Do I have to pay excess if not my fault – Your accident questions answered.

A commonly searched question: Do I have to pay excess if not my fault? The common answer you’ll find online and if you speak to your insurance company is: Yes, you do.

However, this is not the correct answer.

Start my claim

Call us 0414 302 399 | Start your claim now >

The result of whether you pay your insurance excess or not depends on the step that you take directly after you have had a non-fault accident.

First, think back for just a moment…

It’s that time of the year when your car insurance renewal comes around.
You’re quickly going through your proposed premium.
‘Phew. It’s gone down again.’
You check that everything is covered as it should be.
Oh… and you see that ‘compulsory and voluntary excess’ section again.
A quick shrug of the shoulders
‘That’s irrelevant, I’m a great driver…’

The excess on our insurance policy is usually something that we all let slip from our minds as quickly as it enters.

It’s usually because, like most people, you’re probably a safe and respectful driver.

What’s in this article?

Table of Contents:

Do I have to pay?
Insurance claim excess
No fault claim excess
Why do you pay?
How to avoid paying
Accident Management Benefits
Processing a claim
Your first contact

We don’t get into our cars in the morning

and expect an accident to occur.

We use our cars every day. They’re a huge part of our everyday lives and it’s easy to take for granted safety and the dangers that our roads can pose.

But in that unfortunate circumstance that an accident does occur and you are involved, questions quickly start flooding in that you’ve never really had to consider before; especially if you didn’t cause the accident.

And the question at hand: do you pay insurance excess if it’s not your fault?

In this article, we go through:

Do I have to pay excess if not my fault?
The car insurance claim excess
The no fault claim excess
Why do you pay insurance excess if it’s not your fault
How you can avoid paying a no fault claim excess
The benefits of an Accident Management/credit hire
Processing a claim with an Accident Management Company instead

Do You Pay Insurance Excess If It's Not Your Fault

If you have had an accident that wasn’t your fault.

Auto Claims Assist is the most beneficial first point of contact. Call us today or contact us here to learn how we can help you to avoid an insurance excess after a non-fault accident.

Call us 0414 302 399 | Start your claim now

Below is an extensive guide on do you pay insurance excess if it’s not your fault?

"Do i pay my excess if not my fault'

The car insurance claim excess.

An excess is usually always compulsory with any car insurance policy. The payment of an excess is necessary to initiate an accident claim if one needs to be made.

Each person’s excess differs based on a number of factors. These factors usually consist of a person’s demographics and vehicle specs for who the policy is for, but also named drivers.

If a person is typically younger with less driving experience, their excess would likely be more expensive than someone who is older and was a more experienced driver. The choice and value of the vehicle are also important in the excess value.

A total excess is broken up into two elements, these are:

A compulsory excess.

The compulsory excess comes as part of the insurance policy offer and is, as it states, compulsory. It will be a fixed fee provided by the insurance company along with your upcoming year’s premium. It is this excess that is determined by the individual’s circumstances.

A voluntary excess.

The voluntary excess is an optional addition that the person who is taking out the policy can add. Insurance companies provide this offer as, essentially, a 2-way compromise within the policy. The insurer will usually reduce the premium amount for the upcoming year, providing that the policyholder agrees to pay an additional voluntary excess, should a claim need to be made. It is a fair agreement, however, if a claim does need to be made, the policyholder must pay both the compulsory excess and the voluntary excess.

Request a callback.
One of our advisors will call you back. Or, call us now on 0414 302 399.

The no fault
claim excess.

In the eyes of most insurance companies, it doesn’t matter to them whether an accident was your fault or wasn’t your fault; they will still require an excess payment if you choose to make a claim.

This isn’t really a fair outcome if the accident wasn’t your fault. Especially if you had agreed to a maximum voluntary excess, knowing that you are a safe, experienced driver.

The standard compulsory excess could typically range from between £250 to £1,000 depending on a number of factors. But then the voluntary excess could then add from £250 up to £1,000 again.

A non-fault accident could cost hundreds if not thousands of pounds to process a claim.

However, this is only if you choose to process a non-fault accident claim with your own insurance company directly. This is where a lot of insurance companies cause confusion for non-fault drivers about the situation.

If you are involved in an accident but it wasn’t your fault, your insurance company will insist that you call them as your first point of contact.

From here, your insurance company will charge you an excess to process and manage the claim initially against your own policy until liability has been established with the at-fault driver’s insurance. Your insurance company will insist that you call them as your first point of contact.

Why do you pay insurance excess if it’s not your fault.

The actual answer to this question is: You do not need to if you work with an accident management company rather than claiming directly with your own insurance.

If you would like to speak to one of our non-fault accident experts about a non-fault accident that you have been involved in, give us a call now on 0414 302 399. Alternatively, you can request a callback from us and we’ll be in touch shortly

However, insurers themselves charge an excess for three main reasons:

Minimal Value Claims:

An excess (whether it be fault or non-fault) is to deter claims that are for very minimal amounts and damage. An example of this might include a cracked door mirror, for example. An insurance company’s main purpose is to be there for claims which people might not potentially be able to afford at any given moment.

Fraudulent Claims:

An excess payment has been proven to reduce and deter fraudulent insurance claims. Insurance companies are always progressing in their fraud investigations and are always getting better at spotting fraudulent claims. If a fraudster is required to pay an excess before claiming, but the risk of getting caught is increasing, the appeal to process a fraudulent claim quickly reduces.

Inconclusive Liability:

When you process a non-fault accident with your insurance company, they are initiating the claim for you against the at-fault driver. At the point of claim initiation, liability has not yet been established and therefore, the claim is not yet classed as ‘non-fault’. The insurance company will take the excess in case costs are not able to be recovered from the at-fault insurance company.

How to avoid paying a
no fault claim excess.

Although insurance companies have their reasons for charging a no fault claim excess, it doesn’t mean that it’s the fair outcome for a driver who isn’t a fault. For this reason, and many other reasons, the accident market provides an independent, outsourced solution to non-fault claims management after an accident.

It’s called Accident Claims Management.

(Also known as Credit Hire)

Working with an Accident Management Company after a non-fault accident provides an entirely different, more beneficial process to the driver who is not at fault.

The Accident Management Claims Process will claim directly against the at-fault driver’s insurance and policy. This stays well clear of your own insurance policy and disposes of the need to pay your excess at any point of the claim.

Call our team 0414 302 399 | Start your claim now >

Using an Accident Management service has no costs for you.

The service is one to which non-fault drivers are entitled.

Our expert team of non-fault accident claim managers instead claim back all costs and losses from the at-fault insurer.

Non-fault drivers also receive a range of additional benefits that they wouldn’t receive by directly processing a non-fault claim through their own insurance company.

The benefits of an Accident Management/ Credit Hire Company.

The objective of an Accident Claims Management Company, such as Auto Claims Assist, is to help non-fault drivers remove the inconvenience that a non-fault accident brings.

This is reflected in the benefits of choosing to work with an Accident Management/Credit Hire Company:

No costs for you to pay (including your policy excess)
A dedicated claims handler for guidance and advice
A like-for-like replacement vehicle while yours is off the road
Manufacturer-approved repair garage options (Rather than insurance-approved repair garages)
Access to a 400+ UK wide garage repair network
Your claim is managed by non-fault accident experts
No risk of losing your no claims bonus if it wasn’t your fault
No risk of your insurance premiums increasing if it wasn’t your fault
We are an FCA regulated, award-winning independent company on your side

Processing a claim with an Accident Management Company instead.

To begin the non-fault accident claims process with Auto Claims Assist, you only need to get in touch and we’ll guide you through the rest.

You can contact us by:

Calling our New Claims team on 0414 302 399
Start your claim by clicking here and filling our your details

The non-fault car accident claims process itself is simple and effective with Auto Claims Assist:

Once we collect your details, we will also ask for evidence and information about the accident
If you need recovering from the roadside after an accident, we will provide vehicle recovery
On the same working day of contact us, we will provide you with your like-for-like replacement while your vehicle is off the road.
Through our 400+ repair garage network, we will organise the repair of your vehicle
Working with our panel of legal professionals, we can help with any personal injury claims and losses as a result of the accident.
Once the claim is processed and concluded, we will hand back your vehicle and you will be safely back on the road.

Your First
Contact After
The Accident.

Your first contact after the accident, if it wasn’t your fault, should be an accident management company (also known as a credit hire company) like Auto Claims Assist.

Some people think that the first thing they need to do after a non-fault accident is to contact their own insurance company.

In light of this, we have created a comparison between calling an accident management company vs your insurance company here here after a non-fault accident.

Using your own insurer could leave you worse off if the accident wasn’t your fault.

Start my claim

By contacting Auto Claims Assist first, you'll be entitled to a much better experience and at no cost to you: