Paying Insurance excess

spox

On the day snow fell in London my car was hit at night by a driver who then escaped without stopping or making an effort to contact me.The bang was huge and it woke us in our sleep.My neighbours saw a white jeep but failed to get the registration and so my car was damaged and the insurance will repair it but they are saying I should pay the excess since there is no one to claim from so they regard me to be at fault.I reported the accident to the Police and they said they will investigate.My contention is that why should I be considered at fault in order for me to pay the excess.I would have happily paid the excess if I was at fault but at this instance I was not and thought since I have full comp the insurance co.should cover the whole cost.I s there no way the insurance Co. should pay?

raskazz

No. If you have to claim from your own policy, the excess is payable regardless of fault (except for rare cases where your insurer agrees to waive the excess, for example where the insurers of the third party have no dispute of liability).

FH_Brit

Read you policy - the excess is payable in te event of any claim regardless of fault. If you did not want to pay an excess you should have paid for it on your premium (excess waiver) so you'd have paid it anyway!

You probably should be more worried about your loss of No Claims Bonus that could be more than your excess!

McKneff

You chose to pay excess when you took your policy out.
As FH Brit says, excess is payable on any claim you make.
I chose to pay a slightly higher premium so that i would have no excess to pay in the event of a claim.
It literally was only about another £15 over the year but the peace of mind is great, especially in this weather.
It'll all be in the small print.

lisyloo

When they say "at fault" what they really mean is that they have to pay because it cannot be recovered from anyone else.
So you aren't at fault but you are responsible for repairing the damage yourself unfortunately, therefore the excess applies.

Most policies work like this so there is nothing you can do.
You also need to declare the claim and will now be loaded (increase in premium) for having a claim.
Tough luck I know !!

I know that Direct Line do consider some claims as not "at fault" but I'm not sure of the exact circs and whether it applies here.
The asnwer is that it depends on the policy and you need to check up front when choosing. It's too lates now, but most policies work like yours, where the policyholider suffers if there is no-one to claim the money from.