How Do Claims Affect Thai Car Insurance ?

[torrenova]

we had to claim a fair amount on the insurance this year on one of our vehicles (about Bt60,000) and after Songkran its obvious the thing is scratched all over (some were there before I know ) but some quite bad scratches were not. Now the missus has scraped the front bumbers on either side so that might be a replacement job as well.

The question is, lets say it costs 5-10k. On top of the other claim (60k) it is not a lot but it doubles the total number of claims. Now the renewal is in at the end of May and I'd like to know whether to send it into the shop to tart it up again and bang it on the insurance blaming those wanke_rs at Songkran (must be thousands of claims for this sort of thing) or just pay for it or wait till next year.

We have a no deductible first class insurance policy.

Any ideas ?

[ThaivisaInsurance]

we had to claim a fair amount on the insurance this year on one of our vehicles (about Bt60,000) and after Songkran its obvious the thing is scratched all over (some were there before I know ) but some quite bad scratches were not. Now the missus has scraped the front bumbers on either side so that might be a replacement job as well.

The question is, lets say it costs 5-10k. On top of the other claim (60k) it is not a lot but it doubles the total number of claims. Now the renewal is in at the end of May and I'd like to know whether to send it into the shop to tart it up again and bang it on the insurance blaming those wanke_rs at Songkran (must be thousands of claims for this sort of thing) or just pay for it or wait till next year.

We have a no deductible first class insurance policy.

Any ideas ?

May we suggest now you have ‘lost’ your NCB that you get all your ‘repairs’ done in this policy year ?

[torrenova]

Thanks for that. But can we be clear on one thing here.

Say the quote would have been 20k (do not think about NCB)

Would the quote now be say 25k because of the accident and claim ?

If I claim another 10k say, would the premium be 20k, 25k or say 30k ?

These numbers are in principle only and merely to explain my logic.

If I were to go to another insurer either next year or in the future, are they interested in the number of claims, the value of the claims or both ?

What I am trying to get at is if it makes no difference then we'll have it done but if making another claim increases this year's premium on its own (irrespective of the first claim) and that premium is increased say for the next 5 years, then the maths might dictate that we fix it ourselves.

An insight would be good as we only have a couple of weeks to decide.

Many thanks.

[ThaivisaInsurance]

Thanks for that. But can we be clear on one thing here.

Say the quote would have been 20k (do not think about NCB)

Would the quote now be say 25k because of the accident and claim ?

If I claim another 10k say, would the premium be 20k, 25k or say 30k ?

These numbers are in principle only and merely to explain my logic.

If I were to go to another insurer either next year or in the future, are they interested in the number of claims, the value of the claims or both ?

What I am trying to get at is if it makes no difference then we'll have it done but if making another claim increases this year's premium on its own (irrespective of the first claim) and that premium is increased say for the next 5 years, then the maths might dictate that we fix it ourselves.

An insight would be good as we only have a couple of weeks to decide.

Many thanks.

You will not be penalized if you put in a single claim for 1,000 Baht or 5 claims for 5,000 Baht in the policy year – apart from loosing your NCB.

It is always worth looking at the cost to you vs. the amount of NCB lost, as to which is the better option i.e. claim or pay – as your Broker for the figures.

[hhfarang]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is NCB? My wife and I have 2 cars and near the end of each year we just go and get all the scratches and dents fixed on the no-deductible insurance policy. The premium has gone up each year but only by a little and I attributed this to inflation as much as anything else. Otherwise, we've had no squawks from our insurance company even with one major accident a couple of years ago.

[Riley'sLife]

NCB = No Claims Bonus. i.e. if you don't claim in one year, the following year you will get a Bonus (discount) on the premium you pay. As you make a claim every year you never get it.

My first premium was 26,000, now, on my third year I pay 11,000 (although I have altered the cover and I now pay a voluntary excess of 7,000 Baht - this means I pay the first 7k on any claim. Ins co likes this as it saves them admin costs and it makes the premium lower for me too, and 7k is peanuts!)

[Tywais]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is NCB?

No Claims Bonus. Some insurance companies, including health, will return some percentage of the insurance cost if no claims are made for the period of the policy. My health insurance returns 10% but not sure for auto how much will be returned.

//Edit - I see RL beat me to it.

[torrenova]

You will not be penalized if you put in a single claim for 1,000 Baht or 5 claims for 5,000 Baht in the policy year – apart from loosing your NCB.

It is always worth looking at the cost to you vs. the amount of NCB lost, as to which is the better option i.e. claim or pay – as your Broker for the figures.

So you are saying that if the price of insurance is say 25k per annum, it can never increase even if you have a claim every week ? Sounds potty to me. But TIT.

So we should add the claim to this year as we have already lost the NCB due to the previous claim ?

I was worried a second claim would increase the base insurance cost.

[ignis]

I have been told that 1x claim per year = you do not lose your NCB on 1^st class Insurance..

In 4 years I have never claimed, never had a accident or bump… I have had a scratch on the front bumper parked in The Landmark Hotel car park, and rear side scratches parked in Tesco…. Both of these I managed to T-Cut out and used a colour based polish, so unless you look very close you cannot see.

So if you have never claimed and have 50% NCB, it would never be worth claiming small amounts. If I lost my NCB that is over 12,000baht

If you only have a bad bumper scratch why not buy a spay can of the same colour and do it yourself, if it will not T-Cut/Polish out

[ThaivisaInsurance]

Ignis

Sorry but if you claim even once, and it is your fault, you will loose your NCB

Torrenova

You can 'add' the second claim to this year's policy as you have lost your NCB already.

However I did not say the base premiums never increase. This they have to do from time to time simply due to inflation.

[goingaroundagain]

Interesting.

Edited May 6, 2008 by goingaroundagain

[Marvo]

In Thailand do they have an equivalent of the UK's "No claims bonus protection"?

[ThaivisaInsurance]

Sorry no.

[JAS21]

In Thailand do they have an equivalent of the UK's "No claims bonus protection"?

My insurance company work on

20% discount upon renewal.

next year 30% less than I actually paid the previous year.

next year 40% less than I actually paid the previous year.

So its not really 20%, 30% and 40% less than the full premium. I expect that there will be some 'annual' increase factored in but maybe not.

Also if I sell the car all discounts are gone so have to start again. So maybe its worth waiting to just before annual renewal or just before you sell the car to get all those little dents/scratches repaired ( to see if you or the insurance company pay). Depends on if they bother you or not. No matter how I position the car in traffic, some motorbike always tries to go down the narrower gap.

[ignis]

Also if I sell the car all discounts are gone so have to start again.

Maybe this is your insurance Company, when I changed my car, I restarted on 30%, so lost 10% NCB on changing my car, the next year I was back on 40% discount.

Also really it stands to reason as most new cars/truck have the 1st year Free Insurance. Insurance Companies would go out of business if everyone got the Dealers Insurance...

If you have your own then you get around 20 - 25,000baht in discount or goodies to that value.

This above info is of 2 hours ago, I got cash discount on the new Truck I have just driven home. I have both the car and the truck with the same Company, for some years.

[JAS21]

Also if I sell the car all discounts are gone so have to start again.

Maybe this is your insurance Company, when I changed my car, I restarted on 30%, so lost 10% NCB on changing my car, the next year I was back on 40% discount.

Also really it stands to reason as most new cars/truck have the 1st year Free Insurance. Insurance Companies would go out of business if everyone got the Dealers Insurance...

If you have your own then you get around 20 - 25,000baht in discount or goodies to that value.

This above info is of 2 hours ago, I got cash discount on the new Truck I have just driven home. I have both the car and the truck with the same Company, for some years.

Thanks, I'm with Thaivivat and my 5-series has a 'few marks' from motor bikes/careless door openers etc, I think. I'll get my wife to ask again. My insurance costs me around 40000 Baht so its worth getting correct facts before I decide who pays for the garage repairs.