Most car insurance policies have certain aspects of it that you will have to pay for if you have an accident or if your car gets vandalized. This part of the policy is commonly referred to a waiver of excess in many countries such as the UK. In the United States the waiver of excess is more commonly referred to as a deductible. If you’re in the UK and decide to rent a car then you’ll encounter 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 some accidents the damage is very little and you may not want to report it. In other cases the person who’s at fault may have their insurance cover the damage to your car. In either case you may want to avoid paying the excess waiver and higher premium costs from having an accident. If you’re a young driver then you will want to consider this heavily as your insurance premium is likely to skyrocket even with a minor fender bender.
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.
On some insurance policies you will see a percent for the waiver of excess rather than an actual amount. The percent can work for you or against you depending on your situation. If you have a low cost accident then the percent will be in your favor. However if the accident is an expensive one then you will be in a situation where you’ll have to pay a lot more.
A waiver of excess is usually used to pay off damage that has occurred to your car due to an accident, theft, or harsh weather. Liability only will never have a waiver of excess since it only covers damages done to other vehicles. It’s possible to have better coverage for your waiver of access as well as a lower amount that you have to pay. However this will also increase the cost of your monthly payments.
You might have been led to believe that the waiver of excess is only for auto insurance. However there are many types of insurance that have a waiver of excess on them. Some other types of insurance that you’re likely to see a waiver of excess is health, travel, and home insurance. If you do rent a car in the UK it’s important that you understand that your credit card can and may be charged for damage before it’s reimbursed by the insurance company.
Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator for Carinsurancesa.co.za. South Arica?s leading Car Insurance portal.
