Malicious damage insurance advice

King4aDay

King4aDay

King4aDay

Soldato
Joined
4 Sep 2003
Posts
4,428
Location
Cornwall
Hi all,

Car was vandalised last night - both windscreens smashed in and several minor dings along one side.

I've reported it to the police but I'm now trying to decide what to do about insurance.

Car is a '97 Honda Prelude and probably only worth about £6-800 or so. It's rusty as hell underneath and I'd intended to just ebay it some time next year.

I've got a £250 malicious damage excess, £75 windscreen excess and 9 years protected NCB.

I'm assuming this will go down as a fault claim? In which case between the excess and potential premium increase I might as well just scrap it.

Conversely, if I can get both windscreens replaced for £150 and ignore the rest of the damage it might be worth hanging on to for the rest of the year.

Any idea if the insurance company would allow this or will they automatically log it as a fault claim?

Cheers
 
Windscreen claims are not normally noted as a proper claim IIRC so you should be fine on that count but check your terms.
 
If it were me, I would sell the car for spares and repairs and buy a new car now. To m y mind it feels like any money spent now is going to be hard to recover in 12 months time.
 
Windscreen damage wont get recorded as a claim regardless of cause. Also you might want to check the policy to see if its £75 excess per screen, or per call out.

I would say get the screens fixed and keep on plodding around with the car until you are ready to change it. If the damage was malicious then the last thing you would want would be to buy a newer car and have that damaged. May as well stick with the banger until things have settled down, get some more mileage out of it and then change.
 
tom_e said:
Windscreen claims are not normally noted as a proper claim IIRC so you should be fine on that count but check your terms.
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From my understanding yes windscreens don't normally affect your no claims.
However if its due to malicious damage/a crime then thats different to a stone hitting it whilst driving.

Id not bother informing insurance and either get shot or a coupla screens from a breaker
 
Just ran some numbers on a price comparison site and it looks like a malicious damage claim (write-off) would only effect my insurance premiums by about £50 a year initially, dropping off after that.

Seems to make most sense now to whack in a claim and hope for a write-off given it was on its last legs.

Worst case scenario £250 excess plus ~£350 for a new policy (obv depending on what car I buy) minus a crap settlement = about zero, and I might scrape back a couple of hundred quid with an OK settlement. Or they might actually fix it.

Annoyingly I only renewed the policy 3 days ago :/
 
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Going off topic...

From my experience, windscreen damage repaired under an insurance policy DOES count as a claim, however, it does not affect the premium.

I had a chip repaired in 2014 under my policy. When I came to get a new policy in 2015, I assumed I didn't have to put it down as a claim. A few weeks after starting the policy, my provider (MoreThan) sent me a letter saying I hadn't disclosed the claim and should have, but in this instance, it wouldn't affect my premium. So this year, I have disclosed it.

I would say get the chips repaired, and keep the car for a bit more.
 
DB_SamX said:
I would say get the chips repaired, and keep the car for a bit more.
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Heh they're not chips, I don't have either windscreen any more.

Thinking aloud a bit more, I could have the car towed to the scrappy, cancel the 3 day old insurance policy (that works with renewals right?) and be a couple of hundred quid up. I say up, still minus a car.
 
King4aDay said:
Heh they're not chips, I don't have either windscreen any more.

Thinking aloud a bit more, I could have the car towed to the scrappy, cancel the 3 day old insurance policy (that works with renewals right?) and be a couple of hundred quid up. I say up, still minus a car.
Click to expand...

Oops, my bad.
 
Hang on, will the insurance policy be cancelled/completed if its a write-off, or willI be able to bring a new car on to it?
So confused, haha.

Might just ring them, probably easiest.

Edit -

If the cost of repairing your vehicle is greater than the market value of your vehicle, we will offer you an amount as compensation. The insurance for your vehicle will end when you accept that offer.
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Seems pretty final
 
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King4aDay said:
Thinking aloud a bit more, I could have the car towed to the scrappy, cancel the 3 day old insurance policy (that works with renewals right?) and be a couple of hundred quid up. I say up, still minus a car.
Click to expand...

True, you have 14 days from receiving the documentation to change your mind. They are allowed to deduct a 'small administration fee' though.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/d...urance-policy/cancelling-an-insurance-policy/

If you're not going to claim (and it sounds like the numbers don't add up for that) then this is the way to go. Assuming you can switch the policy to a new car without paying much extra.
 
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King4aDay said:
Hang on, will the insurance policy be cancelled/completed if its a write-off, or willI be able to bring a new car on to it?
So confused, haha.

Might just ring them, probably easiest.

Edit -



Seems pretty final
Click to expand...

Ring them.

When my car was written off I bought a new one and changed the policy over to the new car.
 
If you intend to hang onto.the car and the dings aren't too bad then £150 xs on 2 new windows might be the way to.go. I wouldn't mention malicious damage.though, just make.something up like a.freak hail.storm or stones blown off a.roof.

Some underwriters load the premium for windscreen claims and some don't, but your ncd won't be affected and it won't count as.a.strike against your pncd. Another bonus is if they do load your renewal premium for the.windscreen claim that won't be for a.year and you can shop around when the time comes.

Might be a worthwhile course of action while you find somewhere more secure to keep your car before you buy something fancy because you don't want that one getting smashed up.too.
 
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