do all insurers have an excess fee when you claim or does this only apply for some?

Answer 1

All answers above are correct but to elaborate a little.......

As you will be aware, Insurance companies operate on risk management. They offer to protect you and your car in the event you are involved in an accident. In this situation, they will pay out to repair the other persons car, and your car (assuming you are fully comprehensively insured). They will likely have to pay other costs also but these are irrelevant in terms of your question.

In practise, insurance companies tend to focus on a particul;ar market....some may aim their policies at older more experienced drivers whilst others will aim at new drivers. In offering you a policy, they use past trends and statistics to assess the risk you pose to their profits. The higher the risk you pose to them, the higher your premium will be. Additionally, the concept of an excess was introduced to prevent people from making needless claims. The idea is that in the event of a claim, you will be liable for the first part of the cost, namely the compulsory excess....This can vary from £100 to even £500 (dependent on age and past driving record). The younger you are and the less experience you have, the higher the excess is likely to be. I am not aware of any motor insurer who operates on a 'no excess' basis. You may also be asked to select an additional Voluntary excess which you will become liable to pay in addition to the compulsory excess should you make a claim.

Be warned tho....I always selected the highest voluntary excess to bring down the price of my premium. Thios was all fine and well until I had to make a claim and was made to pay a very high sum for the excess. This is where you have to consider what you can afford to pay now in comparison to what you would be able to pay if anything happened......remember, you may be a very very careful driver but you can be rest assured that others wont be as careful so its prudent to choose a policy that is reasonable and affordable to you.....not just the cheapest on the face of it all!!!

Answer 2

Higher excess fee will lower the premium. Meaning the insurer only pays the claim's amount after deducting the specified excess fee. Most excess fees are stated upfront before you purchase the insurance and not during claims. Policy holders must understand the excess amount as stated in the policy document. (get an agent to explain the detail). Insurers will apply excess in different product classes. Sometime for the same product class, the sub product class will have different excess amount. Like travel insurance, the overall excess fee may be 100, but for lost baggage can be 150. Excess fee is applicable if the insurer feels that the product that they insured is subject to moral hazard (fraudulent claims) or high risk (too many claims' incident) Hopefully the above info is helpful to u

Answer 3

It's been the case with all the insurers that I have used over the years. The amount of excess has varied between insurers. Usually £75 or £100.

Answer 4

Only if you opt to have an excess.

Basically if you agree to pay the first part of the costs (£50, £100, £250 etc) then your premium will drop accordingly.

You can always choose NO EXCESS but you're premium will cost more to compensate this.

Answer 5

Only if an excess is applied when the policy is taken out. Check the small print on yours :)

Answer 6

Insurance companies will say, do, and charge you for anything they can. Just because you pay them money your entire life doesn't mean they have to give any of it back to you should you make a claim.

Answer 7

its sometimes called a volentery excess fee.

So no you don't have to agree to it but it does help to reduce your premium.

Answer 8

some. check your policy or ask when getting quote, whichever is applicable.