Pretty much all insurers nowadays offer the £60 windscreen replacement, or free if they can repair it. But if you have this done, come renewal time when you're asked "Have you made any claims in the past 5 years?" what is the correct answer?
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"Windscreen replacement is not a claim" unless there is also paint/body damage as well.
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Is that right?
The reason I'm asking this question is that I've always assumed what you say is correct, but it suddenly occurred to me that I don't know why I've assumed this.
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Over the years, made one claim for a cracked windscreen, and one for a broken side quarterlight when the car was broken into. On both occassions paid the window company the £50 and they sent the bill to the insurance company. In fact, it is now so standardised that it is probably electronically automatically done. On both occassions it was noted on the next renewal but had no effect on the no claims bonus.
It seems to do what it says on the tin!
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'have you made a claim?' and windscreens
personally, i would declare it as a windscreen claim. windscreen claims rarely affect the no claims bonus, although they may do so if you are in the habit of breaking windscreens several times a year.
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Couple of years back I was ring around at renewal time. One direct insurer would not start the quotation process because I told him that I'd had a windscreen within the last three years. They only wanted customers who were totally claim free for three years, inc. windscreen. This did surprise me a bit because really a cracked windscreen is an 'act of God' IMHO.
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>>This did surprise me a bit because really a cracked windscreen is an 'act of God' IMHO.
Not always. The last windsceen I had replaced was due to me letting go of the windscreen wiper arm when I was changing the blade. Ping. Smack. Crack!
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>>This did surprise me a bit because really a cracked windscreen is an 'act of God' IMHO.
and i was under the impression that 'act of God' was a get out clause for an insurance company not to pay your claim?
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Which God in particular are you refering to?
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I had a new windscreen a few years ago, and when I got a new policy with another company, they rang me and asked if I had had any other claims, I said no, and they said they had a record of a windscreen claim, so I said yes and I didn't think that counted, and they said it did, and she said it hasn't made the premium go up, so that's fine, bye.
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Which God in particular are you refering to?
I am told that Hinduism has two million Gods. Maybe that's why they have so many road accidents in India.
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>> 'have you made a claim?' and windscreens personally, i would declare it as a windscreen claim. windscreen claims rarely affect the no claims bonus, although they may do so if you are in the habit of breaking windscreens several times a year.
On my policy it does specifically say that it doesn't affect the NCB.
BUT: That's not the same as saying it doesn't count as a claim. If you have a protected NCB and have a crash, then the next year you can quote your full NCB amount, but you still have to answer the question about claims as a yes. They are separate issues.
They catch you going, and they catch you coming back...
So: I'm back to a state of knowing it doesn't affect your NCB, but not knowing whether it counts as having made a claim - although other answers on here suggest that it does, but makes no difference to premium.
Mind you, it has to be said, I've had a windscreen replaced in the past, and never said I'd had a claim, and the insurance companies have never argued. Maybe they never checked in my case?
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I had a stone chip repaired 'free of charge'. In fact the approved repairer gets paid by the insurance company - in my case the renewal letter showed a glass claim of some £50..
When I rang round at renewal time, I negleted to tell them about the glass 'claim' untl after I had been quoted (there was another fault calim on my record). The quote did go up by a few pounds with the galss claim taken into account.
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If the insurance company pays towards the cost and
you pay the excess, then that is a "claim" and should be declared if asked.
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All very interesting. I think I will ask my insurance company about all this before I ask for the (pretty insignificant to be honest) chip to be fixed.
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I've just gone through a dummy quote with the MoreThan web site and ticking the box asking if you have had any accidents/claims - there it is "windscreen" at the bottom of the claim types.
So for sure they want to know.
Martin
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I rang one fwell-known firm for a quote, a year or so ago, and they asked the same question. I said I had a chip repaired about three years ago. Unfortunately they needed the precise date, and, I expect, time, so it meant that, as I could not remember exactly, they were unable to proceed with the quote and offer me insurance. Rather a lack of common sense here I think.
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