Hi all.


A few weeks ago, we had a freak golf ball sized hail shower which left LOTS of dents on many of the cars in mine and surrounding villages, mainly bonnet and roof, but also on other panels to a lesser extent.


I have looked into this and it's covered under the insurance..but..


What should I do?


(Panda 100HP btw)


It's been suggested that the car actually may be written off (many others were, even much newer vehicles than mine) as it's a v time consuming job to fix - time equals money.


I don't want the car to be written off (and I don't want to 'buy it back', kinda thing as finances are already tight.


If it wasn't written off..i could have it fixed up..but I'd have to pay the excess (£250) and lose all my no claims - so next insurance could be much higher next time!


I've never ever claimed on insurance...so I'm not sure what happens.


if the car is written off...do the insurance company give you a sum for the car?


Or, I could leave it as I have done so far. It's a shame to see it like this...but it doesn't affect the car in any way other than looking a bit daft and tatty


My concern there is that any p/x value or private selling value is now vastly reduced from what it would have been (I'd estimate car is worth £1500ish before the hail damage.


I'm still paying for the car too, I got a small loan to get it...so im pretty much stuffed financially now as I wont be able to get a reasonable value back IF I decided / wanted to sell.


So...I'm not sure what to do.

Sometimes insurance companies let you buy the car back, check with them first.

If they do and the sum is usually low (a few hundred), they will pay you out what the car was worth pre-hail minus the excess minus the buy it price so you may be getting £1000 in your pocket, not bad at all.

Interesting. I'll call them back.


I've never *touch wood* had any accidents or anything in 15 years driving...so anything to do with how insurance / writing off is concerned, it's all new to me.


So.....fpan....in your scenario above.....I would potentially have the car still...and some money....


That sounds tempting doesn't it.....


But I don't even know if that will be the case, I will need to look into it.

Punto MC said:

Interesting. I'll call them back.


I've never *touch wood* had any accidents or anything in 15 years driving...so anything to do with how insurance / writing off is concerned, it's all new to me.


So.....fpan....in your scenario above.....I would potentially have the car still...and some money....


That sounds tempting doesn't it.....


But I don't even know if that will be the case, I will need to look into it.

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Yes, I've heard of this happening with people from other forums.

IF you decide to go ahead and claim, never accept the insurance's first ofer as it's usually **** taking.

Find adverts from cars similar to yours, print them off and send them proof of what your car IS actually worth not what THEY think it's worth.

I hope this helps and hope you get some money and keep the car.

Thanks, I will see how the land lies.

If you decide to have the car written off and the insurers make you an offer, do not listen to their initial offer. It will be a try on to see if you bite.

Make a list of any extras you've fitted and any work (even servicing) you've had done, and talk up the pre-hail condition of the car. They need to accept that you're an enthusiast who really looks after your motor, and it's therefore worth the top end of the market. Push them for a much better offer - which they will give you - and then add a bit to it before accepting.

After agreeing a figure tell them that it's on condition you keep the car. They will huff and puff and haggle, but remember they don't really want the car - it will go to a wreckers yard, and they'll get minimum notes for it - so you've got nothing to lose by pushing them. You could end up with cash in your pocket.

Sweetsixteen said:

If you decide to have the car written off and the insurers make you an offer, do not listen to their initial offer. It will be a try on to see if you bite.

Make a list of any extras you've fitted ...........

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Just a note of caution - best not to declare any extras fitted unless you have previously declared them. You can imagine their joy when you tell them you've lowered it and fitted F1 wheels etc.


Otherwise - play the game with them as everyone advised. They know that you know that they will get more from you than from a scrapyard.

AB100 said:

Just a note of caution - best not to declare any extras fitted unless you have previously declared them

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Good point - i had overlooked that.

From my experience insurance companies very rarely offer anything like what you think the value is - even if you can back it up with adverts for other similar cars. The use Glaser's guide - especially for older, lower value cars, and no amount of arguing with them will change their version of the "market value".
I went through this recently when my Honda Accord got written off in a totally non-fault accident (an idiot drove into the back of me on a dual carriageway). When I asked the insurance company to show me where I could buy a similar car (unmarked, low mileage) at the price they were offering, they couldn't - but they carried on with the "market value" line and refused to budge...
They will probably declare your car a low category write-off (beyond economic repair) and may well offer to let you buy it back. If you like the car that's often the best option. You can then take whatever money they do give you and spend it how you like - on fixing the car or on anything else. Remember that smaller garages may fix it more cheaply. Like I said - depends how much you like the car - and how bothered you are about the dents...
Good luck...

It runs, so keep it until you've paid off the finance, then trade it in.

Any total loss insurance payout is going to leave you out of pocket more than taking a hit on the trade in, which you'll more than likely suffer even with a totally mint car.

Forget the car value for a moment, it's an insurance claim, so will go on your record, no claims bonuses fly out the window, excesses fly out your pocket!
You'll be paying for this claim for years in increased premiums.

Even if you do buy it back after the insurance has declared it uneconomical to repair, it's now a Cat D and worth even less to you or anyone else.

Hi Goudrons.


This has kinda been my line of thinking...and why I haven't done anything, yet.


The prospect of going down the insurance route as above does appeal...but yes..if you stand back...it could be a short term gain thing for possible long term pain...

Goudrons said:

It runs, so keep it until you've paid off the finance, then trade it in.

Any total loss insurance payout is going to leave you out of pocket more than taking a hit on the trade in, which you'll more than likely suffer even with a totally mint car.

Forget the car value for a moment, it's an insurance claim, so will go on your record, no claims bonuses fly out the window, excesses fly out your pocket!
You'll be paying for this claim for years in increased premiums.

Even if you do buy it back after the insurance has declared it uneconomical to repair, it's now a Cat D and worth even less to you or anyone else.

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Not if he has protected NCB, you don't loose your bonus and are allowed 2 accidents per 5 years.

Besides, hail damage is not exactly an accident but a claim.

So what do you suggest then, keep the car and not claim? What's the point of having an insurance then?!

A claim is a claim, also according to modern thinking, accidents do not exist anyway.

NCB discounts and actual premiums are related, but two different things.

Every insurance company will ask about claims within the last 5 years and they will work out the premium accordingly.

After which the NCB is discounted from the premuim.

Go to any insurance site and do a quote, try it with no claims, 1 none fault and then 1 fault claim, all with the same details and NCB.

You will get three different prices as the premium is loaded due to the claim/s.
Any claim will attract higher premiums, bigger claims more, own fault bigger claims even more, total losses even more again.

Protected no claims is just that, they protect the discount, not the premium.
Without it, you would obviously still pay a higher premium AND loose some of the discount.

You've also got to remember if it's a total loss and the insurance pay up, that's that for that policy.
Even if you've just taken out a new 12 month policy, it's finalised upon paying out on a total loss.

One can check then with different data doing an online comparison how the premium is affected based on claims.

I very much doubt a claim to write off a car will increase the OP's premium by so much in order not to make worth getting paid out the car's price pre-hail minus the buy it price (if such an option exists).

Don't let your fears make insurance companies richer, that's what they rely on.

Many moons ago, my first car was written off in a non-fault accident (ice on road) when my girlfriend was driving. No other car was involved. I got paid out the car's value and I don't remember the premium for my next car (which was pretty much identical) increasing more than a few tens of pounds IIRC.

As Goudrons.

It is a No Claim Bonus not a No Blame Bonus.
Once you make a claim, that's a strike as far as the insurers are concerned, whatever the reason for the claim.
If they choose not to penalise you, that is up to their goodwill - but insurers don't have much of that!

Check with your insurance company - but some would say hail-stone damage is "an act of God" and therefore not covered anyway... There are a lot of crafty exclusion clauses in most insurance policies...

JR45 said:

From my experience insurance companies very rarely offer anything like what you think the value is - even if you can back it up with adverts for other similar cars. The use Glaser's guide - especially for older, lower value cars, and no amount of arguing with them will change their version of the "market value".
I went through this recently when my Honda Accord got written off in a totally non-fault accident (an idiot drove into the back of me on a dual carriageway). When I asked the insurance company to show me where I could buy a similar car (unmarked, low mileage) at the price they were offering, they couldn't - but they carried on with the "market value" line and refused to budge...
They will probably declare your car a low category write-off (beyond economic repair) and may well offer to let you buy it back. If you like the car that's often the best option. You can then take whatever money they do give you and spend it how you like - on fixing the car or on anything else. Remember that smaller garages may fix it more cheaply. Like I said - depends how much you like the car - and how bothered you are about the dents...
Good luck...

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Hate to say it but you were royally done over and should have taken them to court, you would have won on them not giving you adequate to replace your vehicle on a like for like basis.

fpan said:

Not if he has protected NCB, you don't loose your bonus and are allowed 2 accidents per 5 years.

Besides, hail damage is not exactly an accident but a claim.

So what do you suggest then, keep the car and not claim? What's the point of having an insurance then?!

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Firstly its a No Claims Discount not Bonus (sorry to be anal on this, but its quite specific when working in the industry, and I know a lot of others have incorrectly referred to it as Bonus when its not).

Also, the number of claims permitable and the time they can be made in will vary from insurer to insurance, and between insurance product for reference.

JR45 said:

Check with your insurance company - but some would say hail-stone damage is "an act of God" and therefore not covered anyway... There are a lot of crafty exclusion clauses in most insurance policies...

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In insurance there is no such thing as an 'act of god'. An incident is either an insured peril or not an insured peril.

In this case hail damage will be classed as storm damage, which is covered on the majority of fully comp policies, but again could be excluded by a company if they have decided not to state it being covered from the onset of the insurance policy.

Key example of this is earthquake damage - covered on my fully comp motor policy, but not on my GAP insurance (lets hope that never occurs!!).

"experts"

Ask a dozen "insurance experts" and you'll get a dozen different answers...

find a good local Painless dent removal firm

Andy Monty said:

find a good local Painless dent removal firm

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At £30 a dent?
Doesn't work for me!