Car insurance price goes up after claim?

[bamboozled]

Hi folks. My newly licensed wife took the car out first time and guess what happened.... The damage is pretty minor, scraped a wall on a small soi, but if we make a claim will the cost of the insurance then go up as is the case in the US, for example? I would imagine it does and if so, I am not sure I want to claim it. Perhaps just paying out of pocket might end up cheaper. Anyone with experience on this?

 

Ah, let me add this question: Do new drivers (wife) pay more for insurance then experienced drivers, as in the States, for example? I bought the car used and have been on the first class insurance from the previous owner so I am not super informed about the details though we are imminently due for renewal next month.

 

thanks all!

[Pilotman]

It goes on all over the world. Just do the maths, ( math to you I guess) that will give you the answer in no time at all.  

[bamboozled]

Is that a yes?

[Pilotman]

2 minutes ago, bamboozled said:

Is that a yes?

Okay; yes it is but here in LOS, it will be difficult for you to assess what the rise is likely to be next year, if you claim this year.  Its a judgment call. I would say, very rough ball park, that if your repair is less than 10K get it done yourself. Very rough guide. Others may have a more accurate number for you to plan on.  

[bamboozled]

Thank you, Pilotman. That's what I assumed, too, that it would have to go up. My wife claims that changing insurance companies will allow us to "start fresh." I find this difficult to believe as an insurance company could never effectively raise a rate after an accident as the customer would just move on to a different company. In the US, your driving record follows you. Any input on that, please?

[JWRC]

If you have a no claim bonus ( which makes the Insurance cheaper each year ) the you will loose some or all of that. I have made a couple of claims in 17 years and both times I had to pay a small amount as well. The car would have been photographed by the insurance company, if it was me I would wait until just before its due again and then claim for all the damage in one hit, I say this because all the Thai women I know have had numerus accidents in their first 12 months of driving.

[NanLaew]

Same rules apply here as pretty much anywhere else, if it's a small prang or fender bender with another car, you can try and agree to go 'knock-for-knock' (mutually agree to pay for the other car's repairs) with the other driver. Unfortunately in Thailand, the local driver sees any admission of 'guilt' as a loss of face so will insist on screwing up both parties insurance NCB.

 

However, if the OP's missus has simply scraped a wall, then sort it yourself (and adjust her allowance accordingly).

[bamboozled]

We have a 3000 baht deductible. Yes, I almost don't want to have it fixed because I'm sure she will do it again. It's not the easiest driving in the world, in Chiang Mai city. Especially just starting out. The insurance actually runs out in 5 days so we gotta get them on it NOW or never. JWRC, did you subsequently pay more for your insurance after making claims? In 35 years of driving, I have never made one myself so I'm ignorant.

[NanLaew]

6 minutes ago, bamboozled said:

Thank you, Pilotman. That's what I assumed, too, that it would have to go up. My wife claims that changing insurance companies will allow us to "start fresh." I find this difficult to believe as an insurance company could never effectively raise a rate after an accident as the customer would just move on to a different company. In the US, your driving record follows you. Any input on that, please?

With your wife's driving skills on par with her knowledge of auto insurance, Is there any way you can prevent her from driving again?

[sungod]

Give it a rub with a cutting agent, that should take a lot of the blatantly visual damage away. Then, do as the others say, save up all your scrapes to next year .

[Matzzon]

Yes, it will go up. Next!

[NanLaew]

I think I am correct in saying that most Thai drivers like to put their car in for an annual ding and scrape removal and partial respray and have the insurance company pick up the tab while claiming it ALL against the most significant ding. This makeover would coincide with insurance renewal so yes, they get the annual makeover and then switch insurance thinking it all never happened.

 

FWIW, my most recent insurance renewal benefited from a 48% NCB despite a couple of fender benders with inanimate objects by Mrs NL.

[holy cow cm]

16 minutes ago, bamboozled said:

We have a 3000 baht deductible. Yes, I almost don't want to have it fixed because I'm sure she will do it again. It's not the easiest driving in the world, in Chiang Mai city. Especially just starting out. The insurance actually runs out in 5 days so we gotta get them on it NOW or never. JWRC, did you subsequently pay more for your insurance after making claims? In 35 years of driving, I have never made one myself so I'm ignorant.

If you claim now then you need a good excuse as insurance for most boo boo's needs to have their rep called on the spot, with some considerations as maybe you did not notice it until you got home as you now see someone hit you. If it is just a small scrape and nothing big, you might just want to do it yourself. Why don't you take it really quick to a repair shop and have them tell you how much before you make your decision. First class insurance runs you how much? 20k +/-? And yes it is easy to change insurance companies.

[bamboozled]

We're paying just under 12k I think. It's a 2010 car, however.

 

[Neeranam]

I claimed 3 times last year(2 times a complete respray) and they tried to increase my insurance but I haggled and they gave me the old price, Lot of competition so negotiate.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, bamboozled said:

Is that a yes?

Probably yes it is a yes. But the actual % rise depends on the insurance company. 

[scorecard]

59 minutes ago, bamboozled said:

We have a 3000 baht deductible. Yes, I almost don't want to have it fixed because I'm sure she will do it again. It's not the easiest driving in the world, in Chiang Mai city. Especially just starting out. The insurance actually runs out in 5 days so we gotta get them on it NOW or never. JWRC, did you subsequently pay more for your insurance after making claims? In 35 years of driving, I have never made one myself so I'm ignorant.

 As a general comment, vehicle insurance rates here (also health insurance and more) are not cheap.

 

One reason is the large presence of insurance fraud. 

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, bamboozled said:

Perhaps just paying out of pocket might end up cheaper. Anyone with experience on this?

We had a log fall onto our passenger car door and put a big dent into the door, this is what happened when I parked the car at night in a dark soi next to an elevated parcel of land, it was raining and the soil gave way and then the log fell on the door, I had no idea until one of my kids who was getting into the car in the morning said dad, you had an accident did you, I thought he was pranking me, so I back tracked to all the places I went to the evening before where I parked my car, the last spot I found the log on the road at the side where I parked my car.

 

We went to the panel beater, he said the door skin had to be replaced and painted, quote 15,000 baht, we had an excess of 5,000 baht, I said to the wife, I will pay for it, she said no, I said insurance will go up, she said then we will change with another company, so we got it fixed, paid the excess of 5,000 baht, next month the policy went up and we moved onto someone around the same price as the other insurers annual policy the year before, then the following year this mob put their price up, we shopped around and the old insurer was cheaper once again...lol

 

It's up to you, pay the excess, insurance goes up, but then again, there is no guarantee it won't go up anyway, suffice to say, you pay insurance for this, so get it repaired and if they up the policy amount shop around and go elsewhere if they are cheaper and reputable.

 

 

[Antonymous]

1 hour ago, bamboozled said:

Ah, let me add this question: Do new drivers (wife) pay more for insurance then experienced drivers, as in the States, for example? I bought the car used and have been on the first class insurance from the previous owner so I am not super informed about the details though we are imminently due for renewal next month.

 

Are you sure that you even have valid insurance?

 

You state:

 

"I bought the car used and have been on the first class insurance from the previous owner"

 

In my experience both of selling a car with several months of valid 1st class ins outstanding AND in buying a second hand vehicle with the same, I was informed by the insurance companies in both cases that it is NOT possible for a new owner to carry over the previous owner's policy.

 

What should happen in practice is that the seller informs his ins co and can in many cases claim back the unused portion of his own ins. The new owner has to apply from scratch and of course it doesn't have to be with the same ins company.

 

So you certainly can't benefit from a previous policy holder's no claims bonus, for example.

 

But if you have your own ins now and make a small claim, all that should happen is that next year you will not get any no claims bonus. They should not put up the premium. Just do the math.

[Don Mega]

11 minutes ago, Antonymous said:

 

Are you sure that you even have valid insurance?

 

You state:

 

"I bought the car used and have been on the first class insurance from the previous owner"

 

In my experience both of selling a car with several months of valid 1st class ins outstanding AND in buying a second hand vehicle with the same, I was informed by the insurance companies in both cases that it is NOT possible for a new owner to carry over the previous owner's policy.

 

What should happen in practice is that the seller informs his ins co and can in many cases claim back the unused portion of his own ins. The new owner has to apply from scratch and of course it doesn't have to be with the same ins company.

 

So you certainly can't benefit from a previous policy holder's no claims bonus, for example.

 

But if you have your own ins now and make a small claim, all that should happen is that next year you will not get any no claims bonus. They should not put up the premium. Just do the math.

I purchased my wife a 2nd car, someone bumped into at BigC carpark whilst she was inside shopping, she called the insurance and they sent out the assessor.... there was no issue the fact the policy was purchased by the previous owner and the car was repaired shortly there after.

 

One to watch out for though is does the policy cover all drivers or only named drivers.

[Antonymous]

4 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

I purchased my wife a 2nd car, someone bumped into at BigC carpark whilst she was inside shopping, she called the insurance and they sent out the assessor.... there was no issue the fact the policy was purchased by the previous owner and the car was repaired shortly there after.

 

One to watch out for though is does the policy cover all drivers or only named drivers.

 

Very interesting case, Don.

 

In my understanding any claim must be made by the registered owner of the car (who is the policy holder of the insurance). If the policy permits, then it is true that any driver may have been at the wheel at the time and the claim can still be valid. That's the case with all the 1st class insurance policies that I've ever had in Thailand.

 

So in your case above, are you saying that your wife was able to make the claom, sign HER name for it and that SHE received the claim money later? If so, I'd say that she was very fortunate...and there's an insurance agent out there who should be fired!

 

 

[Don Mega]

6 minutes ago, Antonymous said:

 

Very interesting case, Don.

 

In my understanding any claim must be made by the registered owner of the car (who is the policy holder of the insurance). If the policy permits, then it is true that any driver may have been at the wheel at the time and the claim can still be valid. That's the case with all the 1st class insurance policies that I've ever had in Thailand.

 

So in your case above, are you saying that your wife was able to make the claom, sign HER name for it and that SHE received the claim money later? If so, I'd say that she was very fortunate...and there's an insurance agent out there who should be fired!

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.roojai.com/en/faqs/

[JWRC]

Only marginally more, none of the damage was caused by us I might add, so the Insurance would have sorted it with the offenders Insurance.  I am with Bangkok Insurance and never had a problem.

[2 is 1]

My Hilux has get hit many times lol. Not big one anyway! I haven't fix it! One time kid whit car 16 years old bang in back. I take the money and not fix! I just go Toyota and take estimate repair cost in paper + my time + casoline. Then they pay me. If going to keep "old" car long time who cares few "scar" mine is 3 years old! Depens of course what kind car you have! One small accident i pay to other parts insurance company 8000 bth. They ask first 20000 bth, wife call there and price drop suprice suprice lol

[bamboozled]

Thanks all. I think we'll have them come take a look at it, at the very least. And take it from there....

[bodga]

20 hours ago, NanLaew said:

the local driver sees any admission of 'guilt' as a loss of face so will insist on screwing up both parties insurance NCB.

Not so, guy hit me recently and admitted  it immediately ( hard to deny really although some would try the you reversed into me rubbish), I also had front /rear  cameras, small damage but  buggered  if  im paying it, Insurance  agree from footage it was  his  fault. Cost  will be about 4000baht as   lucky for him he  missed  mangling the rear park sensors  as well.

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, bodga said:

22 hours ago, NanLaew said:

the local driver sees any admission of 'guilt' as a loss of face so will insist on screwing up both parties insurance NCB.

Not so, guy hit me recently and admitted  it immediately ( hard to deny really although some would try the you reversed into me rubbish), I also had front /rear  cameras, small damage but  buggered  if  im paying it, Insurance  agree from footage it was  his  fault. Cost  will be about 4000baht as   lucky for him he  missed  mangling the rear park sensors  as well.

You got lucky. I have seen too many fender benders here with driveable cars left in situ, sometimes dangerously so, in rush-hour traffic while BOTH drivers wait for their assessors to show up. Hence my belief that most local drivers will never freely admit to being responsible regardless of how obvious it is. The police in many cities in the US will fine both drivers if they do not move their cars off the freeway after a minor bump within 10 or 15 minutes. If a car is disabled, then a city wrecker truck will remove it for a nominal few hundred bucks. I wish the cops would do the same here.

 

Yesterday lunchtime, I had two teenage girls almost t-bone me as I turned into a village. I was waiting on the crown of the road, turn signal on and a white Fortuner also waiting behind me to make the same right turn across oncoming traffic. I waited until an oncoming motorbike passed and a clear gap in traffic before starting to turn in. The girls were racing the wrong way along the gutter so being handily in my blind spot, didn't appear in my rear view or wing mirrors. The road was wet as it had just started raining and they probably hit the brakes after they realized the gap they were trying to shoot was closing fast, skidded and luckily laid the bike down at fairly low speed and delivered a glancing blow to my drivers side rear tire. I thought that's my weekend was ruined but as I helped them get the bike back upright, they were waiing profusely, saying kor thoat and "Sorry, so sorry..." so they knew they were in the wrong. There was no sign of cuts and abrasions but they were badly shaken and pulled into the 7-eleven parking lot just beyond the village entrance. I pulled into the village, parked up and went and took a photo of the bike and number plate, just in case an angry parent tries their hand after they get home but I reckon they probably won't mention anything.

 

Bullet dodged... NCB intact.

[bamboozled]

Well if I have things correct, which I might not, we will be paying our 3000 baht deductible and the MSIG insurance is paying the rest. We went to the office, got the claim form filled out, and then went to the indicated repair shop. They've ordered the parts and when they're in we'll bring the car back for....5 to 7 days! for them to fix it. They didn't seem to skimp on anything even if some pieces were just scraped a tiny bit; I was impressed. But we'll see what finally arrives. I was pleasantly surprised with the whole friendliness and ease of the service. Before we left the repair shop, one of the mechanics fiddled around with the damaged front parts to align them and shore them up so we could drive safely and in some modicum of decency. I will say, just with his 10 minutes of work, the car looked pretty good. He pulled out the dented metal and straightened the plastic parts. In hind site, I would have left it at this and not done the whole claim thing as I'm sure there will be more scrapes and gouges soon enough. Anyway....done is done.

 

Now again, if I have things correct, which I might not, if I want to renew my insurance with them (which expires in 3 days), I can no longer get 1st class insurance but only 3rd class which basically means I'm paying for any damage I do to the car myself. They will only answer to 3rd party claims otherwise known as collision insurance in the US. And if I understood correctly, I cannot get 1st class insurance from them at any price. If I had wanted to continue with 1st class with them I could not file a claim but I would still be required to repair the car before they would insure it again. Apparently, they take pictures of the cars at the beginning of the insurance period so as to not get stuck with old repairs...which makes sense but not sure why you could not have duly noted damage and a waiver for that.

 

Tomorrow, we'll call some other agencies and see what we can come up with. If I have to show a perfect car to get 1st class insurance, I'm going to be in a weird limbo while waiting for the car to be fixed since this current insurance expires on the 4th yet the car certainly won't be tip-top by then.

 

Time will shortly tell how close to "correct" my understanding was/is.

[LukKrueng]

On 8/30/2020 at 11:00 AM, bamboozled said:

Thank you, Pilotman. That's what I assumed, too, that it would have to go up. My wife claims that changing insurance companies will allow us to "start fresh." I find this difficult to believe as an insurance company could never effectively raise a rate after an accident as the customer would just move on to a different company. In the US, your driving record follows you. Any input on that, please?

1. They don't actually increase the rate after a claim. The way it works is that if you renew with no claims - you get a discount. If you claim - no discount. 

2. In your case you don't really renew as at the moment it's not your insurance, but the previous owner's insurance. You'll have to take a new insurance when this one expires

 

[Brayka]

The damage on your car comes in the same range as the rise of your insurance. So if they had to pay you 5000 or 50.000, your insurance will rise more on the last exempel(understandably). If it is minor I would wait or let it fix and pay yourself