- According to the Consumer Association’s Which? magazine, there are some 36 million people in the UK who regularly drive and own a motor car.

- Every one of them is required by law to have at least a basic level of third-party insurance so that claims for injury or damage suffered by other road users are properly met.

- In order to protect against loss or damage to their own car, however, many of these drivers opt for either third party, fire and theft insurance (to cover against loss or damage from fire or theft) or comprehensive insurance (to cover against all forms of accidental damage).

- In such cases, the insurance typically includes a so-called compulsory excess – the amount that needs to be paid by the insured when making a claim, since the excess effectively represents an uninsured risk, which the insured continues to shoulder personally.

- That same principle of the insured assuming responsibility for some proportion of the risk is extended to the concept of voluntary excess – the policyholder agreeing to take on a still greater uninsured risk in return for lower premiums on the remaining amount shouldered by the insurer.

- By agreeing to such excesses, however, the motorist faces the prospect of having to make a significant contribution to the cost of settling any claim in the event of loss or damage to his or her vehicle.

- In order to cover that potential liability, therefore, private motor excess insurance is available from specialist providers – such as those of us here at Bettersafe.

- In fact, we go one step better, not only by reimbursing the cost of any excess you may need to pay but by paying it over to the garage or repair shop that is mending your damaged vehicle.

- This gives you the security and peace of mind in knowing that when the repairs are done, you do not have to raise the – potentially hefty – cost of the excess by borrowing from the bank, but leaving the payment entirely up to us, so that your vehicle is promptly released for you to use it again, but this kind of private motor excess insurance may go yet another step further.

- The principal insurer of your motor car almost certainly offers a discount on the premiums you need to pay if you accept not just any compulsory excess but a further voluntary excess, too.

- Excess insurance is able to let you take advantage of such a discount since any amount of excess is safely covered by the supplementary, standalone excess insurance policy – provided of course that you have arranged sufficient cover for the amount of excess you expect to reclaim.

All in all, therefore, private motor excess insurance gives you the twin benefits not only of protecting your liability for forking out a potentially considerable sum in excess charges in the event of a claim but also allows you confidently and safely to accept a further voluntary excess from your motor insurer in return for cheaper premiums.