Can you cancel an insurance claim?

[DaveH23]

Just had a phone call off my dad to say a van has gone in to the side of him yesterday. Low impact, no injuries but damage to drivers side door and rear panel of a 57 plate Hyundai Accent.

The insurance co asked him to take photos which they have done and sent over, the insurance have said they will be InTouch after reviewing them.

It's highly likely they will write it off but he's spoken to a repair place he's used in the past and they've quoted him £600 to have it repaired.

Can he cancel the claim with the insurance company so they don'r write it off and have it as a notification only or does he need to have it written off then buy it back?

Never been in this situation so will welcome any advice.

[simon_harris]

tbh best way to go will be let them write if off and buy it back, the claim will still be recorded anyway.

[Truckosaurus]

Just looked on Autotrader to see what the going rate for an Accent was, and the most expensive one is a written off one

As a rough guess the car would have been worth £2-2.5k and if you spend £600 it might be worth £1-1.5k, so you'd want the car back + £1600 payout to 'break even'.

If they agree to 'forget it every happened' then you are down the £600 to fix and a mark on your file that you had a crash so your premium will go up anyway.

[DaveH23]

Had another call off my dad to say he had cancelled the claim, they asked why and he explained and they were happy with it.

He asked if he needs to pay more and they said it may increase slightly at renewal but he is 75 anyway so doesn't pay much as it is.

As ever, appreciate the advice

[_Hoppers]

I’m not sure if that was the best call? My neighbour has an old Fiat Panda and someone ran up the back of him. Damage was cosmetic, bent tow bar and crease in the bumper. Insurance offered to write it off or give a cash settlement. He took the cash (was in the region of £1k IIRC), he left the bumper and straightened out the tow bar!

[Shnozz]

DaveH23 said:

Had another call off my dad to say he had cancelled the claim, they asked why and he explained and they were happy with it.

He asked if he needs to pay more and they said it may increase slightly at renewal but he is 75 anyway so doesn't pay much as it is.

As ever, appreciate the advice

You say that but insurance premiums work in a U shape whereby the middle age years are often the cheapest! As my Dad found as he got into older age.

[FMOB]

All sounds a bit odd to be honest, it sounds like he isn't at fault but is prepared to pay for the damage someone else has done to his car.

I would also suspect the £600 may well creep up when it gets looked at properly.

[Blockbuster]

He can cancel the claim, but he can’t cancel the fact that he has notified them of an incident and will now have higher premiums for the next few years.

[Truckosaurus]

FMOB said:

....it sounds like he isn't at fault but is prepared to pay for the damage someone else has done to his car....

Indeed. Paying out of your own pocket to avoid a write-off might be worth it for a classic car you intented keeping for a while, but seems pointless for a daily driver.

[MustangGT]

It is his car, they cannot write it off without his agreement, provided it is still structurally sound. Worst case would be they pay out the equivalent of the write off value.

[TooLateForAName]

Van went into him - why is he looking at claiming? Its all down to the other driver

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Blockbuster said:

He can cancel the claim, but he can’t cancel the fact that he has notified them of an incident and will now have higher premiums for the next few years.

Not this nonsense again. He MIGHT have higher premium, not WILL. Different insurers have different approaches to notified incidents, and they don't all charge extra.