To ask what happens when you scrape your car?

[Flossyfloof]

I have just got home and scraped my car on the way onto the drive. Not my drive, long story - just got the angle wrong. Not been drinking at all. Do insurance cover it? No one else involved, just my own stupidity,

Does it need to be fixed? Couldnt you just leave it?

It depends what insurance you have and what your excess is. If the scrape will cost £250 to fix and your excess is £500 then it makes no sense to go through the insurance.

Get a quote for repair. You should technically let your insurers know even if you don't claim as it alters your risk profile. Have to say, my car is covered in scratches
from hedgerows and keeps getting little prangs on school run (which no one owns up to ) and as I haven't done anything about them, I haven't advised my insurers. My car has a rather lived in look, though!

It might be cheaper to pay for the repairs instead of putting it through the insurance. It might not cost much in comparison to the rise in your premium, if you make a claim.

It is quite dark ( I think the bloody lamppost must have been off!!). I couldn't see very well but I can feel a dent, it appears quite bad. It happened at very low speed, luckily,
I think it would be an insurance job - just not sure if they would pay if it is clearly my fault!
It cost almost £250 to have a wing mirror replaced so I imagine it would be quite a lot. I am so cross with myself.

Thank you, yes I think it would be a good idea to get a quote first, before informing them. It might not look so bad in the morning! The car is coming up for 6 years old so at least it isn't a brand new one.

You could claim on it even if it's your fault but you'll have to pay an excess & it'll affect your no claims bonus (if it's not protected) and affect your renewal prices for the next 5 years. Might work out cheaper to get it fixed yourself

Thanks I usually have protected no claims, I think. Might not be too bad. Thanks ever so much, I will have to get it sorted tomorrow.

It would have to be very expensive to fix to make it worth claiming, I think.

I'm in the same boat exactly. Dh informed me he thinks it will cost at least $500 USD and our deductible is $500. So if it is $600+ I will have them pay for it. Any less and it's not worth me putting a claim in and possibly having my rates raised.

I did a similar thing last week, trying to reverse into a driveway with a narrow red metal gate. Got the angle wrong and now have a lovely collection of deep red painty gouges out of the offside front panel!

I have no intention of doing anything about it though! It's purely cosmetic damage, so I will happily live with it (along with all the other little dings and scratches and the 2 missing hub caps) until the car eventually reaches the end of its useful life and is replaced!

Flossy, protected no claims is a con! Trust me, if you claim then your insurers will put your premium up! They will do that even if you don't claim but tell them you have had a minor prang.

Just repair it yourself and don't involve insurers. Or don't repair it and just live with it.

I did it this morning. Misjudged the turning out of our driveway (which I've been driving in and out of for 2 years) and scraped the whole back side of the car against a concrete post.

I'm dreading what the cost to fix it will be. Our excess is quite low but I imagine it'll be an expensive fix

Hope yours isn't too bad. I feel like such an idiot today.

OP, do you mean you hit a lamp post? If so, you need to inform the local council so they can check the lamppost is still structurally ok.

Get a quote before going through the insurance.

You really want to avoid going through them if you can. Ignore the person that says you have to tell them, in this situation, you don't.

Initial excess aside, it will drive your premiums up a LOT for the next 5 years..........

If there's only minor damage it might be worth getting someone like Chipsaway to give you a quote rather than a garage. They're usually much cheaper - whenever I've been to a garage they seem to want to replace doors or whatever when it's often not really necessary.

Umm, I roll my eyes and see if it blends in with the extensive collection of other scrapes... There's enough so it usually does!

We have a very narrow drive so I've clipped it a few times

It is very old though and prob only worth scrap value

For me I'd really way up the need to repair and also the cost. For me if it was £600 and a £500 excess I'd pay for it and not claim as will cost a lot over the next few years in increased premiums

Also just because you have protected no claims that doesn't mean your premiums won't go up and you'll also be stuck with your current insurer. Any one else will treat as a fault accident and you'll loose at least 2 years no claims bonus.

Well I have been out and had a look and it isn't great. It is across two panels so even worse. Delta, I am feeling your pain!
I'm these situations I tell myself that it is only a thing. Bloody bug thing though!
I will wander over to the garage when I can and get some advice from them with regard to cost, rather than phone the insurance straight away.

When I passed my test about 9 years ago, I drove straight to my friends house all proud. When leaving, I scraped DH's (then DPs) car along her driveway wall.

The front panel and both doors were completely trashed. It was a whisker away from an insurance write off.

He still let me drive his car!

That doesn't look as bad as it could be. I would clean it and re evaluate.

I live in an area with narrow roads where we do seem to get scrapes and dings quite regularly. To be honest, I'm not that bothered what my car looks like, so I reckon there's no point in getting it repaired every time - if necessary I put a bit of paint on to prevent rust. I certainly wouldn't bother for the marks on Delta's car, for instance.

Decide whether the scrape is small enough to live with and if not, whether its worth claiming for or not. I did this recently with a rock disguised as a bush, as i have no claims protection and a relatively small excess (£100) I claimed for it but had the scrape been smaller or my excess higher I may not have done

80s mum - you don't have to stay with the same insurer! The point is that you will still get the same number of years no claims as if you hadn't made the claim, which you can then use to get cheaper insurance with another insurer.

Stay with the same insurer and they always put the price up whether you claim or not, they rely on people's laziness not to shop around

Flossy, protected no claims is a con! Trust me, if you claim then your insurers will put your premium up! They will do that even if you don't claim but tell them you have had a minor pran*

You've completely misunderstood what you're protecting. You're protecting the discount. Let's say you have full Ncb worth 70% discount. Your base premium based on your risk is £1000. You pay £300.

You have an accident. Your risk increases and your base premium is now £1500. With protected Ncb you'd still get 70% off (so pay £450). Without protected Ncb you'd only have 3 years worth 50% discount, so your price more than doubles to £750.