Excess deducted on 3rd party claim.

[HONESTKNOB]

Someone ran into my missus's car a few weeks ago. He's admitted full liability and the insurance company have offered us a good price. The problem I have is that it is being handled by my insurance company's solicitors who reckon that they take her £250 excess off the payment which she then has to claim back with her personal injury claim. Surely if her excess is with Budget and we're claiming off Norwich Union this doesn't make sense. Any advice??? I really can't see why we should be out of pocket for someone elses error.

[never shay die]

It's right unfortunately.

 

An excess is an uninsured loss, which means it is a loss which is excluded from the cover your insurance provides. You are liable for the first £250 of any claim you make from your insurance. Who is laible for the accident is irrelevant.

 

The insurer will then claim their outlay back from the other party's insurer and you must claim back the excess yourself.

 

Some insurers will waive the excess if the other insurer has admitted liability. But it is their choice; they are not obliged to do so. There is nothing you can do, I'm afraid.

 

As your wife is making an PI claim I'm guessing you have solicitors acting on your behalf. All you need to do is pass a copy of the offer letter sent to you by your insurer, which shows the excess amount, to the solicitor. They will submit this to the other insurer.

 

Providing they have admitted liability and they have no outstanding enquiries this should be paid fairly quickly.

[HONESTKNOB]

Cheers Mate,

Couple of other questions? Will they wait till they settle the personal injury until they pay out on our out of pocket expenses? If so, can we add interest onto these as it is £250 which has had to come out of our bank account that we've had to put towards a new car.

[never shay die]

As long as they have accepted liability and have no outstanding enquiries then they will pay the excess pretty much as soon as they recieve it. The injury claim is not linked to the excess.

 

The excess is without doubt the easiest loss to claim because there can be no dispute over it; the amount is fixed and isn't in any doubt.

 

You can't claim interest unless the claim ends up in court.

[wez1211]

The other way to do it and to avoid paying excess up front (by the way why is it £250 - a bit on the high side for a private car insurance policy) is to pursue third party insurers directly for reimbursement and/or hire car. A good broker can help significantly with this.

 

The problem with this method is that (and the reason it is not done too often) you are dependent on the speed of the TP Insurer to release monies for you to get your own car repaired and so it will need to stay off the road if not driveable. Also your Insurer will have an approved repairer network that guarantees the work etc.

 

This of course is all dependent on 100% liability admitted by TP.

 

wez1211

[Nelly75]

Yeah you should get back your excess fairly quickly if you go about it right. Most insurers will now waive it if they get an admission of liability before your car is repaired looks as if you have been unlucky there. Seems daft to be out of pocket for someone else's mistake but thems the rules!