Insurance renewal
Discussion
An insurance "games theory" question for you all.
I'm in talks with my insurer around opening 2 separate claims to repair damage inflicted on my car by unknown vandals (bodywork damage+paint). Total repair cost is £9k. Car is worth £35k. My current insurance premium is £900 fully comp.
Haven't instructed either the insurer or garage to do anything yet.
The options I can think of are:
A) Go ahead with the claims. My insurer already said it won't renew my policy (end of May) if I do. Which means I'll have to find a new insurer, disclose the 2 claims, and probably get ridiculously high quotes (I checked). I don't really want to pay £5k+ for insurance, so will have to sell the car. But what happens if I can't sell it by end of May? Where can I leave the car if it's uninsured (I don't have a garage)? How will people be able to test drive it?
B) Pay the £10k out of my pocket
C) Keep the car as is
D) Sell the car as is (but who would buy it?)
So, either way it looks like I'm royally f
ked. Any opinions on option A, B, C or D?
Any other options I might have overlooked?
I'm in talks with my insurer around opening 2 separate claims to repair damage inflicted on my car by unknown vandals (bodywork damage+paint). Total repair cost is £9k. Car is worth £35k. My current insurance premium is £900 fully comp.
Haven't instructed either the insurer or garage to do anything yet.
The options I can think of are:
A) Go ahead with the claims. My insurer already said it won't renew my policy (end of May) if I do. Which means I'll have to find a new insurer, disclose the 2 claims, and probably get ridiculously high quotes (I checked). I don't really want to pay £5k+ for insurance, so will have to sell the car. But what happens if I can't sell it by end of May? Where can I leave the car if it's uninsured (I don't have a garage)? How will people be able to test drive it?
B) Pay the £10k out of my pocket
C) Keep the car as is
D) Sell the car as is (but who would buy it?)
So, either way it looks like I'm royally f
ked. Any opinions on option A, B, C or D?Any other options I might have overlooked?
You need to run a few quotes online if your car is 'generic' and not some 35k special modified of sorts edition.
Run one with no claims and another with 2 claims. If the difference is over 2-3k then you may be able to guess that it may be over 10k over the next 5 years, although it may not be the same 'hike' each year. In which case it may be best to pay out of your own pocket, but it will mainly be guess work.
Run one with no claims and another with 2 claims. If the difference is over 2-3k then you may be able to guess that it may be over 10k over the next 5 years, although it may not be the same 'hike' each year. In which case it may be best to pay out of your own pocket, but it will mainly be guess work.
If you're seriously considering shelling out ten thousand pounds on repairing the car, five thousand on insurance doesn't seem so bad. Having said that, a five fold increase sounds unlikely, even with two claims.
If you haven't sold it by the time the policy expires, you'll need to SORN it. Will be difficult to shift unless you own land.
If you haven't sold it by the time the policy expires, you'll need to SORN it. Will be difficult to shift unless you own land.
PurpleMoonlight said:
Refusing to insure you because you have to make a claim through no fault of your own, sounds like something the Financial Ombudsman would be interested in.
Indeed but the insurer may be wise to that problem and fell unable to accept the risk for unconnected reasons. There is more than one way to avoid liability in such circumstances and insurers will know how to do so without recourse. PurpleMoonlight said:
Refusing to insure you because you have to make a claim through no fault of your own, sounds like something the Financial Ombudsman would be interested in.
No it isn't. The ombudsman won't interfere in what are essentially commercial decisions about the level of risk the insurer is willing to accept, and the price at which they'll accept it.Unfortunately two acts of vandalism in a short space of time suggest either incredibly bad luck, or more likely that you've attracted the attention of someone very unpleasant (do you have any disputes with disreputable neighbours?) and therefore that it's likely to be an ongoing problem. Any insurance quote now is likely to reflect the fact that there's a fairly high chance that you'll suffer more vandalism in the future, and that at a few thousand pounds an incident that wouldn't be cheap for the insurer.
Aretnap said:
No it isn't. The ombudsman won't interfere in what are essentially commercial decisions about the level of risk the insurer is willing to accept, and the price at which they'll accept it.
I believe insurers are obliged to offer renewal terms to an existing policy holder who has complied with the terms and conditions of the policy. Only the price is the commercial element.PurpleMoonlight said:
Aretnap said:
No it isn't. The ombudsman won't interfere in what are essentially commercial decisions about the level of risk the insurer is willing to accept, and the price at which they'll accept it.
I believe insurers are obliged to offer renewal terms to an existing policy holder who has complied with the terms and conditions of the policy. Only the price is the commercial element.Aretnap said:
Unfortunately two acts of vandalism in a short space of time suggest either incredibly bad luck, or more likely that you've attracted the attention of someone very unpleasant (do you have any disputes with disreputable neighbours?) and therefore that it's likely to be an ongoing problem.
Exactly. There seems little point in fixing it unless you can keep it somewhere different immediately after the repair. I suspect the vandal is waiting for the repair to be carried out before striking again.I live in Soho which is home to a few unsavoury people and a lot of drunk tts.
I don't believe my car is being targeted by a specific individual(s), but as it's a sports car it stands out from the rest and therefore attracts unwanted attention by jealous/drunk people.
The damage mainly consists of deep keying to the passenger door and rear 3/4, and damage to the bonnet, grille and bumper (which can be repaired rather than replaced). This whole lot, including paint, will cost £9k from an official garage. No doubt I could pay half that by going elsewhere.
Doubt I could easily sell it as is, unless it's to a garage who could carry out the repair work cheaply.
As for the future, I can park the car in quieter parts of Soho, but will never be able to remove the risk of vandalism 100%...
ts.I don't believe my car is being targeted by a specific individual(s), but as it's a sports car it stands out from the rest and therefore attracts unwanted attention by jealous/drunk people.
The damage mainly consists of deep keying to the passenger door and rear 3/4, and damage to the bonnet, grille and bumper (which can be repaired rather than replaced). This whole lot, including paint, will cost £9k from an official garage. No doubt I could pay half that by going elsewhere.
Doubt I could easily sell it as is, unless it's to a garage who could carry out the repair work cheaply.
As for the future, I can park the car in quieter parts of Soho, but will never be able to remove the risk of vandalism 100%...
If you find a decent broker you could ask them for a massive excess for vandalism and a normal excess for other stuff.
After I had a couple of rather painful incidents a few years ago I had a 50K excess for a while, reducing to nil in the event of fire or theft.
But parking anything decent on the street in Soho on a regular basis is never going to work.
After I had a couple of rather painful incidents a few years ago I had a 50K excess for a while, reducing to nil in the event of fire or theft.
But parking anything decent on the street in Soho on a regular basis is never going to work.
LoonR1 said:
PurpleMoonlight said:
Aretnap said:
No it isn't. The ombudsman won't interfere in what are essentially commercial decisions about the level of risk the insurer is willing to accept, and the price at which they'll accept it.
I believe insurers are obliged to offer renewal terms to an existing policy holder who has complied with the terms and conditions of the policy. Only the price is the commercial element.OP,
Just a thought but if we are talking cosmetics and you are intending to keep the car I'd go with the no claim, not fix route and worry about fixing and so on when I do want to sell.
Just imagine a lovely respray, shed loads of trouble and then 3 weeks later A. Knuckledragger esq. gets their keys out...
Honestly if I were living in Soho it would be a s/h Smart for bumbling about and a membership of one of the better car clubs.
Just a thought but if we are talking cosmetics and you are intending to keep the car I'd go with the no claim, not fix route and worry about fixing and so on when I do want to sell.
Just imagine a lovely respray, shed loads of trouble and then 3 weeks later A. Knuckledragger esq. gets their keys out...
Honestly if I were living in Soho it would be a s/h Smart for bumbling about and a membership of one of the better car clubs.
desolate said:
After I had a couple of rather painful incidents a few years ago I had a 50K excess for a while, reducing to nil in the event of fire or theft.
Given that 80% of accident payouts are to settle the third party costs, on which there is no excess, I'm not sure how much benefit this is. If your car is worth under £50K, then in effect it's tpf&t cover, which is hardly any cheaper than comp for most people.TwigtheWonderkid said:
desolate said:
After I had a couple of rather painful incidents a few years ago I had a 50K excess for a while, reducing to nil in the event of fire or theft.
Given that 80% of accident payouts are to settle the third party costs, on which there is no excess, I'm not sure how much benefit this is. If your car is worth under £50K, then in effect it's tpf&t cover, which is hardly any cheaper than comp for most people.Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff