Is It Worth Putting Through My Insurance

[louise74]

Tonight driving home in this horrendous weather I pranged my Yaris, I pulling in to drop a friend off and they told me I was at the wrong house as I pulled back out I pranged another car the other car appears undamaged but my car has a dint running along the door and in to the back panel were it is quite deep, how much I am potentially looking at to get it repaired? I can't take a photo right now as its dark and raining outside.

[Raeman]

OUCH! :(

Bad news Louise, Friday the 13th aswell! :o

As for repairing it, it all depends on how old the car is, if it was me and the car was worth very little, i myself would not bother to repair it as i would trade the car in anyway.

If it's quite new then i would get it repaired.....You have two choices here, either go the insurance route and pay the excess, or go to a body shop, let them assess the damage and get a price off them to fix it as a private job.

Cost wise, i wouldn't have a clue tbh, all depends on the severity of the damage but obviously if your ins excess is, say only £200 and the bodyshop quote you £400, then go the insurance route, but by doing this you may lose your NCB unless you have it protected on the ins policy.

Good luck for the repairs btw. :)

[louise74]

OUCH! :(

Bad news Louise, Friday the 13th aswell! :o

As for repairing it, it all depends on how old the car is, if it was me and the car was worth very little, i myself would not bother to repair it as i would trade the car in anyway.

If it's quite new then i would get it repaired.....You have two choices here, either go the insurance route and pay the excess, or go to a body shop, let them assess the damage and get a price off them to fix it as a private job.

Cost wise, i wouldn't have a clue tbh, all depends on the severity of the damage but obviously if your ins excess is, say only £200 and the bodyshop quote you £400, then go the insurance route, but by doing this you may lose your NCB unless you have it protected on the ins policy.

Good luck for the repairs btw. :)

Thanks for your reply, ouch indeed

Car is only 4 years old and I have had it only 2 months so the repair route is the route I will need to go down. I don't really want to loose my no claims (3 and half years) but I think its going to have to be an insurance job. I haven't yet rang my insurance company as I am still waiting for the other car owner to get in touch. Will have a good look at it in day light and take some photos and post them on here.

[Yaristotle]

If you do claim on your insurance you will very likely receive an increase in your annual premium. This applies even if you do not lose your NCB and even if the NCB is protected.

[louise74]

Damage more extenstive than I thought have just rang insurers

[louise74]

Still could be worse

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/13112009/36/man-d...-car-lak-0.html

[louise74]

I hereby declare toyota accident assist a heap of crap

[Raeman]

I hereby declare toyota accident assist a heap of crap

Why's that? Not very helpfull then? :(

[louise74]

Other peoples opinions may be different but I rang this morning gave them all my details and was informed someone will ring you before 1pm to start a claim, I waited till 2pm. I rang them back and was informed nobody will ring you back till Monday as the office is closed. Rang my insurers myself and sorted it out.

[louise74]

Taking over to a body shop on Friday for a quote, at this moment in time it is going in under insurance however, if I discover that its going to cost less than £300 I will pay for it out my own pocket. I am not hopeful though.

[reece]

Taking over to a body shop on Friday for a quote, at this moment in time it is going in under insurance however, if I discover that its going to cost less than £300 I will pay for it out my own pocket. I am not hopeful though.

£300 won’t even cover the labour charges :(

[louise74]

Taking over to a body shop on Friday for a quote, at this moment in time it is going in under insurance however, if I discover that its going to cost less than £300 I will pay for it out my own pocket. I am not hopeful though.

£300 won’t even cover the labour charges :(

Thanks Reece, its an "insurance job" then :( Oh well will just have to live with the increased premiums for the next couple of years.

To look at it from a positive side though it removes all doubts I had over whether I should of kept my Ford Ka for another couple of years as that needed far more body work than my Yaris.

[aygoal]

Owing to the increased base premium and possible loss of no claims - adding to your excess, I would be sceptical to claim for les than £750 - £1000.

Are you also having to pay for repairs to the other car too?

[alfiejts]

Don't forget that these days, the insurers ask whether you have had any claims or accidents - so whether you have claimed or not, you still need to say yes to that question, otherwise you'll risk invalidating your insurance....

And, assuming it was unfortunately your fault, as yours was the only car being driven at the time, if the other party is claiming (and they nearly always do) then you might as well claim for your repair anyway, as you'll have to pay the excess for their claim anyway....

[aygoal]

I thought you didn't pay an excess for a third party claim.

[louise74]

The other car is undamaged apart from a small scratch, I hit their bumper the rest of the damage to my car was caused by the black plastic strip running down the side of their car.

[louise74]

Well car was assessed today, a bit later than planned due to a pair of naughty lungs and hopefully it will be in for repair by the beginning of next week, I will get either a fiesta or micra as a courtesy car.

[Blue84]

Don't forget that these days, the insurers ask whether you have had any claims or accidents - so whether you have claimed or not, you still need to say yes to that question, otherwise you'll risk invalidating your insurance....

And, assuming it was unfortunately your fault, as yours was the only car being driven at the time, if the other party is claiming (and they nearly always do) then you might as well claim for your repair anyway, as you'll have to pay the excess for their claim anyway....

Sorry but you don't pay an excess for a third party claim - I worked in Motor Insurance for four years!

You pay an excess for your own claim, same for Household Insurance which is what I have now done for two and a half years.

Louise, having a prang is never nice. It's a really horrible feeling :(

[louise74]

Louise, having a prang is never nice. It's a really horrible feeling :(

No it has really rocked my confidence

[Blue84]

Yeah I would be knocked too, but no-one is ever a perfect driver!

[louise74]

Yep thats true and that why we have insurance.

Just out of interest how long can I reasonably expect the insurance company to take over sorting it out. Its been three weeks now the car was assessed over a week a go and I still haven't been told when I can take my car in for repair. I have the rang the insurance company they say the accident report hasn't been sent it from the company doing the repairs. I rang the company doing the repair they have said it has definately been sent in. I then rang the insurance company and they said nope they definitely hasn't been sent in. Another phone call to the insurance company later and they have reassured me that they have now rang the repair company and asked for the report again and will attend to it ASAP. I am getting rather annoyed now :ffs: :angry: as I seem to be going round in circles. The paint work is damaged and the last thing I want is rust setting in. Also I want it sorted before I go away in three weeks time for Christmas.

[Raeman]

Louise you could be waiting for months yet...sorry to tell you that, i'm sure it's not what you wanted to hear but as an example....

I had a small motorcycle accident about 3yrs ago, basically i was sat on the bike stationary and some stupid person in front of me reversed into the front of my bike and knocked me off.

She would not admit liability but did just before it went to court, and to cut a very long drawn out story short, it took from the day of the accident to the day i got compensation exactly 19months! :(

I got so sick of waiting for my bike to be repaired i ended up buying all the new parts myself and repaired it myself to my standard (it's a bike thing)

Had i waited for the 3rd party's ins to collect, take away and repair my bike it would have been about 6months from the day of the accident that's why i did it myself.

These sort of things are usually allways drawn out by the Insurance company's, it's just like they don't give a flying figg when it comes to customers needs, so long as they get their money off you, they are happy it seems.

All i can suggest is like i did and ring every day and pester the hell out of them, i did it so much i even got to remember my reference number and all the telephone numbers of all involved off the top of my head!

Just keep on pestering and you will get results, do nothing and so will they.

Good luck. ;)

[louise74]

Thanks for your advise,

I know the main reason I want the car fixed is pride, I don't want to present my new car to my sisters when I visit them at Christmas with a dint down it end to end :( .

Anyway I decided to pester them, I rang up again last night and got past from department to department then told to ring again at 9am this morning (which for me as a night shift worker is the middle of the night) but I did as it happened I came off duty 2 hours late so I rang them once I had finished munching on my bacon sandwich and again got fobbed off but they promised to look into it.

Phone rang at 4.50pm it was the repair company everything has been apporoved and could I please bring my car in on Thursday morning at half 8 for repairs and to collect my curtesy car.

[Blue84]

Glad to hear you've got a date for it to start.

This is a super busy time of year for Insurance, trust me I know!

[louise74]

My drivers radar is now set to extra cautious given the time of the year, my car is now away for repair and I have a Chevy Kalos as a courtesy car, already missing my Yaris the kalos is a horrible car and as someone who is vertically challenged I would go as saying that the driving position makes its dangerous to drive