Covering repair costs through Insurance

[andymach23]

Hi everyone.

I clipped the wing mirror of a parked car when driving past and damaged it. I reported it to my insurance company and they are going to deal with contacting the other car owner etc.

My car is undamged.

Rather this be recoreded as a claim against me, can I approach my insurance company to let me cover the cost of the repair to the other car in full, rather than them having to pay out?

Any other advice welcome.

Cheers, Andy

[HedgeyGedgey]

Why didn't you just leave a note on the car?

[VSKeith]

andymach23 said:

Hi everyone.

I clipped the wing mirror of a parked car when driving past and damaged it. I reported it to my insurance company and they are going to deal with contacting the other car owner etc.

My car is undamged.

Rather this be recoreded as a claim against me, can I approach my insurance company to let me cover the cost of the repair to the other car in full, rather than them having to pay out?

Any other advice welcome.

Cheers, Andy

Yes, but it will now be on the CUE database, whether you claim or not and you'll have to declare at renewal/next time you insure, and for 3-5 years.

You won't necessarily see a rise in premiums, but you might

[Alex Z]

If you'd left a note, you'd have been able to cover the cost of a repair privately. As it stands now, your insurers will still record this and potentially load your policy for subsequent years even if you don't claim.

[essayer]

You might be surprised how much mirrors cost nowadays.

[fatjon]

Now you did the “right” thing you will almost certainly get shafted every renewal for the next 5 years. If you pay for the repairs it will make no difference at all, you will still get your pocket dipped annually in addition to the repair cost. Never assume insurance companies are nice honest people with cuddly meerkats and bulldogs, they are pretty much all grasping desperate sharks who will use any excuse to fleece you.

[Chubbyross]

Sadly doing the right thing these days isn’t rewarded and you’re actually penalised. I would definitely have left a note. You’re now going to have to declare that for a few years.

[VSKeith]

fatjon said:

Now you did the “right” thing you will almost certainly get shafted every renewal for the next 5 years. If you pay for the repairs it will make no difference at all, you will still get your pocket dipped annually in addition to the repair cost. Never assume insurance companies are nice honest people with cuddly meerkats and bulldogs, they are pretty much all grasping desperate sharks who will use any excuse to fleece you.

The premium won't necessarily go up for a claim and even if it does, it probably won't for the full period it has to be declared.

Note the use of 'necessarily' 'even if' and 'probably'.

It's accepted wisdom in these parts that there are many factors involved. Some would see a rise, others not. You won't know until you next take out a policy and declare it.

[andymach23]

Thanks for the advice.
I was thinking that if i cover the repair costs and it isnt recorded as an actual claim on the database, I can still use my no claims bonus ( not enough years to protect) and still click the no claims in last 5 years on the renewal.

This would give me the best chance of minimizing a hefty increase maybe?

Any thoughts on that?

[HedgeyGedgey]

andymach23 said:

Thanks for the advice.
I was thinking that if i cover the repair costs and it isnt recorded as an actual claim on the database, I can still use my no claims bonus ( not enough years to protect) and still click the no claims in last 5 years on the renewal.

This would give me the best chance of minimizing a hefty increase maybe?

Any thoughts on that?

Insurance companies don't ask if you've claimed, they simply ask if you've had an accident in the last 5 years. Which you'll have to say yes to. The moment you called them up to say you'd had a bump it will have gone on the database

[Pizzaeatingking]

andymach23 said:

Thanks for the advice.
I was thinking that if i cover the repair costs and it isnt recorded as an actual claim on the database, I can still use my no claims bonus ( not enough years to protect) and still click the no claims in last 5 years on the renewal.

This would give me the best chance of minimizing a hefty increase maybe?

Any thoughts on that?

If you were to pay it out yourself then you could say no to having a claim in the last 5 years but you will still need to say yes to having an accident in the last 5 years.

[VSKeith]

andymach23 said:

Thanks for the advice.
I was thinking that if i cover the repair costs and it isnt recorded as an actual claim on the database, I can still use my no claims bonus ( not enough years to protect) and still click the no claims in last 5 years on the renewal.

This would give me the best chance of minimizing a hefty increase maybe?

Any thoughts on that?

Now that the insurer knows about the incident it will be recorded on the database (CUE) that they use to share information with all insurers. Even if you don't claim, it will effectively be recorded as a zero value 'claim'.

As you won't actually be claiming any money, your NCD won't be affected.

You'll have to answer 'yes' to any accidents/claims in the last 'x' years unfortunately.

As previously posted, it's not likely that you'll get a hefty increase for a zero value 'claim', but there are so many factors it's impossible to say. For example insurers may have had a lot of small claims on the vehicle you're insuring and load that, but if you changed car it could show no loading (etc etc; ad infinitum).

Best way to find out is to put some details into the comparison sites, with and without the incident. You can also do a data subject access request (DSAR) and find out exactly what's held on the database. I found this useful when having to declare two, as you have the exact dates and classifications to refer to at renewal time. In my case, the premiums went up by about £30 - £50 for a couple of years, then it made no difference.

[andymach23]

That's all very useful info. Thanks everyone.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

fatjon said:

Now you did the “right” thing you will almost certainly get shafted every renewal for the next 5 years. If you pay for the repairs it will make no difference at all, you will still get your pocket dipped annually in addition to the repair cost. Never assume insurance companies are nice honest people with cuddly meerkats and bulldogs, they are pretty much all grasping desperate sharks who will use any excuse to fleece you.

This is absolute tripe. There are two possible premium implications in having an accident. Firstly the loading for having had an accident, which some insurers apply and some don't, and some apply for claims that cost then and some who don't apply it if the claim doesn't cost them. Secondly, the loss or reduction of NCB if it's a fault claim (a fault claim is any claim where they pay out money they cannot recover from another party, regardless of it you were actually at fault or not.)

In this instance, if OP lets insurers deal with it, he'll have a possible loading for a fault claim, and a loading for NCB impact. If he pays himself, he'll have a possible loading for a non fault claim (it's non fault because it cost them nothing, regardless of actual circumstances), and no NCB impact.

[andymach23]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

This is absolute tripe. There are two possible premium implications in having an accident. Firstly the loading for having had an accident, which some insurers apply and some don't, and some apply for claims that cost then and some who don't apply it if the claim doesn't cost them. Secondly, the loss or reduction of NCB if it's a fault claim (a fault claim is any claim where they pay out money they cannot recover from another party, regardless of it you were actually at fault or not.)

In this instance, if OP lets insurers deal with it, he'll have a possible loading for a fault claim, and a loading for NCB impact. If he pays himself, he'll have a possible loading for a non fault claim (it's non fault because it cost them nothing, regardless of actual circumstances), and no NCB impact.

Thanks, do you thnk the insurance company will let me cover the cost of the repair ok? Is that a standard sort of arrangement they can make?

I was also wondering if the car I damaged will now also be entered in the CUE database? Could there be insurance cost implications for the other car owner?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

andymach23 said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

This is absolute tripe. There are two possible premium implications in having an accident. Firstly the loading for having had an accident, which some insurers apply and some don't, and some apply for claims that cost then and some who don't apply it if the claim doesn't cost them. Secondly, the loss or reduction of NCB if it's a fault claim (a fault claim is any claim where they pay out money they cannot recover from another party, regardless of it you were actually at fault or not.)

In this instance, if OP lets insurers deal with it, he'll have a possible loading for a fault claim, and a loading for NCB impact. If he pays himself, he'll have a possible loading for a non fault claim (it's non fault because it cost them nothing, regardless of actual circumstances), and no NCB impact.

Thanks, do you thnk the insurance company will let me cover the cost of the repair ok? Is that a standard sort of arrangement they can make?

I was also wondering if the car I damaged will now also be entered in the CUE database? Could there be insurance cost implications for the other car owner?

I think most insurers are happy to let their policyholder cover the cost of minor tp damage, in order to preserve any NCB. But as someone said, you might get a nasty shock. Electric heated wing mirrors aren't cheap to replace.

The car you damaged might go on the database, might not, and yes, it may have cost implications. Some insurers load for a non fault claim, but not as many as people believe on PH.