Struddy

I think the point here that maxtream was making was Insurers are always looking to introduce products for risk adverse consumers, that make sense at the time you purchase them.

The Insurance for covering the excess is one such product. A point I made in an earlier post is that the excess policy does not cover you, unless the claim you make to the Car/Home Insurers exceeds the value of the excess. So if you set a high excess (say) £400 under a motor policy, saving you a £100 on the premium, you then took out the excess policy costing you £50, your saving overall is only £50. If someone dings your car in a carpark and does not leave their Insurance details, you would be gutted if the repair only costs £350. You could not claim on either your car or excess Insurance.

The value in purchasing the excess insurance really depends on each persons circumstances. I personally would not bother as I live in a low risk area and pay a fairly low premium. So the discount for adding a higher excess would not pay for the excess policy.

The point about some of the new lifestyle (non essential) products, is that you could decide to self insure, by putting money to one side.

Huckster

??????? eh ??????? love your the comments but it is O.K. I am not taking tablets, there are not any alter egos. Did you just want everyone to post negative comments and agree with you? I thought this was a constructive forum, it seems I was wrong then!

If I have some spare time tomorrow I am going to sign up with another ID just so that I can agree with myself. I'll also post details of a revolutionary new lifestyle product that I'm developing which insures you against being ripped off by insurance salesmen. It costs marginally less than residual income so it is perfect for people who are no brainers. Details to follow along with lots of scary stories about nasty things that happened to people who went outside without taking out this product.

I agree with ronnie this is a no brainer especially with lifestyle excess as you can protect and save which is why anyone who is living in the real word gets insured in the first place.

Like with any savy saver to save money in a world where premiums are only getting higher you have to use websites like moneysuper market and other like sites to find and compare cheaper premiums to help save more and protect your total exposure to excess charges in the event of any claims that might be needed.

This is why I like money savings expert for tips to help reduce costs on lifes inevitable payout, I have brought a lifestyle policy which covers all my excesses on home,motor, travel,health and pet policies which when i come for renewal on any of theses policies I can reduce premiums but am currently protected against any excess expenditure, No brainer eh Ronnie ;-) "by the way loved you on strictly"

ronnie corbett:

I would say that most will benefit

Certainly most people in the insurance industry will benefit.

I always enjoy your jokes but please do tell - Was the chair that you used at the end of "The Two Ronnies" a normal sized one or was it extra large just to add to the humour?

I have looked and looked at this and then i had to take out a policy. I am in insurance myself and i have checked it out from all the angles and it stacks up. Its a no brainer as far as i can see, why has this not been thought of before? I went for the lifestyle policy personally as i have home insurance and an annaul travel policy.. I would say that most will benefit from the motor policy one though as it will always reduce your insurance premiums.

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Huckster/Mooreaz

I have been looking at the site insuremyexcess and their policy is underwritten by AXA as well but it is a different policy, with Towergate you can only claim twice but with insuremyexcess you can claim as many times as you want up to the the value you have insured or you can insure just your excess amount.

I know if I increase my excess and had an accident and the damage was below my excess I would have to pay but then I would just settle with the garage direct and I would not claim on my insurance and my premium would not go up.

What about the saving moneysupermarket can get you, which on average I think is over £100 then you increase your excess and save a further £95 and buy a policy to protect yourself from paying an excess and if I do have to claim and the claim is over my excess then I get that back too then add that figure to the saving achieved then this works out to a great deal of money saved and when my premium goes up I will just shop around like I do every year.

I think one of the main points is that you are protecting yourself, If you have to claim you have to claim you cannot help that or you may say that you may not be likely to claim so then that brings into question why we take insurance out if we are unlikely to claim, again it is all about protecting yourself and with this excess policy getting your excess money back.

I have also seen that insuremyexcess have a lifestyle policy and this covers your home,travel,health,pet and motor excess and the home cover is both bulidings and contents. I think it is worth taking out to protect yourself, you never know what's going to happen round the corner.

Struddy

I had a quick look at a policy, which was underwritten by AXA, arranged via Towergate site insure4excess.

Yes you are right that claims on cars, will often be for more than the excess value. If you read the AXA excess policy, it will only pay out if the claim on the car insurance is greater than the excess amount.

By increasing your excess to £350, you are basically deciding to self Insure any damage to your car up to £350. If the car claim is above £350, you would then submit the claim as normal with your car Insurers and then separately make a further claim with excess insurance policy.

If you save money by doing this and are happy with the terms and conditions of the excess policy, I do not see any downside.

I personally keep my excess low as my premium is fairly low, so not much point increasing excess, as not much of a saving. It depends on your individual situation as to whether you would benefit.

Huckster

I see what you are saying here, but Maxsteam is absolutely right.

Excess insurance is only worthwhile if you claim on your car insurance. But...if you claim on your car insurance, your premiums go up the following year.

So....although you save £60 by insuring your excess, any claim will put up your premiums and negate the benefit from having it.

It has to come down to one question...

How likely are you to claim on your insurance next year? You obviously don't know this, but you do know that not taking out the xs ins will save you £95 which can go towards any potential claim.

Personally, I don't see the point...

Yes it is against having to pay an excess.

I have been looking at a site and they say it can help to reduce premiums, by taking a higher excess this will reduce your premium. I have looked at this and saved £95, I increased my nil excess to £350 then I buy a policy to insure my excess and makes the saving still around £60 and my excess is covered. I have seen policies that only cover for accident that is not your fault but this covers you for accidents that maybe your fault.

I had to claim last year for a scratch and dent to my bumper and the cost was £400 to repair it!!! it seems that the cost of repairing cars is much greater than first thought, again a friend had a key scratch down the doors of her vehicle and the cost was nearly £1000!!!! It seems a good insurance to take out does anyone else have any views on this.

Is that insurance against having to pay an excess?

If your excess is small and if you are unlikely to be making a claim, it's not worth taking insurance for the excess. Remember that if you claim on car insurance, your next premiums will increase so, for small costs, it's not worth involving the insurance companies at all.

I have been looking into excess insurance, can anybody advise if this is a good product to take out and what are the pros and cons.