Insurance claim or not?

[blis100]

I had a bit a tip yesterday, ran into the back of another guy, my fault I guess, he had braked suddenly to avoid a rock that has fell off the ditch (typical country roads).

It was a low speed impact, my bumper was scratched, that's all. On his car however, his rear bumper had popped out on one side and there was an ominous bump on the floor of his boot.

As we were both fine and the cars were OK to drive, we exchanged contact and insurance details, he said he would get a price to repair the damage and as it looked fairly minor, I said I would pay, no need to get the insurance involved.

But today he's after ringing me and the repair cost will be approx. €1400 , although he will shop around a bit.

So now I may have to make a claim (I went into the guards today and filed an accident report) or do I?

Is it a matter of simple arithmetic to work out the most economic way to sort it out, should I keep my full no claims bonus or get the insurer to pay and lose it and start from scratch? Will my insurer advise me when I contact them?

My first accident in 18 years of motoring, c'est la vie I suppose.

 

[DrMoriarty]

First thing to check (in your policy) is whether you have some form of NCB protection, even "step-back" (i.e. you drop from a 70% to a 40% bonus, or 55% to 20% or whatever). Then do the math.

 

[dub1]

Your insurance company will basically advise you that you can go through your own insurance or pay this yourself. its very simple. even if you have ncd protection then this will only protect you if you stay with your present insurance company. If you move insurance claims then you will be moving with a claim so you will be loaded. If you do not have ncd protection then your policy will almost definately be affected at next renewal