Car insurance excess is what you are required to pay when you have your vehicle repaired under an insurance claim. The insurance company will pay the amount above the excess to have the repairs completed.

Your insurance company decides what your excess payment will be at the beginning of your policy. The excess payments will usually be paid directly to the garage or mechanic that is repairing your vehicle and the insurance company will be responsible for the remaining amount.

When you file a claim where another motorist is responsible for the repairs done to your vehicle they may reimburse you the excess you had to pay or pay it their selves and deduct it from your settlement amount.

Millions of drivers are on the roadways with no insurance at all or they have coverage that is insufficient for covering all your repairs or medical expenses. Although it is illegal to operate a vehicle without insurance there are many people who still do it. The excess amount you have to pay may not be able to be reimbursed if you are involved in an accident with a driver with inadequate insurance coverage. Protection is offered from your insurer against underinsured or uninsured motorists any medical expenses or repairs to your vehicle not covered by the other driver will be covered by your insurer with the exception of the excess amount you owe.

There are over 5% of drivers on the streets in the UK who are uninsured. The insurance companies provide protection but due to the fact they are at risk for paying for other drivers mishaps the insurance premiums continue to rise.

A compulsory excess is the smallest excess amount that your insurer will accept on your policy. This amount will be different for each basing information on your driving record, the car you own, age and the length of time you have been legally driving. A clean driving record and several years experience driving could have you paying as little as $50 in excess payments but if you are a beginning driver you could be paying as much as $500 or $1000 in excess payments.

Voluntary excess is when you qualify for a lower amount but choose to increase it to lower your monthly premium. Your agent will be able to discuss with you the options for increasing your excess and who how it will affect your overall premium cost. You should keep the excess amount low enough that you can afford it easily but not so low that it raises your premium.

If you have filed a claim for repairs to be completed on your vehicle and placed the car in the garage the insurance company will in most cases pay the garage directly. They may send you a check for the repairs that needs to be turned over to the garage. The vehicle will not be released until full payment is made so you will need to pay the excess amount to the garage directly unless otherwise directed by your insurance company in order to have the vehicle released back to you. If your excess is too high this may be difficult to come up with and the garage will keep your car until payment is received and the insurance company will not pay for a rental while you try to come up with this money if the repairs are complete.

Susan Reynolds is the webmaster for a leading South African Insurance Provider who specialises in Car Insurance Policies.

For information on Auto Shipping visit MetroGistics.

Other Automotive News on the Web

• I Haz Burger