How to claim back excess

Honest John Back Room » Legal matters
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Tue 5 Mar 2019 11:14
How to claim back excess - Leif

I had an accident at the end of last year when someone reversed into the side of my car. The car has been repaired, and they have admitted liability. LV have got their money back from Admiral, the other party's insurer. I have not yet had my excess back, which I paid direct to the repair company, and it has been 2-3 weeks now since they refunded my insurer.

So, how do I go about getting my excess back? The obvious answer is to rink Admiral. Should I do this or does it have legal issue e.g. I should go via my insurer? Sorry if this question sounds stupid, but I want to go through the correct procedure, cos the law is complex, and I don't want to inadvertently make mistakes.

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Tue 5 Mar 2019 11:44
How to claim back excess - Avant

Your insurance contract is presumably with LV. If it's a term of that contract that you get your excess back in a no-fault claim, then LV are the ones who owe it to you.

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Tue 5 Mar 2019 11:52
How to claim back excess - gordonbennet

Leif, can i ask why you didn't claim directly from the third party (or rather their insurer) when the case was so cut and dried.

I'm no insurance wizard, but your own insurer would be the first port of call for this query, and if they won't be handling your excess...presumably you didn't opt for legal expense cover and don't have any other similar cover...then it is part of the claim from the other insurer.

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Tue 5 Mar 2019 14:56
How to claim back excess - Leif
GB: They did not admit liability until after the car was repaired, which took four weeks or more. The excess is an uninsured loss hence I paid it to the repair shop. LV have simply said that they have out of courtesy informed Admiral that I am owed £250. So they claim it is not their concern. Hence my post. I can’t understand why Admiral don’t pay up ASAP.

I don’t think the liability was straight forward but I’m no accident assessor.
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Tue 5 Mar 2019 16:07
How to claim back excess - concrete
GB: They did not admit liability until after the car was repaired, which took four weeks or more. The excess is an uninsured loss hence I paid it to the repair shop. LV have simply said that they have out of courtesy informed Admiral that I am owed £250. So they claim it is not their concern. Hence my post. I can’t understand why Admiral don’t pay up ASAP. I don’t think the liability was straight forward but I’m no accident assessor.

Avant is correct. Your contract is with LV. It is their terms and conditions that apply to your policy and to your excess. I would give them a call and a friendly reminder that you are out of pocket and would like to reconcile the claim asap. You can also insure the policy excess for all your policies, household, vehicle, caravan, travel etc. Online brokers offer this for not very much money. It is peace of mind when the motor excess is £200 plus. Good luck.

Cheers Concrete

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Tue 5 Mar 2019 16:42
How to claim back excess - skidpan

I told you how I had claimed the excess back in the past in your previous thread, check there. To put it simply, the excess is an uninsured loss thus LV will not be interested. That is why you buy legal cover.

As for having the other parties insurers sort it we did once but from the date of the accident to getting the car repaired was over 6 months. Had we gone direct via our own insurers it would have taken days. Luckily for us the car was drivable, it only needed a front bumper and number plate but if it had been off the road just imagine the hire car costs alone.

Our claim turned out to be complicated. It was a Virgin Media liveried van but it was a contractor working for Virgin Media that was operating it. The van was leased from another company who were also responsible for insurance. So whilst the driver accepted responsibility at the scene (he reversed back at traffic lights after overshooting the line whilst talking on his phone) and his boss was more than happy to have the repair carried out by their approved repairer it got very complicated because of the number of parties involved.

Would I do it that way again, never.

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Tue 5 Mar 2019 19:25
How to claim back excess - Leif
Hi skidpan, yes it is an uninsured loss. I don’t have motor legal insurance, hence my question. There does seem to be a tendency here to say “you should have done X”, not sure you mean it like that.
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Tue 5 Mar 2019 20:23
How to claim back excess - gordonbennet
GB: They did not admit liability until after the car was repaired,

Well either Admiral or their insured were foolish.

When my sons CRV was hit in a car park the third party insurer bent over backwards witin hours to sort the claim out, within a couple of days a similar car delivered to their house and the damaged vehicle taken away on the same lorry, week or so later swapped back.

Makes sense where blame is cut and dried, and the liable insurer keeps some control of costs before the claims management sharks get the smell of blood, maybe the at fault party didn't admit liability to them until weeks later, silly boy it's in everyone's interests to mitigate losses and keep the sharks out of the picture, but that is hardly your fault.

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Thu 3 Apr 2025 12:19
How to claim back excess - Gibbo_Wirral
I can’t understand why Admiral don’t pay up ASAP.

Because they're insurers. Its in their interests to hold on to every single penny as long as they possibly can.

Oops - who revived a 6 year old thread?!

Edited by Gibbo_Wirral on 03/04/2025 at 12:19

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Wed 6 Mar 2019 08:14
How to claim back excess - Leif

It gets worse. I received a renewal quote from LV today with 0 years NCB for £480 compared to £220 last year. I am told by the boss who had a similar experience that the NCB is not reinstated until the incident is closed, despite having been twice old on the phone that my NCB is unaffected and the other party was at fault. Insurers, doncha jus' love 'em?

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Wed 6 Mar 2019 10:25
How to claim back excess - gordonbennet

That's some poor treatment of you Leif, once liability was admitted by the other side, and LV have been paid out by Admiral apparently, that should have triggered your policy as back to full NCD as far as i can see.

I once tried to get a policy with LV, it proved impossible to even pay for the policy so i backed off sharpish assuming if they couldn't manage to take my money i had no wish of finding out what their efficiency would be like in the event of a claim.

I had a similar outcome some 40 years ago with Norwich Union who treated me appallingly, lost all my NCD and the only way i could get it back was by taking a bus company to court and getting my claim paid, this said with mirth by the adviser, of course 20 something young dads working 70+ hour weeks to make ends meet were always taking major companies to court/sarc...hence the very last company i would deal with no matter what name they've since adopted.

Is it time to go through their complaints procedure i wonder, with a view to putting this before the insurance ombudsman before it gets much sillier.

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Wed 6 Mar 2019 12:01
How to claim back excess - Leif

Is it time to go through their complaints procedure i wonder, with a view to putting this before the insurance ombudsman before it gets much sillier.

I think you are right.

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Wed 6 Mar 2019 13:20
How to claim back excess - Leif

It turns out that the renewal quote was wrong, and they have now reinstated 9 years NCB (the maximum they allow). However, they now want £280, up from £220 last year, whereas Direct Line will do me for £200 including a guaranteed courtesy car.

They said they will chase up Admiral for the excess, and I can do the same. I think I had one of their less gifted employees on the line the last time I rang them. ;) Polite chats usually work wonders!

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Wed 6 Mar 2019 14:09
How to claim back excess - concrete

It turns out that the renewal quote was wrong, and they have now reinstated 9 years NCB (the maximum they allow). However, they now want £280, up from £220 last year, whereas Direct Line will do me for £200 including a guaranteed courtesy car.

They said they will chase up Admiral for the excess, and I can do the same. I think I had one of their less gifted employees on the line the last time I rang them. ;) Polite chats usually work wonders!

Leif, I am with LV and find them very competitive, even at renewal time. Regarding your excess: it is an uninsured loss, but as the other party has admitted liability then it become a no fault claim. This ensures your NCB and your excess are safe. The NCB should remain and the excess should be reimbursed by LV. The car was repaired before liability was established, therefore LV will have paid the repairer less the excess you paid him. Ergo LV need to reimburse you. Simples.

Cheers Concrete

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Thu 7 Mar 2019 06:57
How to claim back excess - Leif

It turns out that the renewal quote was wrong, and they have now reinstated 9 years NCB (the maximum they allow). However, they now want £280, up from £220 last year, whereas Direct Line will do me for £200 including a guaranteed courtesy car.

They said they will chase up Admiral for the excess, and I can do the same. I think I had one of their less gifted employees on the line the last time I rang them. ;) Polite chats usually work wonders!

Leif, I am with LV and find them very competitive, even at renewal time. Regarding your excess: it is an uninsured loss, but as the other party has admitted liability then it become a no fault claim. This ensures your NCB and your excess are safe. The NCB should remain and the excess should be reimbursed by LV. The car was repaired before liability was established, therefore LV will have paid the repairer less the excess you paid him. Ergo LV need to reimburse you. Simples.

Cheers Concrete

That is mostly right except that Admiral must reimburse the excess. I rang again, and Admiral said they needed proof that I had paid the excess. LV said they sent proof ten days ago, and again after I rang yesterday. It would appear that it goes to the general email account, and must then be forwarded to the right department where there is a backlog. Sigh. So much for efficient systems. What annoys me is that GoCompare et al ask if I have had a no fault claim and if so has the insurer costs and excess been paid. Say no and the cost shoots up, hence I need the excess paid.

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Wed 6 Mar 2019 15:56
How to claim back excess - gordonbennet

They said they will chase up Admiral for the excess, and I can do the same. I think I had one of their less gifted employees on the line the last time I rang them. ;) Polite chats usually work wonders!

Excellent.

I changed to Direct Line this year, my long standing usual people couldn't get anywhere near the quote (plus the pre recorded must listen to rubbish had reached fever pitch), another handy thing is that business use is part and parcel of the policy, useful for me as i commute to more than 1 site once in a blue moon and many people don't realise that normal commuting on their comp policy is fine worded as meaning to one place of work only, any more than one place is classed as business use.

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Thu 7 Mar 2019 06:59
How to claim back excess - Leif

They said they will chase up Admiral for the excess, and I can do the same. I think I had one of their less gifted employees on the line the last time I rang them. ;) Polite chats usually work wonders!

Excellent.

I changed to Direct Line this year, my long standing usual people couldn't get anywhere near the quote (plus the pre recorded must listen to rubbish had reached fever pitch), another handy thing is that business use is part and parcel of the policy, useful for me as i commute to more than 1 site once in a blue moon and many people don't realise that normal commuting on their comp policy is fine worded as meaning to one place of work only, any more than one place is classed as business use.

I wasn’t aware of that. I did drive to a clients site in my own car twice in two years at my last job. Oops. Memo to self: read the small print.

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Thu 7 Mar 2019 09:54
How to claim back excess - concrete

I had business use on my vehicle policies when working. It only added about 10% but gave peace of mind in the event of a claim.

I misunderstood your thread Leif. I thought the repair had been authorised and therefore underwritten by your insurer before the other party admitted liability. If Admiral paid the repairer then of course your claim is with them. Presumably you have a bank or credit card statement which shows the payment amount and date on which you paid it, so there should not be any problem establishing the payment. Sounds like Admiral playing silly bug***s to me. Their own repairer can easily vouch for the payment. I would point this out to them today.

Good luck

Concrete

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Wed 2 Apr 2025 13:43
How to claim back excess - De Sisti

Has this been sorted? Any chance of an update?

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Wed 2 Apr 2025 14:38
How to claim back excess - Andrew-T

Not after 6 years I would guess ?

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