Car insurance - how does voluntary excess work?

alstemp

hi all - in December 2011 after not having had a car for 10 years and therefore no insurance, I was fortunate to be given a car. Obviously I had no no-claims and as a 40-something woman ended up paying around £700 and having to go to an insurer who specialised in people who didn't have any no claims or recent insurance history.

Anyway - to cut a long story short, I am now renewing and have one year's no-claims. When I do the usual blanket comparison site quotes I keep being prompted for details of voluntary excess, the default seems to be £250.

Can someone please explian what voluntary excess means and how much should I be agreeing to? Is £250 a good figure? Obviously would like to keep my premium as low as possible.

Also I'm aware of the laws changing soon so that women won't get a better deal than men. so far the cheapest quote I have got is from Sheila's Wheels but if anyone can recommend another insurer who they have had a good experience and quote with, that would be great.

Thanks all

vaio

Excess is the amount you pay if you make a claim on your policy for damage to your car. The insurer might have a minimum compulsory amount and give you the opportunity to add a voluntary amount on top

Generally, higher excess = lower premium but the advantage of on-line is you can play about with the figures and see the effects

forgotmyname

As above... BUT...

It's been mentioned recently that it seems some of the cheaper companies are now starting to take the excess fee for any claim even one against you.
So make sure its a figure you can afford to pay.

Higher excess is usually a lower premium, But as with a lot of things to do with insurance, Not always...

Ask if the excess is only payable if you claim for your car or for all claims.
Get that in writing or record the call.

InsideInsurance

Also worth noting that the excess is payable in "all" claims for damages to your vehicle against your policy so even in a non-fault accident you will have to pay it first and then recover it from the other party.

Higher excess generally means lower premiums but evidently there is no point in having an excess so high that you cannot afford to pay it should the worst happen.

If you have a very low value vehicle then some will just max out the xs knowing they'll never be able to claim for their own vehicle as the xs is higher than the vehicles value but Comp insurance is normally cheaper than TPFT