Should I raise my excess?
Raising your excess is one of the few real levers on a premium, and the easiest one to pull too hard. This shows you the saving, then the number that actually decides it.
Phone your insurer and ask what the premium would be at a different excess. They will tell you. We cannot work it out for you, because how much an insurer drops a premium for a higher excess is their own calculation and nobody publishes it.
What you have now
What they quoted you
Put in both premiums and both excesses. You will get the saving, and the more useful number underneath it.
Nothing is sent anywhere. This runs in your browser.
Arithmetic on the figures you enter, not a quote and not advice. Ask your insurer to confirm both premiums in writing, and check whether any other excess on the policy changes at the same time. Every excess on a South African car policy.
Questions people ask
- Does raising my excess lower my premium?
- Usually yes. You are agreeing to carry more of any claim yourself, so the insurer carries less and charges less. How much less is set per insurer and per risk, and nobody publishes the relationship, which is why this tool asks you for both quoted premiums instead of guessing.
- How high should my excess be?
- The honest test is not what saves the most. It is the largest amount you could actually produce within a week if you had to claim. An excess you cannot find in a hurry means you cannot start the claim, and the cover you have been paying for does nothing.
- What is a break-even on an excess change?
- How long you have to go without claiming before the monthly saving covers the extra you would pay on a single claim. If it takes three years of claim-free driving to break even and you have claimed twice in two years, the trade is working against you.