# Car insurance - worth claiming?



## Emily123 (14 Mar 2009)

My husband's and my car insurance policies are with One Direct, the insurer is Hibernian.  Somebody keyed my 08 car the whole way around the car. We've got a quote and it's costing €2,500 roughly to repair.  If I ever got my hands on who did it I'd kill them!

We both have full (over 10 yrs) no claims bonuses.  DH rang Hibernian and they said that if we claimed I would lose 50% of the NCB. That seems very high to me?

Dh thinks it's worth it to claim, I figure I will probably get screwed, if not next year then after that.

What has people's experiences been? Is it worth claiming or would I regret it for years to come?


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## skingtile (14 Mar 2009)

you never stated what your excess is.


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## Ravima (14 Mar 2009)

NCB is max 5 yrs on private cars. If you have a 50% NCB, then your premium will at next renewal will be double what you paid last year. it will take 5 yrs for you to regain the entire 50%.


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## Emily123 (14 Mar 2009)

The excess for this claim is €300. I'm not exactly sure how NCBs work, didn't think the premium would double next year?  Say the premium was €1000, at full NCB then I would pay €500. So next yr if I lost 50% of my NCB, premium should be €750, not 1000 surely? What would be the percentage for the years after that?

I think they might feel they could go ahead next year and increase my premium all they like, say to 1500, cos I might have problems getting quotes from other insurance companies. Then I would end up paying 1125 next year (NCB 25% 375) - and then if they liked they could increase it again the following yr. Do they do this?

We also get a discount for having both car insurance policies with One Direct, so if we ended up moving my policy then it could also cost us on his policy.


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## leavingDB (27 Mar 2009)

does somebody normally park where you did?
did you obstruct something or too much on the pavement?
does someone have a vendetta against you!?

not condoning it, but this kind of thing happens when you annoy somebody with your parking habits, it's wrong of course - but theres some nutters out there.

whenever i park, i stop and think, is my parking respectful of everybody elses rights? never get key'd


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## peteb (27 Mar 2009)

Emily123 said:


> The excess for this claim is €300. I'm not exactly sure how NCBs work, didn't think the premium would double next year? Say the premium was €1000, at full NCB then I would pay €500. So next yr if I lost 50% of my NCB, premium should be €750, not 1000 surely? What would be the percentage for the years after that?
> 
> I think they might feel they could go ahead next year and increase my premium all they like, say to 1500, cos I might have problems getting quotes from other insurance companies. Then I would end up paying 1125 next year (NCB 25% 375) - and then if they liked they could increase it again the following yr. Do they do this?
> 
> We also get a discount for having both car insurance policies with One Direct, so if we ended up moving my policy then it could also cost us on his policy.


 
its unclear as to whether you are saying that you will lose your NCB of 50%, or 50% of your NCB.  If you chose the option at the start of your policy to protect your bonus by step back, then if you claim your bonus will probably be reduced to 20% (back three of five years), if you didnt do that it then you will lose it completely if you claim.  

Theres no point in trying to calculate now what it will be.  Rates are on the rise by all companies.  So it wont just be because of the the claim that your premiums goes up a fair whack!


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## Ed054 (27 Mar 2009)

Check again with Hibernian as most of their car policies have a step back bonus in the case of a claim.
Therefore the bonus should go from 50% to 30% next year


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## Jimbobp (27 Mar 2009)

Note that Allianz will reinstate a 5yr no claim bonus following a claim of €3k or less. So if you claim from the Hibernian policy this year, you could switch to them next year and have your bonus go back to 5 years. You are taking a bit of a gamble on Allianz's rates (wouldn't think they'd be anything worse than Hibernian's though) and you would still have the claim noted on your file, but its an option if you go down the claim route.


http://www.powerinsurances.ie


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