The Excess Principle

As explained in a glossary of terms compiled by the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA), an excess is the first part of any loss or successful claim which needs to be borne by the insured himself.
 
The existence of a motor insurance excess encourages the insured to take care in mitigating the risk of any loss or damage, discourages the submission of claims amounting to only small sums and, by sharing the risk with the insurer, helps to reduce the cost of insurance premiums.
 
Effectively, therefore, the excess represents an insured risk borne by the driver of the car – which may be fine, of course, until the insured needs to make a claim and then finds that the whole of the agreed excess needs to be paid.
 
To make matters worse, your share of any repair bill – namely the whole of any excess – needs to be paid to the garage doing the work before the vehicle is released back into your possession.

Private Motor Excess Protection

What some car owners might not realise, however, is that the excess does not have to remain an uninsured risk. Motor excess insurance does just that – it insures against the risk of your having to pay an excess, generally by offering the reimbursement of any sum you need to contribute to the repairs of your vehicle.
 
Although reimbursement of these costs may help, it may still leave you with the problem of finding the sum to pay the garage to recover your car before waiting to receive the reimbursed excess.
 
Private motor excess insurance arranged by us here at Bettersafe, however, provides for the payment of any excess directly to the garage – allowing you to collect your vehicle just as soon as the repairs are done, without your having to worry how you might otherwise raise the immediate cash for the excess.

Taking Full Advantage Of Excess Protection

When you arrange excess insurance, the way may also be clear to your accepting a higher amount of excess. And by taking on an increased voluntary excess, of course, you are likely to significantly reduce the cost of premiums for the underlying motor policy. Provided you ensure that the whole of any combined compulsory and voluntary excess is insured in this way, you need never worry about paying that sum in the event of a claim.
 
Private motor excess protection, therefore, offers you the chance of saving money twice over – relief from the need to pay any excess contribution and a significant reduction in the price of the premiums you pay for your main motor insurance.