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How much damage before it is worth claiming?
insurance is currently £300/year with about 15yrs no claims bonus,
I have crime reference number (and video of person attacked the car), Luckily the person threw stones at the car missed the bike on top of the car
The car needs new windscreen, front grill and dents/scratches from stones/rocks thrown at it, so probably total claim maybe £500-800 maybe more. not had a quote yet.
whilst I don't pay an excess or lose no claims as it is vandalism, is claiming likely to cost me more over the next 5 or so years? due to increased premiums across the two household cars insured.
insurance company is Churchill if that makes a difference
Your NCD may well be affected as you are making a claim - depending on the policy doesn't matter if it is your fault or not.
And are you sure you do not have any excess at all. Zero excess policies are very unusual - you may have opted not to have an increased voluntary excess but there is likely a baseline policy excess.
In any event for that amount I would just pay it if you can...
Agreed. You'll most likely have compulsory excess and voluntary excess, although it's not voluntary when it comes to paying it. It's only really worth claiming for vandalism when the bill is into the thousands.
As above. I'd pay it.
That said, the windscreen replacement is usually insured separately and that doesn't affect NCB or future premiums. But there will be an excess (£50 or £100 usually).
That may be worth putting in a standard claim, just as you would if a stone flew up whilst driving. Might save you £50 - £100 depending on the type of windscreen and features. And won't impact the premiums or bonus.
If you do lose NCD you're probably only going to lose a few %. If you're with my insurer you'd drop from 41% to 35% and take 5 years to get back to max discount. You'll need to check your insurers website to check exact percentages and how many years it'll take to get back to where you were. There's likely to be some loading on your base premium as you've made a claim but this could be quite small. I've had 2 claims in the last year one of which cost me NCD and was low value (sub £1000) and my renewal premium was £20 more than last year. With a zero excess policy it's a no brainer for me to claim on the policy.
Zero excess policies are very unusual
Some policies have zero excess on vandalism claims. One of the big insurers is currently using that as a selling point of theirs.
Most insurance only have 9+ years as a NCD, regardless of how many years you actually have.
First up would be get a quote for the repairs. You might be surprised at how much it might be. Then you can make an informed decision about whether to claim through your insurance.
Someone will be along in a moment to tell you that under the terms of your policy you need to inform them that you’ve had vandalism to your car.
My insurance didn’t go up following 2 incidents on my Polo. Both other people driving into my car whilst it was parked. Both times I claimed off the other parties insurance.
Most insurance only have 9+ years as a NCD, regardless of how many years you actually have.
Many stop counting after 5...
And in any case, even if you had a protected no claims and made a claim, whilst your NCD wouldn't be affected, you'll still be a higher risk.
If you've got dents/big scratches on more than one panel that need filling, prepping, painting etc your estimate will be miles out. Walk in price 250 a panel easily even at a local body shop.
That said, the windscreen replacement is usually insured separately and that doesn’t affect NCB or future premiums. But there will be an excess (£50 or £100 usually).
if there’s an excess for that it doesn’t hurt to get a quote from a local independent anyway - last time I had to get one done it cost less to pay to have one fitted than the excess would cost if it was done by autoglass
Not making a claim and paying for it yourself does have the possibility that your policy could be invalidated if the insurer finds out about the damage. It's all relevant information to assessing the risk they are insuring, and it will be in the conditions that you must tell them. Having reported it to police, it's formally on the record. Not directly accessible to insurer but if you made a big claim next year they might go digging and you'd find you were uninsured, not even third party.
What's the chances of the scrote being caught if he's on video, is he identifiable? And the chances of getting him to cough up?
You are likely miles out on the estimate to repair. New windscreen and grill will likely eat up most of the £500-800 on it's own if paying privately and not through insurance. As said above each panel will be a minimum of £250 and more likely towards £400 per panel for larger panels and somewhere competent.
Go with the insurance, it's what you pay it for.