Reclaiming Excess

My DH was hit by another driver in early December and just today we were able to retrieve our car from the repair garage but only after we paid our excess. The accident was not our fault and the other driver admitted liability.

My question is How do we claim back the excess that we've paid? It doesn't seem right that we had to pay it in the first place as it wasn't our fault. If anyone has had similar experiences can you share how you went about getting your excess back?

This happened to us a little over a year ago. A driver hit us while we were stationary. We swapped insurance details and our insurance set us up with a solicitor who handled it all due to the fact we ended up claiming compensation and they also reclaimed the excess for the car for us too. It took around 5-6 months to do all of this. Hope this helps!  

Hi,
Yep, what LittleEvo just said,  you don't actually personally chase the excess you've paid on your policy. When the insurance companies collude with one another and determine and settle the case and therefore blame, the excess will be paid back to the non fault party as per what they paid on their policy.

Just keep an eye on everything from your insurance company to ensure you are paid back when the cheque for your compensation comes through. It should be itemised. If in any doubt, just call your insurance company to discuss it.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Just an update:

Well, it's been over 6 months since the accident and 4 months since we've gotten the car back & paid the £350 excess...we still haven't gotten the excess back and we just got the insurance renewal for the car and we've lost 4 years of our no claims bonus AND the price of the insurance has increased by £175. So something that wasn't our fault has now cost us a minimum of £525!

DH is in denial and won't call the insurance company to find out where our excess refund is and this is really starting to irritate me to no end.

Aww WebyJ I am really surprised you've not heard anything at all from the insurance people.  Were you claiming just for the excess back and not any compensation?   You really need to push your DH into calling, you all haven't done anything wrong. Are you on the insurance as well? If so give them a call yourself or if not then while your DH is in the room and if they say they need to talk to him to confirm anything just say he's right here and hand him the phone.    Sincerely hope you get it sorted soon! 

Thankfully my husband wasn't injured so we just need the excess back. Unfortuanely I'm not on the insurance as I don't drive so I can't call them myself and my husband just says 'We just have to wait'. 

Okay, then after he comes back from the shop or something like that, tell him the insurance company called and wanted him to call them back in regards to the excess.    I'm sure they would just leave their general number with you for him to them call back. 

Thankfully my husband wasn't injured so we just need the excess back. Unfortuanely I'm not on the insurance as I don't drive so I can't call them myself and my husband just says 'We just have to wait'. 

I think I would point out that it's your money, too, that's being wasted (even if it's out of "his" account, I assume you live together and spend together!) and you feel you have some say so in the matter. Sorry if I am coming off as pushy or nosey. It's just what I would do in the situation.

Good luck. It sounds like a nightmare. I was hit (while stationary) by a student once at the school where I taught. She admitted fault and we exchanged info. Cops came, etc, but said since it was "private property" (which thinking about it now, aren't schools gov't owned?) he had no jurisdiction and it was just for our sakes he took statements, etc. Well, I had $3000+ damage to my car- wouldn't run, etc. She drove off afterwards and had minor damage. It was clearly her fault (even the report showed that) but Allstate refused to pay for my 3 weeks of rental, deductible, repairs, etc. The girl's mom took ME to court! Since I would have had to pay for a separate lawyer (as a single, young teacher) I couldn't countersue. Basically we fought off their lawsuit, but I still  had to pay rental and deductible for my car and take the hit on my own insurance. Car never ran right after that, either. Nine years later that still irritates me!! Of course, this was in the US, so I'm sure the procedure is completely different over there. Don't give up!

OK...
So after my husband got irked with me on Thursday morning about not filling out the paperwork to get the Petition started for the DCF so we can move to the US, I pointed out to him that I was waiting for the excess to be returned so we could pay for the Petition without having to dip into our meagre savings! So Thursday I did the paperwork and yesterday morning I told him that either he needed to contact the insurance or at least let me do it.

So, he let me do it. 

It was a nightmare but it boils down to 2.5 hours on the phone, 5 different phone calls, 3 different girls named Hannah and 3 different insurance companies I finally managed to sort out all the issues and set everyone straight only to come to find out that our insurance company had not put in a claim for our excess only what they paid...but the Other Guy's insurance company had informed me of this and stated that they were more than happy to send me a cheque for the excess ASAP since the damage was caused by their policy holder and we should not be penalised for his actions.

So we should have the cheque by the end of next week.

I also found out that the total damage to our car was £1874.20. The declared value of our car is £1900 so it came within £25 of being written off. Which is why the insurance companies are fighting right now. The Other Guys company is questioning why our company didn't just write it off. Let them fight it out.

The other good news is that once it is settled our no claims bonus will be reinstated AND we will receive an entire refund of the additional cost of the insurance.

At least we're getting the excess back soon. I also told all of the companies involved that I would be contacting them in 1 week for an update...so let's hope that lights a fire under them.

We're seriously considering changing insurance companies once this is resolved. Zurich (our company) has been nothing but a pain and trying to place blame on the Other Guys company...little did they know that I wasn't going to take their word for it and went directly to the source to confirm & caught them in a big fat juicy lie in the process.

Result!!

Got the cheque in the mail today   

Now if they just get their thumbs out and settle the rest our cost will go down £165 and we'll get all the no claims bonus back.

Wish I had put my foot down months ago!

Great news! I probably would just do a little shopping first, THEN tell DH the news.

Yay WebyJ!    Glad you got it sorted! 

Result!!

Got the cheque in the mail today  

Now if they just get their thumbs out and settle the rest our cost will go down £165 and we'll get all the no claims bonus back.

Wish I had put my foot down months ago!

Just read this thread, so I hope it isn't too late.

When you take out a new car insurance policy in the UK, the insurers ask if you have had an accident, fault or no-fault, in the last (so many - often 5 or 6) years. They will often still load your poilicy even if it is a no fault claim. You may get your no-claims back, but any further car insurance policies will be more expensive for the next 5 or 6 years.

So when you settle a 'no fault' claim compensation, you should be taking all the added premiums for the next 5 or 6 years into account. Sorry if I am too late for you WebyJ, but this might help others.

We don't plan on switching insurers any time since we hope to be going back to the US sometime toward the end of this year. Though I have confirmed with our current insurer that the claim has been completely settled and we have been refunded the extra charges & our no claims has been re-instated at 9 years.

Yesterday we received a letter stating that they have finally settled the claim. Only took 8½ months, 10 phone calls and 2 days of me chasing them down...

Get me back to the US where this type of stuff doesn't happen...so much for customer service.

Now, I just need to make sure that the no claims bonus has been reinstated and the policy premium has gone down as well.

Wish me Luck!!