Car Insurance Excess

What is car insurance excess?

Car insurance excess is the amount you are required to pay to your insurance company towards a claim. This is particularly when you are at fault to the claim. Excess is split into compulsory and voluntary. Most people don't fully understand what excess means, so we've created this guide to educate you on what excess is, how it works, when you have to pay for it and different types of excess.

What's the difference between compulsory excess and voluntary excess?

Car insurance excess can be split into two categories:

• Compulsory Excess
• Voluntary Excess

Compulsory excess is mandatory in the event of a claim, the amount is typically decided upon by the insurer.

Voluntary excess is, as it suggests, voluntarily paid by you 'the insured.' This would be the amount chosen by you based on what you can afford to pay in the event of a claim. In this circumstance, you would still need to pay the compulsory excess, so the total would be the sum of the compulsory plus the amount of voluntary excess you're willing to add. For example, the insurer could ask for compulsory excess of AED 250. If you then choose to pay a voluntary excess of AED 200 then your total excess would be AED 450.

How much is my excess?

Wondering how much excess you will be expected to pay? The excess amount is usually displayed when when you get a quote for your insurance. If you're looking to know the excess amount on an existing policy then you can find that in your policy documents.

When do pay the excess?

Usually when a claim is to occur the insurer will request that the excess be paid immediately in order to start the claim. However, it depends on the insurer, some may ask you to pay the excess at the end of the claims process instead.