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.

When the amount of the waiver of excess is exceeded in damages then you pay the amount of the waiver of excess and the insurance company covers what's left over. So if you have a waiver of excess of $1,000 and an accident causes $5,000 in damages to your vehicle then you will have to pay the $1,000 up front and the insurance company will cover the other $4,000.

While a waiver of excess is not included in the premium of the insurance policy you pay it is still very helpful.

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.

A waiver of excess can and will vary from plan to plan. If you choose for your policy to have a larger waiver of excess then your monthly payments will be lower as the insurance company will have to cover less in the event of an accident.

Over time the increase that you would have had to pay will save you a good amount of money. This is true as long as you don't get into an accident and have to pay the waiver at a time that is bad for you.

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.

When you pay the waiver of excess it usually is to cover damage that was done to your car whether it's due to an accident, theft, or weather damage. Most of the time third party liability coverage does not have a deductable. If you choose to you can get additional coverage to give you a piece of mind.

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, which helps people save on their Car Insurance.