Private Car Excess Insurance Explained

It may be helpful to address these questions by taking a look at what private car excess insurance is and how it works:

Why Is There A Compulsory Excess?

• Motor insurers typically impose a compulsory excess, which means that you have no choice but to pay that sum first before the insurer pays out the remainder of any settlement for loss or damage to your car – why is it used?
• An Ezine Article lists some of the many reasons often cited for an insurance company's use of such excess.
• If required to shoulder some of the risk – represented by the amount of the excess – drivers are more likely to accept their share of responsibility for mitigating those risks.
• The existence of an excess discourages the insured from making a minor claim – and since the cost to the company of processing a minor claim is as high as that for a major claim, the insurer's operating costs may be reduced.
• By reducing their risk through the imposition of an excess, insurers are able to reduce the cost of the relevant premiums.

Why Might You Consider A Voluntary Excess?

• The simple answer is that by doing so, the cost of your motor insurance premium is likely to be reduced.
• The greater the amount of excess you shoulder, the less the insurer needs to pay out in the settlement of a claim for loss or damage to your car.
• If less needs to be paid out, then the insurer requires less income from premiums.
• By agreeing to take on an additional, voluntary excess, therefore, you are likely to enjoy reduced motor insurance costs.

Excess Insurance

• The existence of a compulsory excess and your acceptance of a further voluntary excess may be all very well if it helps to reduce your motor insurance premiums but leaves you with personal financial liability if you need to file a claim.
• That is why here at Bettersafe, we specialise in the provision of private car excess insurance.
• This is simple, standalone insurance that is separate from your main motor insurance policy but complements it by ensuring that any excess you need to pay is promptly reimbursed by your excess insurance policy.
• The cost of such excess protection is determined simply by the amount of excess you want to protect.
• If you have the relevant level of excess cover, therefore, it means that you need never worry about the cost of your contribution to the settlement of any motor claim. But with such protection, it also means that you may feel free to accept any amount of voluntary excess offered by your motor insurer and so win a reduction in the cost of that insurance.

What might seem to be an annoying feature of just about any motor insurance policy, therefore, might be turned to your advantage by using excess insurance protection to help you save money.