Backroomers,
I would appreciate your views on my insurance dilemma. It?s a bit long winded but please bear with me as I really don't know what to do for the best.
I am a named driver on my Wife?s insurance (Ford Galaxy insurance of approx. £500 a year) and she is a named driver on my insurance (Ford Escort insurance cost of approx. £250 a year). We both have protected full no claims.
Between us we have had three claims over the last two years (1 mine and two for her):
1. I hit a deer and dented my bonnet (not deliberately!)
2. Rachel hit the back of a car in slow queuing traffic (no obvious damage but the driver of the car in front claimed for whiplash.
3. We woke up one morning to find the Galaxy with a large dent (£700 worth) that had been inflicted some time during the night.
I have now been involved in a motorway shunt where the driver who went into the back of me drove off before I could note his registration, so I have no one to claim from. I reckon my car has about £900 of damage (if repaired to insurance standards) but could be patched up for about £500. If I claim it could be written off as it is an M reg. Escort with 110,000 miles.
Thanks for getting this far, here comes the questions..
A. As I am a name driver on my wife?s policy will another claim by me have it have an impact on both of our policies?
B. In peoples experience would I be better off stumping up the £500 and not claiming. My policy excess is £100.
C. If I claim and the car is written off, is it usually a reasonable idea to buy back the car from the insurance company and then patch it up?
Thanks in advance for any comments.
Jon
|
A. Silly answer but it will depend upon the policy wording, you need to check.
B. The car is worth less than £500, why waste any money on it?
C. No see above.
|
|
|
>>A. As I am a name driver on my wife?s policy will another claim by me have it have an impact on both of our policies?
Potentially yes. One one policy because of the claim, on the other policy because of your claims experience - bearing in mind that claim or not you are supposed to tell your insurers of the incident. If they are with the same insurance company, its less likely.
A very good guide would be your wife. What happened to the insurance premiums after your wife's two incidents ? If nothing, then you may be lucky.
>>In peoples experience would I be better off stumping up the £500 and not claiming. My policy excess is £100.
If you can get it done for £500, I'd say that was your best bet, but its marginal. Immediate cost is perhaps better to claim. The accident loading is not likely to amount to a huge amount on an Escort. However, if you were to change that Escort in the near future to something more expensive to insure, then it could hurt.
>>C. If I claim and the car is written off, is it usually a reasonable idea to buy back the car from the insurance company and then patch it up?
Not likely.
If you were dealing with the other person's insurance company, then they would have no interest in the car other than then deducting is residual value from the claim payout.
Since it is your own insurance company they are not likely to let you keep the car, if they do, they are not likely to want to insure it. As it is, a lot of insurance companies have a policy of cancelling insurance after a total-loss.
|
|
|
