Insurance excess

[paulok]

Hello,Yesterday i had a car bump into the back of me whilst i was stationary.Having got in touch with my insurance company(Swiftcover)the following day everything has been sorted out and the car is to be picked up and repaired.My only gripe is that i am expected to pay an excess of £100 for someone else's folly.Because i did not take out legal cover i am expected to retrieve the excess myself.I will be asked for the £100 on recieving the car back after it has been repaired by the garage.I thought that Swiftcover would have simply got the money back themselves.Regards Paul

Paulok

This is standard procedure regardless of whether you have legal cover or not (legal cover is what it says, cover in connection with court issues) this sounds like a bog standard day to day claim

Think of the excess as a reserve deposit. Once the claim has been settled and your insurers recover their losses from the Third party insurers, they will reimburse you your excess in full.

Did you not query the option of claiming off the third party insurers directly without getting your insurers to front any costs, this way you would not have to pay the initial XS to start with.

It is a pain but this is the insurance game, Don't fret, you should recover your money soon

Good luck
TG

[paulok]

Thanks TG for the info.On reflection i think Swiftcover did say something about retrieving the £100 excess after everything has been sorted.I'll follow it up with Swiftcover in a couple of weeks. regards Paul

It can take upto 6 months for Insurers to fully recover losses on even the simplest of of claims. Most insurers don't tend to reimburse until they have recovered the full amount but some can pay out earlier depending on individual cases.

Don't panic if nothing is sorted out then, but no doubt it will in the END

Good luck

[paulok]

Thanks TG,it just nice to now the facts,Thank you.Paul

[Pliny the Penuriosus]

Legal cover is NOT just for court issues. It a service charge to cover claims handling INCLUDING any cost of litigation. Litigation which will only be entered into if tghere's a better than 51% chance of success.

It is also designed to cover you for the recovery of all uninsured losses such as policy excess. Even if you do not have legal expenses cover your insurer is duty bound to include the policy excess in their claim against the TP.

Having said that it's very easy to reclaim just get proof from the garage of your payment & assuming liablity is admitted send it to the TP's insurer requesting payment

[paulok]

TPT,thanks for that.Knowledge is power as they say.Regards Paul

[Trojan1401]

Quick point on the above. the insurer is not duty bound to include the excess in their recovery from the Third party Insurer. An excess is the portion of a loss that an insured agrees to meet themselves ( this includes compulsory excesses applied i.e. young driver / adverse driving record etc.).

If you had purchased legal cover, the recovery would be dealt with by them however if only reclaiming this, the procedure is relatively straight forward.
Contact Swiftcover & request mane, address & policy number of the other person's insurer & write to them enclosing a copy of your garages invoice stating that you paid the excess. As no dispute in blame, they should pay up in a reasonaable time - 21 days or so.

Any problems, let us know

[JonCris]

Although many insurers don't they are required to claim the policy excess as part of your premuim is a service charge for this purpose. Anyway as has already been stated it's a straightforward claim (assuming liabilty is accepted) just send your garage invoice together with a simple letter of claim

[paulok]

Hello All,just to let you now my problem with excess seems to have been resolved.Swiftcover have kept me informed and so the last bit of information from them is as followed.
Non Fault-NCD not effected.
Written admission of liability recieved from TP insurer and recovery of all losses awaited.Excess waived and all will be refounded.Claim is closed when all recoveries have been made.Regards to all for your info.Paul

[Pliny the Penuriosus]

excellent Paul Can I say "I told you so"