Everyone who has, or has had, car insurance knows what an excess is. If you have a bump, a scrape or a broken windscreen you’ll usually have to pay the first £50 or £100.
There are two reasons why insurers apply excesses. Firstly, to try and prevent people submitting claims for piffling amounts and secondly, to reduce their administration costs this increasing their profits.
You can understand why there is an excess but it is a pain when you have a completely fortuitous accident that you have to be out of pocket by £100. If you do accept that an excess is something that you will have to pay, then what happens if you are happy to pay a higher excess? Maybe you have not claimed for years and years and decide that if you double your excess and get a discount, this may be worthwhile.
As far as business insurance is concerned, this is something that can save you maybe 10 or 15%. When you add up your annual insurance premium, this may be a worthwhile saving. The best way you can find out how much this will be worth to you, is to speak to your commercial insurance broker.
Don’t tell them to do it, just ask them to get you some quotes so at least you can decide whether it worth taking the risk of a higher excess to save some much needed cash.