What is excess?
Excess is an amount of money you usually have to pay when you make a claim on most kinds of insurance – Direct Line Car Insurance, Home Insurance and Travel Insurance, for example. The amount you pay is agreed when you take your policy out.
With Direct Line Car Insurance, you only pay the excess amount when you make a claim under our Comprehensive and Third Party Fire and Theft Car Insurance policies.
How much excess do I pay?
The amount of excess you pay depends on a number of factors, including what type of car you have and who will be driving it. This figure is made clear when you apply for a quote and receive your personal policy documents.
Who do I pay my excess to?
If you make a claim and your car needs repairing under the terms of your policy, the agreed excess should be paid direct to the approved repair garage.
If your car is written off, the excess will be deducted from any settlement payment you confirm with us.
If your car was damaged in an accident that was another driver’s fault – and is accepted by the third party’s insurer – you should be able to reclaim your excess payment back from them.
Need to make a car insurance claim?
Our team is ready to help you if you need to make a claim.
Make a car insurance claimA good deal better with Direct Line
With Direct Line Comprehensive Car Insurance, you also get the benefit of our ‘Uninsured Driver Promise’: If you claim for an accident that is not your fault and the driver of the car that hits you is not insured, you won’t have to pay any excess (or if you do, it will be refunded as soon as ‘no fault’ is declared).