The car insurance excess is the agreed upon amount your insurance company requires you to pay for any repairs that are being made to your vehicle due to a claim being filed.
Your insurance company decides what your excess payment will be at the beginning of your policy. The excess payments will usually be paid directly to the garage or mechanic that is repairing your vehicle and the insurance company will be responsible for the remaining amount.
Anytime you file a claim that involves repairing damage to your vehicle another motorists caused you can have the excess amount reimbursed to you or the insurance company will just deduct it from the amount of your settlement.
There are millions of motorists on the road that do not have insurance coverage or the policy they carry is not sufficient to meet the demands of the claim you file. It is illegal to operating a moving vehicle without insurance but it is not a crime to be underinsured as long as it meets the state requirements. If you are involved in an accident with a motorist who is either underinsured and uninsured your insurer may cover the costs if you have chosen that protection but you will still be required to pay the excess amount for any repairs.
More than 5% of drivers on the roads of UK are uninsured. The insurance companies offer protection but because they are at risk of having to cover these uninsured drivers for their faults it can raise the cost of insurance premiums.
The compulsory excess is the minimum amount that your insurer will allow you to have on your policy. The amount will vary greatly depending on your driving record, the type of car you drive, age and even the amount of experience you have behind the wheel. If you have a clean driving record and many years experience behind the wheel you could pay as little as $50 in excess but if you are a new driver you could pay as much as $500 or $1000 in excess.
You can choose to pay a voluntary excess to help lower your premium payments. If you have a very low excess quoted to you it can be increased and this will lower your policy price. You have to be careful when increasing your excess amount as you should be able to afford the amount if the need arises. You do want to lower your premium though so increasing it to what you can afford comfortably should give a good balance.
You need to realize that if you have your car in the garage getting repaired due to an insurance claim the garage will not be able to release the vehicle to you until they receive full payment for repairs. The insurance company will pay the sum they are supposed to but the final payment will normally be the excess amount of the policy. This is why it is extremely important to be able to afford the excess amount you agreed on so that you will be able to easily come up with it when needed.
Susan Reynolds is the webmaster for a leading South African Insurance Provider who specialises in Car Insurance Policies.
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