Waiting before Claiming - Car Insurance, Not at Fault

Strahany on 24/08/2019 - 02:33

My (very old) car was hit recently by a garbage truck. I’ve been in contact with the company and they’ve asked for a quote, which I’ll be providing.

My concern is that the market value of the car (RedBook Private prices) is $1300-2900. This is problematic because my comprehensive policy has an agreed value of almost $7000.

I’m of the understanding that claiming on comprehensive, even when not at fault, affects your history/NCB (or in some way results in a premium hike) so I’ve avoided claiming. The problem here, though, is that if I don’t claim, then my agreed value isn’t relevant if I’m not mistaken. It would revert to a low market value (from their insurance) which would almost certainly trigger a write-off.

So if I choose not to claim, and wait to hear back from them, can I refuse the outcome and contact my insurer if I’m unhappy with the result? Or am I completely mistaken with respect to comprehensive claims when not at fault?

Automotive Car Insurance Insurance

Comments

  • jimbobaus on 24/08/2019 - 06:05
    +5

    It is almost always in your best interests to claim when you have an accident.
    If you are found to not be at fault and your insurer can recover its costs from the third party your NCB should not be affected in most cases
    At fault claims always result in an increased premium.
    I had a no fault claim last year and my premium actually went down this year (which shocked me cause it almost always goes up a little bit even when there is no claims at all)

  • Euphemistic on 24/08/2019 - 06:32

    So the difference between claiming and not is likely to be over $4k and you are concerned about a bit of a price hike? How much do you think it’s going to go up?

    • pyramid on 24/08/2019 - 07:03

      He/She must be thinking of insurance premium to be ~$5k after hike…

      • Euphemistic on 24/08/2019 - 10:55

        On second thoughts, if theOP really has to ask this question, they should not make a claim because insurance NCB is obviously more important.

    • Strahany on 24/08/2019 - 14:42

      Sorry, I could’ve made the OP clearer.

      My post is also a question, as to whether I’m on the right track, with respect to if my agreed value is disregarded if I never get my insurance involved. It sounds like that assumption is correct, so claiming will be the way to go if I don’t get a favourable result (i.e they’re saying it’s a write off).

      But I’ll only wait to find out if I can definitely claim later, which I’m not 100% sure I can.

  • SnoozeAndLose on 24/08/2019 - 07:13

    if it is not at fault claim, why would the insurance premium increase?

    It will be your insurance paying you if you claim not at fault accident with agreed value of $7000

  • Quantumcat on 24/08/2019 - 08:01
    +2

    If it were me I would be dancing in the street at the joy of paying for insurance for an agreed value of $7K and finally hitting paydirt!

    • 87percent on 24/08/2019 - 08:32
      +5

      Just make sure it's not on rubbish day

  • Randxyz123 on 24/08/2019 - 08:37

    Make a claim. It won't necessarily affect your NCB as that is normally for at fault accidents.

  • Bigscreenman on 24/08/2019 - 09:06

    I was hit about 10 years ago as a P plater in my first car, which was an old pulsar worth about $1000. Went through their insurance and damage was valued at $3000, was told as it was their fault they can't write my car off and need to fix it for me. Where as if it was my fault my insurance would have written my car off. Took a cash settlement and paid $50 for a second hand headlight and kept driving it as it was only the front bumper damaged

  • iforgotmysocks on 24/08/2019 - 10:07

    Let your insurance do all this work.

    If you're not at fault it shouldn't affect your no claim bonus.

  • gstav23 on 24/08/2019 - 12:03
    +2

    FYI if your vehicle is a total loss and you claim against your own policy, once your insurer pays you your policy comes to an end.

    As such, for your new vehicle it will be a new policy and whilst you will need to declare the claim, it is not at fault and so will not affect you.

  • nith265 on 24/08/2019 - 14:52

    .. agreed value of almost $7000

    The only way your getting that $7,000 is by claiming with your own insurer. The other party will then need to pay your insurer the market value - they have no obligation to pay your agreed value.

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