High excess v low claim

swampydrill

My son has a £3000 excess due to his age, he had a minor scrape with another car and admits it was his fault, this requires a bumper to be partly re- sprayed, probably £200 to fix. The guy he hit said he had to go through his insurance, surely this does not mean my son is liable for a £3000 payment and just has to cover the repairs ?

OnanTheBarbarian

Your son does not have to pay towards any of the third party claim if it goes through his insurers. The excess contribution only applies to claiming for your own damage and not the third party damage.

Aretnap

The excess only applies if he claims for the damage to his own car - so if it's minor damage he's going to have to either live with it or else pay for the repairs himself.

There is no excess to pay for the third party element of the claim so he won't have to pay for the other guy's repairs, whatever they come to. If they're done cheaply it might be worth asking his insurer if he can reimburse them the cost and preserve his no claims bonus, but obviously that depends on what the total comes to - be ready for them to cost more than you expect, especially when you add in things like the cost of a hire car while the repairs are taking place.

rs65

OP, despite the generally correct advice above, there is a possibility that an all sections excess applies. It doesn't get mentioned here often but when it does it is a figure of £3,000.

Who is the insurer/broker? Are they based in Ireland?

ninetyfables

There is a company called XS Direct that charge this £3000 excess. They often come up through Brokers.

Quentin

swampydrill wrote: »

My son has a £3000 excess due to his age, he had a minor scrape with another car and admits it was his fault, this requires a bumper to be partly re- sprayed, probably £200 to fix. The guy he hit said he had to go through his insurance, surely this does not mean my son is liable for a £3000 payment and just has to cover the repairs ?

If your son doesn't want to lose any NCD he can reimburse his insurer all their outlay and get any lost NCD reinstated after the claim has been concluded (assuming it's a cost effective proposition)

rs65

ninetyfables wrote: »

There is a company called XS Direct that charge this £3000 excess. They often come up through Brokers.

They are a broker.

forgotmyname

Surprised having an excess that high didnt push up the quote. I found putting £1000 actually started increasing the premium for a young driver.