What a Waiver of Excess Is?

On insurance policies in the UK you are likely to see a waiver of excess. This is a part of the insurance policy that is similar to a deductable in the United States. It's the amount of money that you have to pay before the insurance company covers the damages to your vehicle. If you travel to the UK and have to rent a car then you'll be likely to see a waiver of excess.

It's important to remember that a waiver of excess is only paid if the damages exceed the deductible amount. So if your deductible is $1,000 and the accident is $2,000 then you will pay the $1,000 and the insurance company will take care of the rest. Waivers of excess, like deductibles, are not included in the premium that you have to pay for your car insurance. This means that you'll have to pay it after an accident or other event has occurred. You only have to pay it if you want the damages to be covered by your policy.

In the example above you'd be better off paying the $2,000 rather than having the insurance company pay the difference and then raise the premium of your car insurance because you made a claim. If you're a young driver you should be cautious before reporting an insurance claim as most insurance companies will increase the premium by a good amount.

The amount of your waiver of excess will depend on the type of coverage that you have and what amount you choose. The deductibles can range from as little as $250 to $1500. It's important to remember that the higher that you have the deductible the lower your monthly insurance payments will be. The problem with having a higher deductible comes if and when you need to make a claim as you would need to come up with that amount before your insurance policy will cover the difference.

You may see a waiver of excess expressed as a percent from time to time. A percent can be beneficial or harmful to you. The lower the total cost of repairs is the better it will be for you however if the damage is high then you'll have to pay more then you may have originally thought.

The waiver of excess that you pay will go towards the damages done to your vehicle. The damage doesn't have to be caused by an accident it can be also caused by theft or bad weather. You can increase the coverage if you have a more expensive vehicle and want to have to pay less to repair it.

A waiver of excess is not singled out to auto insurance policies. A waiver of excess is often found on health, travel, and home insurance. You should remember that if there's damage to a rental car you may have to pay it out of your pocket and then be reimbursed by your insurance.

Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator for Carinsurancesa.co.za. South Arica?s leading car insurance portal, which helps people save on their car insurance.