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15 Feb 2024

Making a car insurance claim

Find out all you need to know about claiming on your car insurance, including what the process involves, and which insurers are the best (and worst) at handling claims

Dean SobersSenior researcher & writer

In this article

What details do I need to take for a claim?
When should I call my car insurer?
Do I have to contact my insurer?
Is it worth making a car insurance claim?
How do I complain about my car insurance claim?
Who are the best car insurers for claims?
What about uninsured losses?
Can insurers give vouchers instead of cash payouts?

What details do I need to take for a claim?

If your claim follows a road accident, make sure you collect all the details you need from the other driver. Jot down the following:

name
address
vehicle registration
telephone number
insurance details.

You'll need to give your car insurance company all the information you can about the accident as soon as possible.

Find out more: the UK's best car insurance companies

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When should I call my car insurer?

Make sure you have all the information you'll need to make a claim before you call. After notifying your provider, you'll get a claim form to complete and return. Alternatively, you may be able to submit your form online.

Remember – whether you intend to claim or not, your insurer will expect to be notified.

Do I have to contact my insurer?

You do. Car insurers expect to be notified of any incident that could potentially lead to a claim – even if you don't plan to make one.

Not doing so could risk putting you in breach of your policy's terms and conditions. Even if you don't claim, an affected third party might – so your insurer wants to have as much information as possible about the incident.

It will also consider incidents, as well as claims, in your recent past when calculating your risk – especially if the incident is serious.

Plus, damage to your car may have affected its safety, security or value.

warning

Watch out for claims middlemen

If you're involved in an accident, you may be contacted by companies offering to assist you with your claim or in pursuing compensation from other parties.

These are known as claims management companies, and their services come at a cost (usually a percentage of the value of your claim). Some have been known to contact customers without making it clear who they are, leaving some using their services mistakenly believing they're dealing with their insurer.

If you've been involved in an accident, get in touch with your insurer using the contact details in your policy booklet or on its website.

Is it worth making a car insurance claim?

Faced with several thousand pounds' worth of damage or theft, the case for making a claim on your insurance is pretty clear cut.

Where it wouldn't break the bank to fund repairs or replacements yourself, you might decide making a claim isn't worth it.

Here are the factors to bear in mind:

What effect does a car insurance claim have on premiums?

A major cause for hesitation can be the potential impact on your premiums: recent claims or incidents affect the insurer's view of your level of risk, and so it may increase your price accordingly.

Unfortunately, you can't know in advance what your next renewal premium will be.

Generally speaking, though, minor, isolated incidents like a chip in the windscreen are less likely to lead to painful increases than something more serious or complex – like a collision with another driver.

Whether you choose to claim or not, be alert at renewal time. If your premium has soared, you might still be able to find a better deal by switching to a new provider or haggling with your current one for a better deal.

Find out more: How to find cheap car insurance

What is an excess?

Excesses help keep your premium low, marking a threshold of what you're happy – or required – to pay yourself in the event of a claim.

The closer the claim amount is to your excess, the less benefit there is in claiming.

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What impact will a claim have on my no-claims discount?

Check how much a claim will affect your no-claims discount.

This won't give you the entire picture. You'll know how much discount you stand to lose if you claim, but not the underlying premium to which that discount is applied, which may increase regardless.

But if your claim triggers a big reduction in discount, you'll know to expect a sizeable increase in premium – and it may take two or three years to recover the no-claims bonus you had.

Considering a car insurance claim

While you can't anticipate the exact effect a claim will have, some basic information about your policy – such as its excess and no-claims discount – can help you judge whether it's worth making.

Reasons for claiming	Cost to you	Insurer pays	Effect on no-claims discount	You get back	Worth claiming?
A stone causes a large crack in the windscreen	£100-£500	£50-£450 (£100 to £500 minus £50 excess)	Nil - Glass damage claims often don't affect your NCD in your policy	£50-£450	Yes. It cuts repair costs and isn't likely to send your premium rocketing.
You dent the car door on a speed bump	£400	£150 (£400 minus £250 excess)	The claim knocks two years off your five-year NCD of 60% (off £1,000), reducing discount to 40%. You pay £300 to rebuild it over two years (£200 in year 1 plus £100 in year 2) minus £150	£150 paid by insurer minus £300 in lost NCD	Maybe not. You'd be losing part of your NCD, which is likely to raise your premiums, and you'd be paying more than half of the repair costs.

Note: These are just some worked examples using illustrative figures. If you're in a situation where you're considering claiming, the costs, impact to your policy and the value of claiming will differ.

How do I complain about my car insurance claim?

When making a claim, your expectation is that your provider will handle your enquiries carefully and pay out according to the terms of your policy.

However, this isn't always the case. If you feel your claim hasn't been handled fairly – if it's rejected, for example, or the valuation you receive is less than you expected – complain to your insurer in the first instance.

If you've exhausted the insurance company's complaints procedure (set out in your insurance policy) and your claim has not been settled, contact the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) at financial-ombudsman.org.uk or call 0800 023 4567.

You usually have six months from the time you reach deadlock with the insurer to make a complaint. The decision of the FOS is binding on companies but not on the consumer – so you could, if you wish, refer the matter to court.

Who are the best car insurers for claims?

In November 2023, Which? surveyed 2,807 car insurance claimants about their experiences claiming with their provider. Their ratings are shown in the table below.

We also rate insurers on speed of dealing with claims and and how clear insurers are with customers when communicating the claims process as part of our customer satisfaction ratings.

The table below highlights the claims satisfaction scores for the leading insurers.


RECOMMENDED PROVIDER NFU Mutual	84%	-
RECOMMENDED PROVIDER LV	74%
John Lewis	70%
AXA	69%
Bank of Scotland	69%
RAC	68%
Santander	67%

Table notes: The claims Score reflects how satisfied the claimants were with their insurance provider and how likely they would be to recommend it, based on how it handled their most recent claim. Insurers must be rated by at least 30 respondents to be included in our table. Sample sizes (in brackets) show the number of respondents answering our claims customer score questions. For some of the star ratings, too few answered the specific question for a valid rating to be generated. '-' is shown where this is the case.

What about uninsured losses?

Uninsured losses are items that aren't covered by your insurance policy and often occur after a road accident. They could include things like:

the excess you have to pay for repairs
the cost of alternative transport while your car is off the road
compensation for personal injury
loss of earnings
loss in value of your car.

Start by writing to the other driver to give details of your uninsured losses, and ask them to pass your claim on to their insurer. If the driver refuses to co-operate, you'll have to take the matter to court.

Claims up to certain values can be taken to small claims court: £10,000 or less in England or Wales, £5,000 or less in Scotland, or £3,000 or less in Northern Ireland.

Check your car insurance policy, though – as many policies have motor legal protection, which is a form of legal expenses insurance and will assist in the recovery of your uninsured losses.

If you're claiming for a personal injury as part of the claim, this affects whether it can be brought as a small claim. Always take legal advice where there is a personal injury element to the claim.

Can insurers give vouchers instead of cash payouts?

If your policy states that your insurer uses a 'preferred supplier', this could mean you'll be issued with vouchers instead of cash when you make a claim. These vouchers have to enable you to replace your item 'like for like'.

Where your policy doesn't say the insurance company can provide vouchers, you can insist on either a cash payment or replacement items – whichever your policy says the insurer will provide.

Be sure to check with your provider if anything is unclear in your policy wording.