Excess.... Have you ever had it waived?

dori2o

Has anyone ever successfully had their excess waived?

We are claiming on our insurance for the damage caused by the gas explosion that has recently been on the news.

The excess leaves us needing to put further money towards the repair bill, money we don't have.

dacouch

Your excess is an uninsured amount that you agree to pay towards your claim. The chances of your Insurer waiving it are very remote although in the circumstances there is a very small extra chance they may.

If the cause of the explosion is due to a deliberate act by a person who has home insurance, you might be able to claim it back from them although this may take some time.

If it's due to a negligent act by a householder eg ignoring an obvious leak you may have a chance against their home insurance.

As this is a big issue locally, try speaking to your MP or local council as they may have extra information / help available.

Personally I recommend you keep your excess to a managable amount such as £100ish to avoid things like this, the discount you get for a higher excess is normally very small and not worth taking

InsideInsurance

Excesses typically are only waived when the insurer believes there is a 99.9% chance they are going to be able to recover their outlay and even then it is only a guesture of goodwill.

Back in my claims day it was only ever motor claims, only very basic cases like stationary at lights and TP drove into rear, had to have all TP and TPV details and must have TPI details. Only then would the system allow the excess to be waived up front.

If liability was admitted and the TPI confirmed indemnity prior to the PH paying the excess it was possible to waive it at that point but would only be done if the PH complained.

Certainly since my claims days I know they clamped down on the practice because even with those strict criteria you'd still find some cases where the insurer was unable to recover outlay because the PH or TP has lied etc

On the vagueness of your details of whats happened I am strongly suspecting that the insurer isnt going to be anywhere near confident enough that it'll get its money back to be considering waiving the excess for you.

As DaCouch says, make sure you buy an affordable excess as you'll almost always have to pay it but may be entitled to get it back afterwards.

losgiganteskid

I have recently settled a claim under an annual travel policy and got the claims administrators to settle the claim in full without deduction of the policy excess - which was a result really as initially they wrote to me declining the claim outright - as they do !

dunstonh

The excess leaves us needing to put further money towards the repair bill, money we don't have.

Is it a mandatory excess or a voluntary one?

If mandatory, then you are typically only talking £50-£100. An insurer may take a view as mentioned higher up. However, if it is voluntary, then you did this to reduce your premiums as you effectively agreed to pay a higher amount of any claim yourself and in return you pay less in premiums. It is far less likely you would get a voluntary excess "waived" and they shouldnt do really as it would be unfair on everyone else.

dacouch

losgiganteskid wrote: »

I have recently settled a claim under an annual travel policy and got the claims administrators to settle the claim in full without deduction of the policy excess - which was a result really as initially they wrote to me declining the claim outright - as they do !

That was waived as an ex gratia payment due to bad service, Insurers rarely waive an excess for a claim without very good reason

losgiganteskid

dacouch wrote: »

That was waived as an ex gratia payment due to bad service, Insurers rarely waive an excess for a claim without very good reason

Incorrect - it was waived due to me understanding the policy terms and conditions and the claims handlers lack of understanding

dacouch

losgiganteskid wrote: »

Incorrect - it was waived due to me understanding the policy terms and conditions and the claims handlers lack of understanding

As I said, it was waived due to a problem the Insurers caused, it's completely different to the OP's position.