Question.... Should I Go Through My Car Insurance

[pumpjack]

last week bonnet popped and made some damage to windscreen and bonnet and roof , minor damage with cracked windscreen ,minor damage to roof, needs some body work.
called zenith underwriters for tesco insurance, was told car is write off, i told them i didnt believe so and i didnt want any action taken by them and told them ill pay for it myself.

ive 600 excess on my policy, no windscreen cover , ive 6 years NCD , my policy is approx 450 pounds per year, my car is worth approx 5k,

car to fix with my local body repair shop is costing 1k

wondering should i just call insurance back and go through the insutrance for write off and hope thery pay out near to 5k value of car, but then they will take 600 exess wonty they ?
also my premiums will go per year, plus ill lose my no claims discount.

what would you do ?

[retrocop]

//what would you do ? //

Pay to have the windscreen replaced if it is cracked whereby it's a MOT failure. Unless the bonnet catch is defective I would leave it and forget minor damage to roof and bodywork.Then run it into the ground.
If however,you are like me, you wouldn't be seen dead driving around in my pride and joy with obvious damage I(,if able,) would pay the £1000 to get it repaired by a body shop.

[bhg481]

When you next renew your insurance check the cost of Fully Comp (which usually commes with glass insurance) against third party (which usually doesn't); you#'l probably find there is little difference and I've heard of cases where Fully Comp is actually cheaper.
Putting that aside, I would pay for the windscreen repair and ignore all the other damage, after all, it's only cosmetic.

[barry1010]

pumpjack already has fully comp otherwise he wouldnt be able to claim for this incident.
I'd pay to get the windscreen fixed and think about paying for the body repairs later if the damage is only cosmetic. Wouldn't bother claiming off the insurance for that

[vulcan42]

I would agree with Barry on this. I found it odd but not surprising when paying for fully comp insurance the company valued my car at £8000 but when it was written by an inattentive driver who ran into the back, it was only valued at a quarter of that figure. It seems that when you pay for the insurance it's valued at its highest rate but at its lowest rate for paying out.

[barry1010]

That's my experience, too, vulcan

[bhg481]

Barry - good point about it being fully comp - I'm just amazed that a Fully Comp policy doesn't have windscreen cover.

[ladybirder]

Just a little tip, you don't have to accept the write-off sum offered by your insurer. I managed to talk mine into paying another 30% above the original offer when it happened to me a few years ago.

[bednobs]

my husband managed to name his price when his car was written off (he drives a car that's very difficult to value) and got exactly what he paid for it 5 years previously