So my partner had a little accident with the car and bashed a hole in the rear bumper. Reversed into the garden wall in broad daylight despite parking sensors beeping... 😬😂
Anyway, the bumper needs replacing and there's also damage to one of the parking sensors. I got estimates from 2 garages so far, the first one said at least £1500, maybe more if there's hidden structural damage (I don't think there is). The second one said about £1000 but that would not include replacing the parking sensors. Car is a 2017 Nissan Leaf.
The thing is, my insurance excess is £575 because I stupidly put a voluntary excess of £300, I thought that would be the whole excess, I didn't realise it would be added to the compulsory excess of £275 😖
Now I'm trying to decide whether to claim or not... obviously it will cost me more to pay for it myself, but I have 3 years no claims discount and I'm worried about losing this plus the premium going up.
On the other hand, if I fix it myself, I'll probably have to do without the parking sensors unless I want to shell out even more cash. But I think the sensors might be aftermarket, not from the factory (they were there when I bought the car second hand). So would the insurer even cover them or would they only cover putting the car back to factory condition? And of course there's also the risk that the repair could end up costing even more than the estimate.
My premium was £558 although I got a refund of £158 when we moved to our new house where we have a driveway (ironic, as it wouldn't have happened parking on the street). My partner is a named driver on the policy.
I'm leaning towards just putting in the claim but looking for any experiences people may have had? I'm finding it hard to decide when I don't really have any idea what effect claiming would have on my future premiums.