Cam350z Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Hi Looking for some insurance help/advice. My car was damaged back in May 2017, someone scraped down the side of my car . Since the damage was done I have had the car garaged at my parents house mainly due to being fed up of getting it damaged (3rd time now, 2 scrapes down the side and a bath tub scraped against the car and dumped on my roof (around 2013)). I have police reference numbers for the bath tub incident and the scrape in May but my dad and uncle convinced me to not go through insurance as it will affect my premium (Male 26 almost 9 years no claims bonus). I have no claims protection so couldn't really understand their logic but I have never had to use my insurance company for anything so wasn't sure if it would affect my premium or not. I have recently been to a reputable body shop to get a quote to get my car fixed and got quoted approx. 2000 pounds. This includes pulling dents from the door, roof, and boot while respraying the roof, 1 wing, door, rear bumper and 1 rear quarter. While the car was in the bodyshop I was thinking about getting them to spray the roof metallic black and also get them to fit a Stillen roof spoiler although I don't think I will be able to get them to do this at the same time due to it not being back to standard. My question is whether it is too late to go through my insurance to get the car fixed and if I can get the car fixed through insurance could I get the modifications done to the roof (colour and spoiler) at the same time and pay for that part myself or would it be 2 trips to the bodyshop? Any help greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 Well, you certainly can't claim for anything that happened before the current policy started: Remember, you're asked every year whether you've had any accidents regardless of fault, and that certainly includes having a bathtab dropped on the car. Hopefully you've not renewed your policy since May '17 either, else the same rule applies. The body shop will pretty much do whatever you ask them: Paint is paint, and metallic black isn't any more than metallic silver really so they'll just say it was painted, bill the insurer and that's that. And sure, they'll fit the spoiler too but you'll def be paying extra to them directly for that. When my Focus was damaged back in 2001 when someone drove into the back of me, I had the wing mirror I'd knocked myself re-painted at the same time. No extra charge apart from a bit of extra labour, insurer didn't care and bodyshop got a bit of extra beer money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cam350z Posted January 31, 2018 Author Share Posted January 31, 2018 Thanks for clearing that up for me. My policy renewal is in August so I would still be able to claim for the door repair at least, which should reduce the overall cost. Fitting the bill for the other repairs will just be an expensive life lesson haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted January 31, 2018 Share Posted January 31, 2018 If your policy renewed in August '17, and the damage was caused in May '17, then you're out of luck I'm afraid. I wouldn't even try claiming, as then you've lied on your policy inception and they can void the whole lot and you really don't want to be declaring you've had insurance cancelled next time... Assuming your dates are wrong (or I've read it wrong), then just bear in mind that policy will state that you must declare accidents within 24 hours or a reasonable time frame, so they may well choose not to pay out anyway and you'll still have the accident notification on there to cope with come August renewal anyway. Best have yoour story ready Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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