Car insurance depreciation calculator for claims

What will this calculator tell me?

How much of your repair bill the insurer should pay, and how much you'll pay yourself, part by part. It applies the depreciation rates from standard Indian car policy wordings, then the compulsory and voluntary deductibles. You can switch zero depreciation on and off to see what that add-on would change.

The most common use is after a claim, when the settlement is lower than the garage bill and you want to know whether the deductions are correct. It also works before a claim, to see whether claiming is worth it at all.

What do I need from my repair estimate?

Ask the garage for an estimate or final bill that lists each replaced part separately, plus labour and painting. Then enter:

• Each part's name and price before tax, and what it's made of. Bumpers, lamps, grilles and mirror housings are almost always plastic. Doors, bonnets and fenders are usually metal. Windscreens and windows are glass.
• Labour charges, which are never depreciated.
• Painting charges. If the bill shows the paint material separately, enter that too.
• Registration date and accident date, which decide the metal depreciation.
• Engine cc, which decides the compulsory deductible.
• Voluntary deductible, if your policy has one.

Which depreciation rates are applied?

Metal parts depend on the car's age on the date of the accident:

How is painting handled?

Only the paint material is depreciated, at 50%. Painting labour is paid in full. If your bill has one combined painting figure, policy wordings treat 25% of it as material. So the calculator applies 50% depreciation to a quarter of the painting bill, which is effectively 12.5% of it. If your bill shows the actual material cost, enter it, and the calculator uses that instead.

How do I read the result?

At the top you'll see what the insurer should pay and what you'll pay out of the total bill. Below that, each part is listed with its depreciation rate and the amount deducted, followed by labour, painting, total depreciation and the deductibles. If your insurer's settlement matches this, the deductions are correct. If it's lower, compare line by line to find where the difference is.

The insurer paid even less than this. Why?

Common extra deductions that this calculator doesn't include:

• Consumables such as engine oil, coolant, nuts, bolts and clips, unless you have a consumables add-on.
• Salvage value of damaged parts, if you keep them.
• Parts the surveyor didn't approve, judged as old damage, wear and tear, or repairable rather than replaceable.
• Tax on parts, which follows the same depreciation split.

Ask for the surveyor's assessment sheet. It lists every deduction. If one looks wrong, for example a metal part depreciated at the wrong age band or labour depreciated when it shouldn't be, write to the insurer about that specific line.

Why is so much deducted when my car is new?

Because most of what breaks in a typical accident is plastic, and plastic always loses 50%, whatever the car's age. A six-month-old car with a smashed bumper and headlamp still gets half the price of those parts deducted. Only metal parts benefit from the car being new. This surprises almost everyone at their first claim, and it's the main reason zero depreciation cover is popular.

What does the zero depreciation switch change?

With zero dep on, depreciation on parts and paint becomes nil, and the insurer pays the full parts price. The compulsory deductible and any voluntary deductible still apply. In real life, insurers usually limit zero-dep claims to one or two a year. If you've already used yours, your claim is settled as if you didn't have the add-on, so leave the box unticked.

Can I use this before claiming?

Yes, and it's one of the best uses. Enter the garage estimate, and you'll see what the insurer would actually pay. Then take that payout to the claim or pay yourself calculator and compare it with the NCB you'd lose. For small damage, you'll often find that paying the garage yourself is cheaper.

Does it handle repaired parts?

Only enter parts that are being replaced. If a dent is being repaired or a bumper is being fixed rather than replaced, that's labour, and it goes in the labour field without depreciation. Asking the garage whether a borderline part can be repaired instead of replaced can lower your share of the bill.

Why did the surveyor say "repair" when the garage said "replace"?

The surveyor decides what is reasonably repairable. A panel with a small dent is usually repaired. A cracked bumper with broken mounting points is usually replaced. If the surveyor approves repair instead of replacement, you lose nothing on depreciation, because repair is labour. But if the repaired part fails later, ask the garage about its warranty on the work. If you strongly disagree with a decision, raise it with the surveyor before work starts, not after.

Can the garage split the bill to reduce depreciation?

The bill has to reflect the real work done. A garage can't relabel plastic parts as labour. What it can legitimately do is show the paint material separately from painting labour, and that can reduce the paint deduction compared with the 25% rule. Ask for that split when you get the estimate.

What about electric cars?

The part-wise rates are the same. Electric cars don't have an engine cc, so for the compulsory deductible, enter 1,000 (most insurers apply the lower ₹1,000 deductible), or check the figure on your policy schedule. High-voltage battery damage is usually assessed separately by insurers, so check your policy wording for how they handle the traction battery.

A worked example

A car registered on 1 June 2022 has an accident on 1 December 2024, at 2 years 6 months old. The bill shows a metal bonnet at ₹10,000, a plastic bumper at ₹6,000, a windscreen at ₹8,000, a fibreglass spoiler at ₹2,000, labour of ₹3,000 and a combined painting charge of ₹4,000.

The owner pays ₹6,600. With zero dep, the insurer would pay ₹32,000.

Read why your insurer paid less than the garage bill for more on checking a settlement.

Rates last checked: 8 November 2026. Content updated 8 November 2026.