Car insurance: Make sense to file small claims?

Car insurance: Make sense to file small claims?


When Amit Sharma's new automobile met with associate accident recently, he was sad however comfortable by the actual fact that he had taken comprehensive insurance and will get the underwriter to get hold of the repairs. However, a discussion along with his friend place him in an exceedingly quandary. His friend suggested him to skip filing a claim and instead get hold of the repairs out of his own pocket as a result of the automobile wasn't broken badly and obtaining it repaired was unlikely to price him abundant.


Not absolutely convinced, Sharma felt that as his automobile was insured it had been sure enough his right to form a claim. However, he was conjointly distressed regarding the facet effects of creating a claim e.g. however wouldn't it impact his claim history and renewal premiums? so, he was finding it troublesome to come to a decision.

Many folks generally notice ourselves in an exceedingly similar scenario once our vehicle is broken. thus once do you have to claim insurance and once do you have to skip it?

Industry consultants say there's no laborious and quick rule for filing a claim. However, it's in one's own interest to try to to some calculations and keep some basic facts in mind whereas deciding whether or not or to not claim insurance.

"Insurance relies upon the thought of risk and easily place higher risk is guaranteed to increase the premium. Adverse claim history is one among the factors that impact premium rates. just in case of motor insurance, for example, it directly impacts the no claim bonus, that becomes zero and so ends up in someone having to pay higher premium amounts within the future," informs Sanjiv Bajaj, administrator, Bajaj Capital.

"Before filing a claim, one ought to assess the quantum of loss, applicable deductibles, any impact on the NCB and future premiums if any and will proceed solely then," says Dr Sandeep Dadia, corporate executive & Principal Officer, Hindu deity Birla Insurance Brokers Ltd.

In fact, consultants advise against filing a claim for tiny amounts for many reasons.

Most insurance policies specify associate quantity referred to as 'deductible' or 'excess' that is that the portion of any claim quantity that the insured can need to mandatorily bear himself/herself. just in case of a claim, solely the balance once subtracting the 'deductible' quantity is collectible subject to alternative deductions like depreciation etc. Thus, it's pointless to say tiny quantitys that area unit near or but the 'deductible' amount per your insurance policy as you'd gain little or nothing.

A no claim bonus (NCB) could be a discount ordinarily given by insurers on the renewal premium at the tip of a claim-free year. This NCB starts at two hundredth at the tip of the primary claim-free year and will increase steady with each claim-free year to a most of fifty. notwithstanding one claim is created, the NCB goes back to zero, that is one more reason for not creating tiny claims.

Let us take associate example. Assume that your policy incorporates a deductible of Rs 2000 and therefore the NCB discount on the policy works dead set Rs 6000. during this case if you create a claim of, say Rs 4000, you'll need to pay Rs 2000 of the claim bill yourself and conjointly lose the NCB discount of Rs 6000. Here it makes financial sense to form a claim as long as the claim quantity is brim over Rs 8000, say Rs 13000 and. this is often as a result of the outgo from your pocket and loss of NCB discount would equal Rs 8000. However, if the claim quantity is say Rs ten,000, then it should be wiser to induce the automobile repaired at your own price and forgo the claim.

However, whereas doing one's calculations, it ought to be remembered that the NCB discount is just given on the 'Own Damage' portion of the overall premium and not on the 'Liability' portion.

Further, filing insurance claims ofttimes adversely impacts the claim history of the insured.

Experts say that filing one or 2 claims over many years is unlikely to form abundant of a distinction. However, "apart from increasing the premium rates, insurers will even deny the renewal of your policy if there area unit continued  losses year once year on the insured risk or there's no due diligence ascertained by the insured to avoid the recurrent losses," says Bajaj.

The quantum of increase in renewal premium rate that will result from repetitive claims depends on the character of the claims and conjointly varies from underwriter to underwriter. Here 'nature of claim' refers as to whether the harm to the automobile is your fault or that of somebody else (third party). If somebody hits your automobile from behind, prompting you to file a claim, your rates area unit unlikely to be raised in traditional circumstances. However, if the fault is yours and such claims area unit frequent, then it might in all probability be troublesome for you to flee a rate hike.

Therefore, an honest rule to follow is to solely create a claim within the event of an enormous loss and avoid filing it just in case of very little mishaps, like a minor dent on the bumper or the body of your automobile.

Sometimes speech your agent regarding the insurance company's policies before you file a claim conjointly helps.
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About Unknown Hi I am Deepak Rana CEO and Owner of Blazeservr.com I am Certified Ethnical Hacker and Love to Learn and Teach Information Technology

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