It’s really nice to be able to get your car repaired after an accident without incurring any further expense but it will not always be in your interest to submit that claim to your insurer and ask them to meet the repair costs.
That is not to say that you shouldn’t inform them of the accident, irrespective of fault.
In short, you need to consider the future financial implications of actually claiming from your insurer.
Unless you have protected your no claims bonus, your insurer will knock at least 20% off your no claims bonus when your policy next comes up for renewal. They may even load your premium or increase your excess for any future claims when it comes to renewal. You just never know as insurers change their underwriting strategies all the time.
Take a 25 year old male with an Astra Convertible. He is employed in an administrative job, enjoys maximum no claims bonus (not protected) and has no medical conditions. He has had a minor incident and damaged one of the headlights.
He has a policy with no excess or even £50 excess. The cost of the part may be say less than £100, and with fitting the total repair costs will be in the region of £150-£200.
The best insurance premium he managed to obtain at last renewal was £369 but if he claims via his insurers, that premium at next renewal would increase to £575, some £206 more than the previous year and that’s before taking account of any annual premium increases imposed by the insurer or possible premium loading for the incident.
The premium differential will increase further for younger drivers, particularly if they only had 2 years no claims bonus at the time of the incident. They risk losing up to 40% no claims bonus.
The recommendation therefore is to check with your insurer when you inform them of a very minor accident to establish how much your premium will increase by before instructing them to meet the costs.
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