def regret doing that now as my wife hit the front of her car with the front ofmy car whilst reversing and turning of our drive (if that makes sense!)
A £1300 repair on a 2 month old car won’t remotely be anywhere near being a cat D.
Cheers..
Jase
My sons fiancé was reversed into at the Station car park. Small dent on the rear quarter and a scratch. The driver gave her his details and told her to phone him when she had an idea of the cost. I took her car to a local spray shop I've used before, quote was £320.
She told the chap, he came back and said - His excess was only £200 and his insurance company said if he claimed his insurance would probably only go up £50 next year. So he decided to go with Insurance. The Insurance company, picked up her car, dropped off a hire car and then it took 2 weeks to sort and get delivered back. I doubt if this chaps insurance is only going up £50 - bonkers decision.
Cat D doesn’t exist any more. It’s cat N.
but...
and my point was that if they’re doing an insurance job they might find that a couple of flux capacitors need fixing while they’re in there...
Possibly a problem?
turning parking sensors off is may have been a mistake /bad decision for sure , but it would not invalidate the policy or be grounds to reject the damage claim.
based on description of damage it would not be considered a total loss.
insurance categories have indeed now changed , and to be able to correctly asses and apply them you have to have AQP qualifications( appropriately qualified person ).
Last edited by mitch1956; 23rd January 2019 at 21:59.
In what sense? The fact I was stupid enough to turn them off in the first place or that i've possibly voided my insurance possibly by turning of a driving aide (alothough I doubt it would). It's probably both haha. Hindsight is a wonderful thing
Thanks for clarifying
Divorce her and make her pay
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I am sure it would be far cheaper to pay for repairs or even buy her a new car than what would be lost/cost in a divorce LOL
NEVER tamper with safety devices....that's what we were taught at work
My car has the opposite problem, the front sensors don`t automatically work unless the car has just been in reverse and hasn't exceeded 10mph! If I need them I have to remember to switch them on. Wifey's car has them permanently on, so there's potential for confusion because I drive her car a lot thesedays.
It's a sickening feeling when you hit something manoeuvring, I`ve done it a few times over the years. Sensors help a lot....when they're switched on. Reversing camera's my favourite driver aid, a 'must have' for me thesedays.
Hopefully the OP will resolve this without too much financial pain or a divorce.
Haha I'd be lying if I said it hadn't crossed my mind. It's a good job I love her! Besides we've only been married 4 months!!
Just give her a jolly good back hander then...
Just take it on the chin and pay for it yourself rather than ruin your Mrs/yours insurance standing. Not worth it in the long run.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Seriously? The OP has said it’s a bit of paint damage to the bumper and a small dent in a panel on a two month old car and you think it could get logged as a CAT D.
Oh and there is not a chance that their premiums would go up by that amount on a bump of that value.
When someone (ahem) reversed into the missus car and made a small dent in the tailgate, we decided (I would) pay cash to get the repair done! £700 later and a local bodyshop made an excellent job of it. Worth it not to have to keep declaring it every year, and at least it helped a local business.
No damage to my car, which I thought she would be more pleased about than she seemed! ;-)
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I feel your pain as my wife has done this twice in the past few years... coincidently the second time my car was 2 months old, and needed a new drivers door.
First time I sorted it myself for about 300 quid, second time had to be insurance as it was a big bill! I still don’t know how she did either as both cars had parking sensors, but we’re still married.
Personally, in your case I’d pay myself.
John
By relying on the parktronic on Mrs T-7's X5, i reversed & hit the wall in our turning space. The moment AFTER I hit the wall, the parktronic told me I was too close. I would permanently turn the system off but I worry that subconsciously I now rely on it.NEVER tamper with safety devices....that's what we were taught at work
My car has the opposite problem, the front sensors don`t automatically work unless the car has just been in reverse and hasn't exceeded 10mph! If I need them I have to remember to switch them on. Wifey's car has them permanently on, so there's potential for confusion because I drive her car a lot thesedays.
It's a sickening feeling when you hit something manoeuvring, I`ve done it a few times over the years. Sensors help a lot....when they're switched on. Reversing camera's my favourite driver aid, a 'must have' for me thesedays.
Hopefully the OP will resolve this without too much financial pain or a divorce.
OP how do you know the insurance premiums will rise by £100 per year for the next 5 years? I suspect that you have already approached your insurance company to talk about this? if so you may find that you have inadvertently increased your insurance policy anyway...
Despite having protected no claims and not actually claiming from the insurance company this could have been marked on your record as a £0 claim. As a result you are now seen as a higher risk as you have a claim recorded on your policy. your protected claims will protect the insurance from rising but the higher risk category of claiming is not covered by this so the premium is increased. Not sure if this would carry across to a new insurer but you may find that the current insurer will put your premium up. Personally I would have just swallowed the cost and not spoken to the insurance company. unless it was a really serious accident.
I was conscious of this so I have had not contacted my insurer. I went on moneysupermarket and got a quote for my policy as it is. I then got a quote with an no fault claim for me and an at fault claim for my wife. The difference in price between the cheapest two policies of comparable standards was £100 (although excess was £150 higher with the claim.
I do not not if I will be impacted for 1 year or 5 years I just assumed as long as I have to keep declaring it I will keep being penalised for it. I guess I could go back on moneysupermarket and adjust the claim to be 2, 3, 4, 5 years old etc and see.
I've decided there are just too many uncertainties going through insurance so I'm just going to pay privately
I think in this instance avoiding the insurance is the best option. As you say too many variables and the insurance company will make sure it falls in their favour.
Some insurers refuse to pay out on claims where the two vehicles are registered at the same address. I think this is due to previous exposure to fraudulent claims where husband/wife gets historic damage on their car fixed by 'conveniently' reversing into it with their other car whilst on the driveway.
I have no direct experience of this myself, but have heard that it exists. May be worth checking before you declare the accident to your insurers.
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