In process of renewing my insurance and realise that I have a £100 xs on my Esure policy for my 7 year old Saxo. The premium seems to change quite a bit if you increase the excess.
My question is what viewpoint do you take when selecting your excess? My Saxo is probably only valued at say £1500 so the slightest of damage would probably result in a write off.
If I am thinking correctly, the excess only comes into play when I am claiming against my own policy, the excess is the contribution / deduction I need to make to the claim.
Any damage that I incur myself ie. not involving another car, I would probably go to the scrappy to get the parts.
I think I am talking myself into increasing my excess!!
How do you arrive at your selected excess?
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£50.00 on a £400 policy on the 5, very reasonable.
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£100 on my car, IIRC £50 on wifes car though £500 on my motorbike, the increased excess on the latter brought the premium down significantly.
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>>How do you arrive at your selected excess?
If there was an accident which was not your fault but the TP couldn't be traced, which did not cause the car to be written off but did damage it significantly, what contribution could you afford to make to the repairs ?
If your car was written off and you received a cheque, what amount of money could be deducted from that cheque without harming your ability to buy another car ?
What is the minimum sum you would ever claim for because of the costs of loss of bonus etc. ?
The answers to those three questions should help.
Don't forget that the initial excess may save you significant money, but that benefit decreases for each increase in your excess.
You should also consider whether you should have comprehensive cover or if TPF&T might be more economic.
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<< How do you arrive at your selected excess?
I don't have a voluntary excess because as a general principle I like to keep unexpected/unplanned expenses to the absolute minimum. It's just the way I like to manage my finances. I'd sooner pay a known bit extra for the peace of mind of minimising the unexpected.
In recent years my insurer first imposed a £50 compulsory excess for all claims except for windscreen replacement, but this year they have increased this to £100 for general claims and £50 for windscreen replacement.
I pay £347 for Comprehensive insurance with a protected NCD, no voluntary excess, on a Group 8 car.
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L\'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Of Mark's three questions, I reckon number three is the key:
"What is the minimum sum you would ever claim for because of the costs of loss of bonus etc?"
Although I have protected bonus on my car this might not stand for a great deal, i.e. if I had a fault accident, even on another policy, my car insurer could up the premium without reducing the bonus therefore I could pay more without knowing it. Furthermore I would not be able to get competitive quotes from other insurers due to having to declare a fault accident. Accordingly when it comes to my bike insurance I worked out that it would not be worth my while claiming less than £500 so saved on the premium on the basis of a higher excess.
The fourth question could be:
"How long can you afford for the vehicle to be off the road" I.e. is it a second car or, as in my case, bike that I run in addition to a car.
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Yeah the Protected NCD is not always what it people think it is!
SWMBO claimed on her policy 2 years ago after scraping the Scenic on a wall.
Although the NCD is protected, the actual premium on not only her car, but mine as well, has increased as a result of this accident!
Interestingly, I tried to get an online quote from Esure who I am currently with but they said they were unable to quote due to my specific details, and redirected me to a sister company!
Don't know if it was because of this accident or SWMBO being a student, but they definitely have those facts on the current policy!
Going back to the excess issue, I agree with what Mark is saying about being in an accident with a non -insured driver. I would hate to be claiming on my own policy cos of a hit and run or whatever, and also be needing to stump up the first £300 or whatever. That really would rub salt in the wound!
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I agree with Mark.
My excess is £300. I was deciding whether to take comprehensive or TPFT. Now, comprehensive has a couple of good benefits, like being insured TP for any other car I might drive, legal assistance, windscreen insurance, etc. So, the balance point seemed to be a comprehensive with high excess. That made the difference between comprehensive and TPFT very small indeed.
And of course I woudln't to claim for less than £300, as I need to build up NCB, which in the long run should save more.
Kostic
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It's currently £100 but I'm probably going to have it increased next renewal because it has been £100 for about the past 30 years, and £100 now is nothing like what it was then!
As others have said, I wouldn't even dream of claiming for an own damage claim less than about £400, so what's the point of having just £100 excess?!
Complacency !!!!
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As others have said, I wouldn't even dream of claiming for an own damage claim less than about £400, so what's the point of having just £100 excess?!
Although I used this logic myself earlier in the thread there is of course an advantage in a lower excess in the event of a substantial loss, i.e. if you sustain £5000 of damage a claim would be inevitable so with a £100 excess you would get a £4900 payout where as with a £500 ecess you would get a £4500 payout, it is all about balancing risk v cost.
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I find that what used to be a £100 excess level two or three years ago is now automatically £150, £200 or £250.
Yet I'm retired, do a comparatively low mileage and haven't made a claim for more years than I care to remember...:-(
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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