RTA -claim on insurance or not?

C

Carnmore

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In summary, a car suddenly stopped on the road to do a u-turn causing the two cars behind it to stop in the flow of traffic - I couldn't see this so ended up rear-ending the car in front of me and shunting it in to the next car.

The first car left the scene and no-one got their registration.

It seems I'll be liable. It was amicable amongst all the parties and no one was hurt. The total cost of fixing the three vehicles will be €4-6k.

In general, is it worth going through insurance of paying for the repairs myself considering the loss of no claims discount, premium loading et al?

Thanks in advance.
 
Carnmore said:
It was amicable amongst all the parties and no one was hurt.
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You may be surprised that people become "hurt" after the even , given days / weeks for them to ponder the possibility of money. Also, have to take into account that genuine issues arising from the accident might not be evident until a few days later, stiff neck, etc..

You will need to talk to your insurance company anyway, to let them know you were involved in a car accident (might be specified in your T&Cs). Up to €6K is not a small amount of money - have you this amount and can afford it? Personally speaking, the loading / loss of NCB wouldn't be worth it for up to €6K.
 
If you go through insurance, I understand it's a bit more complicated than that. I was the middle car in a similar accident a few years ago.
Technically I was liable for the damage to car in front of me, and my insurance company would counter claim against insurance of car behind. Then the car behind me was liable for damages to my car (and his own).

No crash repair will set a cost in stone until the remove bumpers, etc and fully assess. What might look small can turn out to be costly.

Luckily the guy who ran into me paid for all the damage to all cars, but as mentioned above, personal injury can surface after the event.
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm trying to get an idea of the amount a claim would need to be to go through insurance. A garage owner said he has clients who have paid €8k themselves rather than claiming.

If it's damage repairs only the total amount could be about €2500. I would be getting both parties to sign an agreement that their claim is settled in full, which I know wouldn't stand up in court but might reduce the chances of a further claim.

In the event of paying for the repairs rather than claiming, what would happen if in the future (I think it's up to 10 years for a child) someone puts in a personal injury claim when the insurance policy no longer exists?
 
That's one of the reasons why you are required to notify your insurance company of all accidents that could potentially give rise to a claim.
 
Seagull said:
That's one of the reasons why you are required to notify your insurance company of all accidents that could potentially give rise to a claim.
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I have done so - just trying to figure out whether to pay for it myself.
 
I've seen this scenario so many times over the years and my advice is always to go through the insurance company, especially in this case where there could be a number of third parties involved. It just isn't worth it. We had a client in the last few years that had an accident, paid for the damages himself like you have outlined. 18 months later a personal injury claim went in. He lost the money he spent on the repairs but we had changed him to a new insurer as we didn't know about the accident. This was then a non disclosure to the new company who cancelled his new insurance policy. It was a mess and cost him a fortune to rectify. If you put it through your insurer you might see an increase of €300/€400 next year but better that then wondering if it will ever come back to haunt you.
 
I’m getting the various quotes together and forwarding them to my claims handler with photos for approval. The insurance company will then pay for the repair costs and I will decide whether to reimburse the insurance company or not if it’s more advantageous to have no claim on my record.
 
Carnmore said:
The insurance company will then pay for the repair costs and I will decide whether to reimburse the insurance company or not if it’s more advantageous to have no claim on my record.
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But... correct me if I'm wrong; by claiming initially and deciding later whether to pay it back or not doesn't matter because you'll have made a 'claim' and as such you'll lose your no claims bonus.
 
PaddyBloggit said:
But... correct me if I'm wrong; by claiming initially and deciding later whether to pay it back or not doesn't matter because you'll have made a 'claim' and as such you'll lose your no claims bonus.
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Likewise but apparently not according to the underwriter
 
Carnmore said:
Likewise but apparently not according to the underwriter
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If you try to change insurer in the future you'd have to declare that you had a claim (though you paid it back).

You know how insurers like to find ways to up your premium.
 
leave your insurer sort it and if the payout is not huge and you want to keep your NCB, reimburse them before next renewal date. As long as claim is closed, they will do that.
 
Ravima said:
leave your insurer sort it and if the payout is not huge and you want to keep your NCB, reimburse them before next renewal date. As long as claim is closed, they will do that.
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Yes this is usually a better option if your insurer will agree to it. Technically you will still need to disclose the claim to any new insurer but technically you have to disclose it even if you didn't put through the claim..
 
Maybe it's just the heat getting to me, but why would you reimburse your insurance company the money for an accident you were in? You take out insurance so as to cover such unforeseen issues like that, but you end up paying for it yourself? Surely the loading on the policy is not going to be so high over the next 3 to 5 years that it will run into thousands of euro, that it will cost to pay for this incident (never mind the possibility of personal injury in the future) ?
 
But it will make no difference to OP's situation if s/he changes insurers. The question on the proposal forms is normally "Have you had any claims or accidents in the last 5 years?" Even if the damage is paid for by OP, the answer is still "YES".
 
mathepac said:
But it will make no difference to OP's situation if s/he changes insurers.
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Correct, as already called out above. It will only save the NCD, so all down to the numbers on whether it will pay off.
 
They cannot in one way tell you by how much Euro the premium will increase, as there could be increases/decreases before your policy comes up for renewal.

They MUST tell you however that NCB will be affected.

How much percent is your NCB? If 50%, then your current premium will double as you have a 50% NCB.
 
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