To take salvage on car, forget insurance and move on?

[Mar124]

So a few people might know my threads by now about the tree saga! Bear with me; I’m new to insurance. So the tree branch damaged my car, to make it a financial write off. It’s an older, cheap car. I found it today it will cost me 600 euro excess, and it’s written off so they’ll give me value (minus excess). I’ll lose my no claims bonus as I didn’t protect it. I genuinely never knew at the time, and will be looking into it next time! Obviously premium will go up too.

So insurance will give me 4000 for car. For salvage value, sell to garage as is, I’ll get a small amount of that- 1,700. That way I keep my no claims etc, and get a new car. So AIBU to do this? Insurance told
me only other way I don’t lose no claims etc, is if another party is liable. It says on the form who you believe is responsible.

I would not put my employer down as it’s not their fault the tree fell after storm. So any thoughts? Similar experience? The hassle of the insurance thing is destroying me!

Depends on how much spare cash you have, and how much your insurance is likely to rise by.

I would probably be tempted to let the insurance pay you the 4000, and get something low value to build your no claims bonus back up again. My reference is the UK though, and since you soak of Euros, I guess you're not here?

One other thought is the availability of second hand cars. They have gone up in price a good deal here, so a cheap runabout may not be so cheap anymore.

How much is your insurance usually?

How many years no claims do you have?

Have you checked the price with no No Claims Bonus? I had 2 cars briefly and discovered you can only use NCB on one at a time. Despite panicking I got the second car insured without claiming any insurance years for exactly the same price!

Your insurance will go up if you claim, but I doubt it will go up by £4000 over the next 5 years. Insurers usually ask if you've had any claims in the last 5 years, but again I doubt it'll be over £4000 over the next 5 years combined. Might go up by a few hundred a year, so even if you sell for salvage, the premiums will need to go up by nearly £500 a year to make it worth while.

Have you even spoken to a salvage company to confirm the £1700 as that sounds high. You usually just get scrap value which isn't much at all.

I'd still claim on the insurance and take the 4k to save the hassle.

Btw, your employer is liable for the damage to the car, as the tree is on their property and a risk assessment should have been put into place. At least this would be the case in the UK.

There was a big case in the UK a couple of years ago where after storms a tree branch fell on a car whilst a pregnant woman was driving it. Unfortunately it had life changing consequences. The local authority were liable as it was their tree and their road. It involved a multi million pound payout and extra checks on the risks presented by trees to the public then appropriate maintenance.

Btw, your employer is liable for the damage to the car, as the tree is on their property and a risk assessment should have been put into place. At least this would be the case in the UK.

The op has had multiple threads about this. The employer is definitely not liable, she's been through this already. Sometimes shit just happens, there isn't always someone at fault .

Your insurance might go up anyway because you have been involved in an incident anyway. You still have to declare it when renewing.

Take the insurance money. That's why you pay for it

Ive never understood the MN fear of claiming on insurance (and yes i have claimed on mine - more than once) Your NCB will drop but you won't lose it completely. Youll lose 2 years worth so youll still have 3. Your premium may go up but since you're buying a new car, chances are it'll go up anyway. As pp said its unlikely to go up €4000

(England as a reference point, so maybe not valid) I thought you had to declare accident, rather than claims. So you'd need to declare a tree fell on your car, wrote it off, and you didn't claim.
Am I reading reading it right that you are talking about taking 1700 scrap rather than 3400 insurance? That's a lot of difference!

Even with protected no claims your premium would rise.

Insurance is designed to put you back in the same position you were pre accident. If you cannot replace like for like you need to argue with the insurance to get a similar car. Yes this is possible but a pain.

Also I’m pretty sure you have to declare any incident (claim ir no claim).

Why are you so worried? You have insurance for incidents like this - that’s why you pay for it. Why are you unhappy claiming on your employers insurance? This is what you should explore. What is making you so uncomfortable. I have family member who panics like this. Hers is due to fear of making a mistake, it’s outside her comfort zone.

Euro you’re Irish?

Don't go through insurance unless it is the last resort. Protected no claims is a bit of a scam too, you are stuck with the insurance company you claimed from and your premiums will increase year on year anyway.

This is 100% bullshit.

A tree falling is not an accident though. It is an act of God.

OP I no longer care what you do - you have studiously ignored anyone with relevant knowledge who has tried to help on all your previous threads - just do what you like, you don't listen to advice you don't like so why bother posting all these threads at all?

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/council-billed-150000-after-falling-22387265

100% true. Woman appealed and got much more. Council tried to cover it up. It was a scandal.

Yes but you have incorrectly extrapolated that to all trees because you don’t understand the law.

You are also confusing liability for damages with a Health and Safety prosecution when they are entirely separate.

I don't understand why you don't name 5he employer. That's why 5gey have insyrance

https://www.rbwm.gov.uk/home/planning/trees/trees-private-land/damage-or-injury-caused-falling-trees-or-branches#:~:text=The%20owner%20of%20trees%20has,a%20prudent%20and%20responsible%20fashion.

If the workplace has had the trees inspected and run a risk assessment then it is not their fault.

However, if I had a large tree in my garden that fell and injured or damaged another party and the tree was shown to be dangerous then I would be liable, surely?

Maybe I don't understand the law. I'm not a lawyer. I'm okay with that.

There is no law saying you have to regularly inspect any trees you have.
Each case would be considered on merit, that local authority is suggesting good practice, not explaining the law.
We actually don't know if the OP's employer would be considered liable or not - and it turns out OP doesn't seem to be in the UK in any case.
What we do know is that they are not (in UK) AUTOMATICALLY liable if a tree falls on someone's car.

No but the circumstances of what happened should be explained to the insurer

The employer’s insurer (in the UK at least) would simply ask for details of the allegations of negligence against their client. It would then be for OP or OP’s insurance company to produce evidence of the employer’s negligence.
if the employer was negligent then their insurer would indemnify them for the costs of any damages due to OP - but only if they were shown to be negligent. Just having a tree doesn’t make you liable for anything that happens in connection with the tree - that is called strict liability and it doesn’t apply to trees (or many other things).

Employer’s insurance covering all costs now. Tree proven to be in very bad health; that’s why it’s now covered.