Voluntary excess on car insurance

matty_hunt

Hi.

Im looking to insure an old bmw which in its current shoddy paintwork state would be lucky to fetch £500.

Inorder to get a cheaper premium would it be worth me wacking the voluntary excess up to the max since it would not be worth me making a claim for my car, at £500 its throw away if it were damaged. I assume that if I hit someone and they claimed off my insurance, I dont pay any excess? Its never happened so not sure how that works!

So, any problem with putting, say, an £800 voluntay excess?

thanks

dacouch

You have discovered a good trick to get a cheap deal on your insurance, by increasing the excess you will in effect have TPF&T but with windscreen cover.

Your correct about the excess but you might want to avoid Aviva and Swift as they apply the voluntary excess to Fire and Theft Claims

matty_hunt

dacouch wrote: »

You have discovered a good trick to get a cheap deal on your insurance, by increasing the excess you will in effect have TPF&T but with windscreen cover.

Thanks for the reply. I have done the max excess. It equates to £55 difference between Fully comp and TPFT. So basically £55 for windscreen cover. A bmw windscreen aint going to be cheap!

dacouch

If you have a wife / partner or girlfriend try adding them as a driver (Assuming they have a licence) as this can get a discount of circa 15% with a lot of companies

Quote

One problem which may arise is dealing with a claim where liability is in dispute. Your vehicle may not be driveable and/or you may not be able to afford the excess.

Increasing your excess to reduce premiums is among the worst advice anyone ever gave, in my opinion. The cost of insuring a vehicle is the cost of making a claim. That's your premium plus your excess.

In the good old days many insurers wouldn't allow an excess which was more than half the value of the vehicle. I miss those days.

dacouch

Quote wrote: »

One problem which may arise is dealing with a claim where liability is in dispute. Your vehicle may not be driveable and/or you may not be able to afford the excess.

Increasing your excess to reduce premiums is among the worst advice anyone ever gave, in my opinion. The cost of insuring a vehicle is the cost of making a claim. That's your premium plus your excess.

In the good old days many insurers wouldn't allow an excess which was more than half the value of the vehicle. I miss those days.

The OP does not need to pay his excess if he is not claiming for his own repairs, if you read his post he is not interested in claiming for the repairs to his own vehicle.

So what problem is it that you perceive?

Quentin

Quote wrote: »

Increasing your excess to reduce premiums is among the worst advice anyone ever gave, in my opinion. The cost of insuring a vehicle is the cost of making a claim. That's your premium plus your excess.

In the good old days many insurers wouldn't allow an excess which was more than half the value of the vehicle. I miss those days.

You haven't read the thread before coming out with this so called "advice" in your authoritative manner.

The OP wants to save some money on his insurance, and you long for the days when this sort of wheeze wasn't possible!

What place does your irrelevant advice have on this thread?

dtaylor84

Quote wrote: »

Increasing your excess to reduce premiums is among the worst advice anyone ever gave, in my opinion. The cost of insuring a vehicle is the cost of making a claim. That's your premium plus your excess.

No, that would be the cost of making a claim... :rolleyes:

Quote

dtaylor84 wrote: »

No, that would be the cost of making a claim... :rolleyes:

No, it wouldn't.

Quentin wrote: »

You haven't read the thread before coming out with this so called "advice" in your authoritative manner.

The OP wants to save some money on his insurance, and you long for the days when this sort of wheeze wasn't possible!

What place does your irrelevant advice have on this thread?

Pipe down, Quents. I'm not giving any advice, just calling it as I see it. I'm surprised at your reaction to this and surprised to see such a narrow view. Look outside the box for a second.

dacouch wrote: »

The OP does not need to pay his excess if he is not claiming for his own repairs, if you read his post he is not interested in claiming for the repairs to his own vehicle.

So what problem is it that you perceive?

Inconvenience.

Although I'm actually wondering why the OP needs a car at all, on the basis that they obviously have no need for one.

Quentin

You don't seem to have grasped the idea here.

The OP owns a car worth just £500. Never worth making a claim on. Normally a candidate for TPFT insurance.

However by taking fully comp, and volunteering for a massive excess (which will never be paid, as the OP will never be claiming off the policy for his own damage) the OP ends up with a good deal.

Yet you complain that this is the "worst advice" anyone ever gave!

What is wrong with doing this moneysaving scheme? Or do you long for a time when poor people who look to legitamately save money like this are banned from the roads? (Along with the TPFT people as well, no doubt!)

GtiTory

my excess is £900 on my car. i had no choice! but my car is an insurance group 14, and i'm 20
in this situation i'd have third party, if your cars worth 500 quid, you could weigh it in for 300 anyway... and break it for parts if there was anything worth keeping in the worst case of an accident
just make sure the voluntary excess is payable if you repair your car and not if they repair theirs