90% of motorists will crash their car
Nine out of 10 motorists will be involved in at least one road accident in their lifetime, according to a report published by leading motor insurer, More Than, but a third would rather fork out themselves than make a claim.
The majority of accidents will be collisions involving two or more vehicles and would cost an average of £1,100 to put right, although a third of accidents are ‘small prangs’ costing less than £500.
More Than’s report shows that over a third (36%) of motorists are reluctant to claim on their car insurance. A quarter of this number blame their reluctance on fear of losing their no claims bonus. The average driver is prepared to pay £235 out of their own pocket to fix the damage, and one in 10 is ready to shell out £500 to avoid making an insurance claim.
Other reasons cited for not making a claim include:
Claims was worth less than the excess – 59%
Driver fixed the problem themselves – 25%
Driver chose not to fix the damage – 6%
David Pitt, Head of Insurance at More Than, said: "The vast majority of drivers will experience a prang, bump or scrape at some stage, even if it is not their fault, yet many don’t claim on their motor insurance policy. Instead they dig deep into their own pockets for various reasons – one of the biggest being fear of losing their no claims bonus. This and the other fears raised in our report mean motorists are out of pocket unnecessarily, or worse, they driving around in damaged vehicles."
More Than is the only insurer in the UK to offer customers a motor insurance policy which makes three promises to them – regardless of how many claims they make:
1. It will not reduce their No Claims Bonus
2. It will not increase their premium because they make a claim
3. It will not cancel their policy
"More Than recognised these trends some time ago when we developed our unique No Claims Bonus for Life . This means that our customers will never lose their hard earned bonus, no matter how many bumps and scrapes they have," David Pitt concluded.