Cars left unroadworthy as drivers struggle to pay insurance excess

More drivers are being forced to leave their cars damaged or unroadworthy because they can’t pay the excess on their insurance, new research shows.

Cash-strapped motorists are increasingly opting to pay more excess in return for lower premiums as the cost of car insurance continues to rise. Yet six in ten Axa customers couldn’t authorise repairs to damaged cars last year because they couldn’t afford the excess payment, the insurer reveals today.

Its research found that three in ten drivers don’t have sufficient cash set aside to cover the excess if required, with 48 per cent of people having readily available savings of less than £500 and a third less than £200 to call on.

Yet with car insurance premiums rising sharply over the last three years and households under growing economic pressure, drivers are pushing up their excess levels in a bid to make their monthly payments more affordable. The average voluntary excess at Axa has jumped 10 per cent in the last two years.

Sarah Vaughan at Axa said: “We appreciate that premiums have risen a lot in the last couple of years and we can understand consumers looking at ways of saving a bit of money. But if this means that they can’t afford their excess, it is a completely false economy.”