Do you pay excess twice?

goz83

A lad rear ended me a couple weeks back. His insurance admitted liability. His excess is 3k for the claim I have made on his policy. I know the lad and his car is also written off. If he claims for damages from his own policy, is that treated as another claim which would attract another excess, even though it was for the same accident?

I ask because his car will cost a fortune to fix and he was also injured in the crash. I think he would be mad to cover his own costs, especially if the excess is just 3k and not doubled to 6k if he were to claim. I am sure I don't need to mention the insurer. Their insured has to pay an excess, even if it is a third party claim. This was news to me, but it's written on the company website.

Stheno

No I think it is all treated as one claim arising from one incident, so he gets hit with the one excess?

Cryos

Generally is treated as one claim. The maximum excess in ireland is €1800.

If the guy wants to get his own car repaired (if he is comprehensive) he can ask the insurance company to do a Contract repair; Say the value of the car was 4000 and the total cost of repairing the car will be 5000 using MLP, a Contract repair could be done say for 3000 but this would be using a mix of new / Reproduction or second hand parts.

Most good bodyshops in dublin will be able to advise of this but insurance companies generally dont; You wont get a contract repair if the vehicle is a Cat A / B write off.

mickdw

Hold on. The excess will only apply to his own vehicle. He damages your car. You cannot be left in a situation where he needs 3k of personal money in order for you to be compensated to your previous state so that excess does not apply to other party claims.
It will apply to his own car.

corktina

yes, whatever your claim is, his Insurance will settle it and if he has to pay an excess, thats between him and his insurance. Not your concern.

goz83

Cryos wrote: »

Generally is treated as one claim. The maximum excess in ireland is €1800.

If the guy wants to get his own car repaired (if he is comprehensive) he can ask the insurance company to do a Contract repair; Say the value of the car was 4000 and the total cost of repairing the car will be 5000 using MLP, a Contract repair could be done say for 3000 but this would be using a mix of new / Reproduction or second hand parts.

Most good bodyshops in dublin will be able to advise of this but insurance companies generally dont; You wont get a contract repair if the vehicle is a Cat A / B write off.

This particular broker only does comprehensive I think. The driver was a named driver. And the excess is definitely €3000. The value of the car is under €2000 and they state they don't insure cars under a value far in excess of the value of his car, but many people insure cheap cars with them afaik.

mickdw wrote: »

Hold on. The excess will only apply to his own vehicle. He damages your car. You cannot be left in a situation where he needs 3k of personal money in order for you to be compensated to your previous state so that excess does not apply to other party claims.
It will apply to his own car.

I am afraid that is not the case with this particular broker/insurance company. If you are insured with them ad someone makes a claim against your policy, you pay a 3k excess. That's why I was asking if he would also be paying an excess if he also claimed for his own damages. Crazy, I know, but it's on their website and they are popular for young drivers.

corktina wrote: »

yes, whatever your claim is, his Insurance will settle it and if he has to pay an excess, thats between him and his insurance. Not your concern.

Thanks Corktina. But I know the lad and I am just trying to find out if he is paying unnecessarily for his own damages after paying an excess of so much already.

I fully intend to pursue my claim to the end. The cheque I received will not repair my written off vehicle and I will be paying medical bills for a considerable time I am told. This comes out of my pocket of course in tight times, until I am compensated, which is guestimated at around 2 years.

mickdw

Sounds like you are being taken for a ride by either the other driver or his insurer.
Are you saying that they have sent you a settlement cheque less 3k due to his excess?
Is so, that is entirely illegal. His excess is none of your concern.

djimi

goz83 wrote: »

I am afraid that is not the case with this particular broker/insurance company. If you are insured with them ad someone makes a claim against your policy, you pay a 3k excess. That's why I was asking if he would also be paying an excess if he also claimed for his own damages. Crazy, I know, but it's on their website and they are popular for young drivers.

I would doubt that it would be the case that it would be handled as two seperate claims with two seperate excess applied, however with these companies the cover they offer is little more than a piece of paper in the window to make you road legal, so anything is possible really. He needs to contact his insurer and ask them how they handle the claim.

djimi

Cryos wrote: »

Generally is treated as one claim. The maximum excess in ireland is €1800.

Can you confirm this? Plenty of policies in Ireland have an excess greater than €1800.

vandriver

Xs aren't writing new policies,so this problem of stupid high excesses(4k sometimes) will go away in a few months.

djimi

vandriver wrote: »

Xs aren't writing new policies,so this problem of stupid high excesses(4k sometimes) will go away in a few months.

XS werent the only company offering his excess policies.

Its not really a problem either, I mean its a ridiculous policy, but one which was necessary in order to allow some people to get on the road. XS Direct going away isnt going to make the likes of Axa and the other big boys be any more interested in insuring high risk drivers.

JC01

Itl all be treated as one single claim but he is liable for the full 3k excess. It's part of the contract he has with the insurer, I know of a fella tried getting cute with XS and ended up in breach of contract and thus not insured. It cost him 7k in the end and he's literally uninsurable since.

goz83

mickdw wrote: »

Sounds like you are being taken for a ride by either the other driver or his insurer.
Are you saying that they have sent you a settlement cheque less 3k due to his excess?
Is so, that is entirely illegal. His excess is none of your concern.

No. I don't know how you picked that up from my post. My compensation has nothing do to with his excess at all. That would be insane alright. I was only just wondering if he would have to pay another excess if he claimed off his policy after I claimed off it.

I believe it is an absolute shambles to have such high excess, but there you have it. I also believe the car itself should not have been insured by the insurance company, because they only insure cars with a minimum value that the insured car was well under, but that's a different story.

68 lost souls

goz83 wrote: »

No. I don't know how you picked that up from my post. My compensation has nothing do to with his excess at all. That would be insane alright. I was only just wondering if he would have to pay another excess if he claimed off his policy after I claimed off it.

I believe it is an absolute shambles to have such high excess, but there you have it. I also believe the car itself should not have been insured by the insurance company, because they only insure cars with a minimum value that the insured car was well under, but that's a different story.

Its your mans fault anyway, he knew the excess when buying the policy and they are paying it not you. They knew what they signed up for so once you get your money I wouldnt worry.

oldyouth

The 3rd Party gets paid in full. The insurer is entitled to claim back the excess from the policyholder. If an own damage claim forms part of the overall claim, the €3k gets deducted from that end. There is only 1 excess applied per incident.

Third party excesses apply in lots of circumstances but an injured party cannot be prejudiced by the contract terms the wrongdoer takes out. The excess is recovered when the process is finalised

goz83

oldyouth wrote: »

The 3rd Party gets paid in full. The insurer is entitled to claim back the excess from the policyholder. If an own damage claim forms part of the overall claim, the €3k gets deducted from that end. There is only 1 excess applied per incident.

Third party excesses apply in lots of circumstances but an injured party cannot be prejudiced by the contract terms the wrongdoer takes out. The excess is recovered when the process is finalised

Thats exactly what i was asking and more. Thanks oldyouth.

mickdw

goz83 wrote: »

I fully intend to pursue my claim to the end. The cheque I received will not repair my written off vehicle and I will be paying medical bills for a considerable time I am told. This comes out of my pocket of course in tight times, until I am compensated, which is guestimated at around 2 years.

As you stated that the cheque received will not repair the vehicle, I figured you were getting messed around.
Why would you accept an insufficient payment at all?

goz83 wrote: »

No. I don't know how you picked that up from my post. My compensation has nothing do to with his excess at all. That would be insane alright. I was only just wondering if he would have to pay another excess if he claimed off his policy after I claimed off it.

I believe it is an absolute shambles to have such high excess, but there you have it. I also believe the car itself should not have been insured by the insurance company, because they only insure cars with a minimum value that the insured car was well under, but that's a different story.

goz83

mickdw wrote: »

As you stated that the cheque received will not repair the vehicle, I figured you were getting messed around.
Why would you accept an insufficient payment at all?

They paid a fair value on the omsp, but it wont be enough to complete all repairs and have an engineer sign it off. I spent a considerable sum of money on my car in the 2 years since i bought it, most of which cannot be recovered via insurance. My best option is repair the car, doing some of the running around myself and using a cheap donor car.

What i meant by pursuing claim to the end, was on the injury side of things. I have some nasty whiplash injuries from the accident. I see where my post was misunderstood. Hope i have cleared it up.