Excess protection is an optional car insurance extra that allows you to claim reimbursement of your car insurance excess. So that if you’re involved in an accident it will cover the cost of your excess, should it not be covered by a third party.
This would happen if you have to make a claim, you’d have to pay towards your insurance claim. So, let’s say your insurance claim is successful and it’s of an amount of R3000 and you have an excess of R1000. You’d pay the first R1000 and your insurer would cover the remaining R2000.
The role of the excess protection would then be for you to have the chance to recover your excess, of up to R3000. This would then mean that you won’t be out of pocket if you have to claim. Plus, your excess will be covered in a number of situations when you can’t claim from the third party, including:
- If the third party has driven off and you haven’t got their details
- If the third party is uninsured and you haven’t got their details
- If the car has been stolen
- If the accident was your fault.
Excess is a sum of money your insurance company requires you to pay towards the cost of making a claim. And there are two types of excess the compulsory access, which is non-negotiable and is set by your insurer. The amount depends on your age, the type of car you have and the type of claim. While the compulsory excess, which you can set for yourself is added to the voluntary excess.
The higher your voluntary excess is, the lower your premium is likely to be due to the insurer not having to pay out so much in the event of a claim. But, on the downside, this means that you’ll be the one coughing up the extra cost if you have to claim. Equally, it’s important to choose an amount that’s affordable to make up the sum you’d have to pay when making a
