Why is my insurance company deducting the excess from my payout?

An 'Exess' is the first part of a claim under a section of the policy for which the policyholder is responsible - as a cyclist you will have an 'accidental damage excess' and a 'fire & theft excess' (usually the same amount).

Your insurance company has a contract to pay for damage to your bike in 'excess' of the first amount. They have honoured this - the excess is an 'uninsured loss' for which you, not they, are responsible.

Now then. The insurance company will claim the amount they paid out (£4,000) from the other person - who will seek his insurance company to 'indemnify him'. It is up to you to claim the uninsured amount (the excess) from the driver as well. Your policy may have an 'uninsured loss recovery' section or you may have purchased this - or a 'legal expenses insurance' policy separately. If so you should contact that company for assistance.

If you do not have such a policy then you should have from your insurance company a note showing that the amount of £500 has been deducted from the claims settlement. If so then you should send this note (keep a copy) to the third party's insurance company (in theory it should be to the third party), outline the circumstances, hold their client at fault and ask them to reimburse you the excess (I assume you have no other 'uninsured losses').

From the circumstances of the incident, I would expect minimal trouble - insurance companies have to treat customers fairly these days and pay claims promptly - see the FSA handbook especially ICOBS for details.

In the big picture, the accident caused the injuries, not the lack of seat belt use. Insurance companies are regulated by the State you live in to pay out exactly what the policy says it must, no more, no less. If not, the Insurance commissioner of your state can ban them from selling any future policies there, so they are not going to take a chance on losing millions of dollars over a few thousand for your claim. That said, the State also must OK the terms of a policy before an insurance company can sell it. Some states have "no fault" insurance, meaning each vehicles owners policy pays for the owner[driver] and his passengers, no matter which car was at fault. Highly doubtful your state would allow a company to deny a claim because of no seat belt use. Expect the Insurance Company to do an investigation on your "friends" whiplash injuries to determine if they are legit. Also expect everyone not wearing a belt to get ticketed by the police eventually. Your friends can end up suing you in civil court whether the insurance company pays or not. This is why people take out a minimum 1 million dollar umbrella liability policy, as most auto coverage has personal injury limits of $100,000. Hope you all wear your seatbelts from now on.

Your insurance should have dealt with it and claimed the total cost from the other parties. Ask them why they are deducting the excess, if they don't give a reasonable explanation change companies.

This won't affect your no claims bonus as you have not claimed off your insurance.

You should have claimed of the other parties insurance.

If you have made a claim on your own insurance you always have an excess to pay for any claims

If you filed a the claim with your own company, the deduction was probably your deductible.

You cannot file a "3rd party claim" under your own policy.

If filed under your own policy, They will subrogate the other carrier and attempt to collect the money back. If able to, your deductible will be reimbursed to you

If you filed the claim with the advserse drivers's company, then you have to call them and ask what the deduction was for.

simple answer.. because they are cunts!

whether you like it or its helpful or not is irrellevant, you make a claim you pay the excess regardless of fault or blame. you want it back you deal with the third prties insurance..

anyway theres a splendid silver firestorm sitting nearby looking for a new home and irts no hassle to ride it from aberdeen to edinburgh

They will subrogate back against the responsible party and recover as much as possible. Should they recover the full $4,500, you will be refunded your "excess" (we call it "deductible").

You should not be responsible for the deductible. You need to speak to your insurance agent/broker and pursue the third party who needs to make you whole.

your insurance company should not charge you the excess as it is not your insurance company you are claiming off.

you are claiming off the other party as it was they that caused the accident. phone the citezan advice for more detailed info

thats how insurance works when u make a claim