How Could I Claim Compensation For Car Insurance Excess Fees After An Accident?

By Mary Dixon. Last Updated 20th December 2022. When you sign the agreement for a new car insurance policy, you might not pay too much attention to the policy’s excess fee. You might be surprised that even though the accident was not your fault your insurance company asks to you pay your excess. In this article, we are going to look at whether you can claim back a car insurance excess fee when claiming for a non-fault accident. During the course of this article, we’ll explain why car insurers charge a policy excess. Additionally, we’ll explain the difference between voluntary and compulsory.

Claim compensation for car insurance excess fees after an accident guide

Claim compensation for car insurance excess fees after an accident guide

If you are involved in a car accident that’s not your fault, you may want to claim for more than just the policy excess. For example, if you are injured in the accident, you may want to claim for the pain and suffering that resulted. Therefore, we’ve included a section on what you could claim for and how much compensation might be paid.

Advice.co.uk are here to support you if you are thinking about making a claim. The service we offer includes a no-obligation assessment of your case. You’ll also be given free legal advice about how to make your claim. If your claim has good grounds, we could also appoint a personal injury solicitor from our panel. If the solicitor agrees to work for you, they’ll offer their service on a No Win No Fee basis.

To find out more about claiming back your car insurance excess fee, please continue reading. Otherwise, to talk to us about your claim right away, please call 0161 696 9685 today.

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A Guide To Claiming Car Insurance Excess Fees After An Accident

When you sign up for a car insurance policy, a section on the application form will discuss your excess fee. You can sometimes increase the excess fee to reduce the cost of your insurance policy. However, if you need to make a claim through your insurer, they will either charge you the excess fee or deduct it from your settlement. While that’s what you agree to when you sign the policy, is it fair that you should be charged this when the accident was caused by the other party?

However, in the days and weeks following an accident, you may need your insurer to pay for any damage to your vehicle to be fixed. This is usually the fastest way to get your car back on the road. It is at this point your policy excess might come into play. For example, if the cost of the repair to your car is £2,200, you might have to pay £200 of that (if that’s the amount of your excess). Your insurer will then claim back their losses if the other driver was liable for the accident.

As we go through this article, we will look at all the things you could claim for following a no-fault car accident. We’ll start by looking at claiming for your injuries, then we’ll move onto financial costs (including uninsured losses) you might incur. Is one of the costs that you could claim back when the other party has admitted liability the policy excess charge? Importantly, you don’t have to hire the solicitor your insurer uses to claim back your losses.

If you contact Advice.co.uk, we could connect you to a personal injury solicitor to try and ensure you’re not left out of pocket. Please call today for further details.

Car Crash And Accident Compensation Calculator

Before we move on to look at financial losses you could claim following a car accident, we are going to show you how much could be paid for personal injuries. General damages could be claimed to cover any pain, suffering or loss of amenity caused by your injuries.

The compensation table below shows some general damages figures for a range of relevant injuries. However, please remember these are examples. We’ll be able to discuss a more personalised figure after we have reviewed your case.

Legal professionals often use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help set compensation amounts. Therefore, our table uses data from the JCG.

Type of Injury Severity Compensation RangeMore Details
NeckMinor£4,350 to £7,890This compensation covers whiplash-like soft tissue injuries that are fully resolved (without any surgery) in around 1-2 years.
BackModerate£12,510 to £27,760In this category, example injuries include a prolapsed disc that necessitates laminectomy.
ShoulderSerious£12,770 to £19,200Covers dislocated shoulder injuries where there is also damage to the lower brachial plexus. This will result in shoulder and neck pain.
ArmLess Severe£19,200 to £39,170The injuries in this category will have resulted in significant disability but a substantial amount of recovery will have occurred.
KneeModerate£14,840 to £26,190Knee injuries such as dislocations, torn cartilage or torn meniscus which result in minor weakness or instability.
AnkleModerate£13,740 to £26,590Covers fractures and similar injuries which cause difficulty standing for long periods or struggling when climbing stairs.

The amount of compensation awarded depends on the extent of your injuries. That’s why, during your claim, you’ll need to have a medical assessment. Our panel of lawyers will usually try to arrange a local appointment. The assessment will be carried out by an independent specialist. They will review medical notes, assess your injuries, and ask questions about the effects of your injuries.

Once the assessment is over, the specialist will write a report to explain their findings. this may be used to put a figure to your injuries.

Do Special Damages Cover Car Insurance Excess Fees?

As mentioned above, it is possible to claim for any costs you incur following an injury caused by a negligent third party. Special damages cover losses and expenses because of your injury. They can vary from case to case but you could claim for:

  • Lost income. If you lost money because you weren’t able to work due to your injuries, this loss could be claimed back.
  • Medical expenses. In most cases, you’ll be treated for free by the NHS. However, you might still have to pay for over-the-counter medicines, prescription costs, and non-NHS treatments.
  • Care costs. While you are recuperating, you might need somebody to support you with your daily activities. If that happens, you claim for any care costs. For example, an hourly rate might be calculated for the time a relative spent supporting you.
  • Travel costs. If you incur parking fees, fuel costs, or other transport-related expenses due to hospital visits, for instance, these could be added to your claim.
  • Changes to your home. In serious cases where a claimant is left disabled following a car crash, adaptations to the home might be required to make life easier. It could be possible to claim for the cost of such changes.
  • Future lost earnings. If your injuries affect the type of work you can do in the future, you might be able to seek lost future income in your claim. Several factors will be considered including your salary, age, and job prospects. 

We can check what could be included in your claim during a free telephone consultation. So, why not call our specialist advisors today?

What Are Claims For Car Insurance Excess Fees?

In law, you need to meet three main criteria to be able to make a personal injury claim. For a road traffic accident, these are that:

  • The other party owed you a duty of care (all road users have a duty to try and keep each other safe).
  • The other party was negligent and caused an accident.
  • You were injured during the accident.

If you are making a damage only claim (i.e. nobody was injured), you could claim back your policy excess without the third criteria.

There is a time limit for all personal injury claims. In most cases, this is 3-years after the date of the accident. If the claim is on behalf of a child, then you will have longer to claim. Adults can become ‘litigation friends’ to represent their child during a claim at any time before their 18th birthday. If that doesn’t happen, they will have until their 21st birthday to start their own legal action.

To make any type of claim, you’ll need evidence to prove what happened. Therefore, at the scene of a car accident, we advise you to:

  • Photograph the scene before vehicles are moved.
  • Get witnesses details.
  • Gather any dashcam footage.
  • Call the emergency services if there are serious injuries.

Also, after treatment, you could obtain copies of your medical records as evidence of the injuries you’ve sustained.

For a free review of your eligibility to start a claim, why not contact a member of our team today?

Car Insurance Excess Explained

A car insurance excess fee is an amount that you agree to contribute towards the cost of a claim. The amount you pay will vary from company to company. If you start a claim through your insurer (whether you’re to blame for the accident or not), you may be asked to pay the excess before the claim is actioned. You should therefore check you can afford it before signing the policy documents.

If you were to blame for the accident, then the excess fee is not refundable. As mentioned above, though, if the accident was caused by another driver, you could add the cost of your policy excess to your compensation claim.

This is just general information and there are some exceptions. Therefore, you should check your insurance policy documents to make sure you understand when you’ll need to pay the excess fee.

If you have suffered an injury during your accident, we could provide advice on personal injury claims. We could also show you what financial losses you could claim for. Our team offer free legal advice on any claim and will review what’s happened on a No Obligation Basis. Having a personal injury solicitor working for you, if your case is accepted, could make the process of claiming a lot easier. Why not call in today to see speak to an advisor.

Why Do Insurance Companies Charge Excess Fees?

You might be wondering why insurers charge an excess fee at all. Well, in many cases it’s to try and eliminate minor or low-value claims. This could be when you’re responsible for an accident where nobody was injured and there was only minor damage to your vehicle.

If the total cost of repair to your vehicle was, say, £150, then it wouldn’t make sense for an insurer to spend time investigating the matter as it’d probably cost them more than that in staff fees. So, if you have a policy excess of £200, you’d have to pay the repair cost so you wouldn’t go on to make a claim.

We would not advise settling with the other driver directly without seeking legal advice first. Why not get in touch with one of our specialist advisors today to check if you have a valid claim and what could be included?

Other Types Of Excess Fees You May Be Charged

In most cases, depending on your policy’s wording, you’ll pay the full policy excess for claims relating to:

  • Theft of your vehicle.
  • Fire damage.
  • If your car is ‘written off’.
  • Claims for accidents that were your fault.

Your insurance policy might also have other excesses listed such as a windscreen damage excess. For these fees, the cost of the excess may be lower than the standard policy excess.

As discussed already, if you do pay an excess, but you’re not to blame for the accident, the fee could be claimed back. Our advisors can review your case for you and explain what you could be entitled to add to your claim. Therefore, please call today and let us know what happened.

The Difference Between Compulsory And Voluntary Excess

All car insurance policies will have a compulsory excess fee added by default. The amount charged can depend on factors like your age, the type of vehicle, or the area you live in.

In addition, you might be able to add a voluntary policy excess fee. This is an amount set by you. How much you choose to pay is up to you. The more you pay though, the cheaper your insurance policy will be.

When you make a claim with your insurance company, you’ll have to pay the total excess fee as part of the claim. Therefore, if you have a compulsory excess of £200 plus a voluntary excess of £300, you’d need to pay £500 towards the cost of the claim. Therefore, you shouldn’t be swayed by cheaper insurance prices if you won’t be able to afford the total policy excess fee.

Will I Be Charged An Excess Fee If The Accident Was Not My Fault?

Quite simply, if you make a claim against your insurance policy, you will be charged the total excess fee. You will either be asked to make a payment to your insurer, or they’ll deduct the excess from any payout. This is the case regardless of who was at fault for the accident.

Usually, if your car is damaged in an accident caused by somebody else, you have some options. One, either have the car fixed yourself and ask the defendants insurance to pay you – no excess to pay. Two, ask your insurance to fix the car. They will usually claim the costs back from the third fault party. However, you may need to pay your excess. Or three, allow the defendant’s insurance to have your car fixed with no excess to pay.

However, the good news is that if liability is agreed upon by the other party, you will be able to claim back any excess fee you’ve paid. Proving somebody else was responsible for your accident is important. That’s because, if you can’t, the price of your premium could increase due to the fact you have made a claim.

If you’re not sure how to prove liability in your case, why not call our specialists today? They’ll review the evidence and discuss what’s happened. If your case appears to have good grounds, you could be connected to a personal injury lawyer. As you’ll see in the next section, any claim they work on will be handled on a No Win No Fee basis.

No Win No Fee Claims For Car Accidents

You may not know how to claim back your insurance excess, or how to make a claim in general. If this is the case, then you may find it useful to hire a solicitor. If you’re concerned about the cost of hiring legal help, it may help you to know that all of the lawyers on our panel can work with their clients on a No Win No Fee basis.

When you work with a solicitor under a No Win No Fee agreement, you only pay them a small percentage of your settlement if you claim succeeds – known as a success fee. Should your claim fail, you are not required to pay them. You will also not be required to pay them upfront to represent you.

If you want to know more, get in touch today. Our advisors can also answer questions such as, “how does car insurance excess work?”. If you need your car insurance excess explained, get in touch with our advisors today.

How To Claim Back Your Insurance Excess – Get Free Legal Advice

For more information on how to claim back your insurance excess, our advisors could potentially help you. If they believe you have a valid car accident claim, they could potentially connect you to an expert solicitor from our panel.

Although it is not required by law that you use legal assistance, it may be beneficial to take advantage of the experience of solicitors who have successfully helped their clients to claim excess back. Using an experienced solicitor could positively impact the outcome of your excess claim while making the process smoother for you.

The solicitors on our panel have the requisite experience to help you claim. You can contact our advisors and take advantage of our free initial consultation to get legal advice. Ways to contact us are:

More Information

Thanks for reading this article on insurance excess fees. Hopefully, you’ve found the information helpful and are now in a position to begin a claim. If that’s the case, here are a few articles that might help:

Financial Ombudsman Service – This is who you could turn to for help dealing with an insurance complaint.

Motor Insurers’ Bureau – An organisation that could help you claim if the defendant in your claim was uninsured.

To show what other types of compensation claims we could help with, you’ll find some more of our guides below:

Industrial Illness Claims – Details of how a personal injury solicitor could help you claim for industrial diseases.

PTSD Claims – An article about claiming compensation for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Other Car Accident Claim Guides

Please let us know if there is any other information that you need to help you start your claim.

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Published by AL.