To claim or not to claim (minor car accident)

M

MichaelR

Registered User
Messages
38
Hello,

So, a typical situation, minor car accident, we're at fault, the other side's body shop says 500 Euro.

If it was 200 I'd surely just pay, if it was 1000 I'd surely go with insurance. This one is a borderline case though. We have fully protected NCB, so there's hope the impact on the premium won't be big. But hope is not certainty.

I'd appreciate hints on wht to consider in this decision.
 
MichaelR said:
We have fully protected NCB, so there's hope the impact on the premium won't be big. But hope is not certainty.
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If you make a claim, you have made a claim.

So while your present insurer might "protect" your NCB , you will not be able to switch to another insurer.

And the protection is a mirage. They might leave you with a 30% NCB but they can jack up the underlying premium safe in the knowledge that you can't switch.

So pay for the damage yourself.
 
Regardless of what you end up doing you need to notify your insurer of this accident.
Who knows maybe in 2 weeks they may develop a stiff neck.
You are obligated asfaik to do this.
You don't claim no problem it won't increase your renewal
 
Persia said:
You don't claim no problem it won't increase your renewal
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Are you sure that an accident that you don't claim for but report to the insurer (which, as you say, is probably a requirement under most or all policies) won't impact the renewal premium?
 
ClubMan said:
Are you sure that an accident that you don't claim for but report to the insurer (which, as you say, is probably a requirement under most or all policies) won't impact the renewal premium?
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Can only speak to my own recent experience, reported an accident to insurer but decided to pay it myself and didnt impact my renewal premium.
My NCB was not affected.
 
Your NCB certificate says how many years NCB you have earned. It doesn't say whether it's protected or not.

If you have full protection and claim, you stay at the same number of years. If you have step-back protection and claim, you move down a few years.

So why couldn't you transfer it to another insurer?
 
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Worth noting this...

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Reactions: Leo
So you keep your discount, but the premium the discount is applied to goes up anyway because of the claim. But that's the same whether you stay with your current insurer or switch to a new one. Protected NCB doesn't prevent you switching insurer.
 
With regard to the €500 cost, have you taken your excess payment into account if you claim through your insurance?
 
We don't have an excess on third party claims. But I do see the point that they might well raise the premium regardless.
 
Corola said:
Protected NCB doesn't prevent you switching insurer.
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It doesn't, but try shopping around with a recent claim and see how you get on!

JoeRoberts said:
Not true, wife did same and new insurer honoured the ncb protection from previous insurer
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I'd be interested in knowing who that was. Did she divulge the claim as required? My wife had a very different experience a few years back.
 
Protected NCB still has a value, even if you can't switch.

If you make a claim and renew with your current insurer, your renewal premium will increase because you made a claim. Then if you have protected NCB that premium will be discounted. If you didn't have protected NCB it wouldn't be discounted.

After making a claim, your premium will always be less than if you didn't protect NCB. You are still protecting the discount, you are not protecting your renewal from increases.
 
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