Car Excess Insurance

In the event of a claim with your comprehensive motor insurer you will usually have to pay a compulsory excess and, possibly, an additional voluntary excess. ALA Car Excess Insurance covers both the voluntary and compulsory excess charged by your comprehensive insurer for any claim made, not just for a total loss (excluding glass claims).

Our underwriters for this Excess policy are Financial & Legal Insurance Company Limited or Fortegra Europe Insurance company – dependent on when you bought your policy. We are fully authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and your policy is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Yes, the policy covers both of these elements charged by your comprehensive insurer for a claim under your motor insurance policy.

The excess policy lasts for 12 months. You can renew your policy upon expiry or after making a claim, whichever comes soonest.

Yes, the claim limit options are from £250 to £1,500. The claim limit is set at the time of purchase and is the maximum that can be settled under the policy during the term of the policy.

No. The excess policy does not work in conjunction with the GAP policy. If you wish to cover your full excess you would need to take out the Car Excess Insurance policy for the full amount of voluntary and compulsory excess.

You can claim as many times as you need to as long as the value of the claims don’t exceed the maximum claim limit on the policy.

As long as the insurer still underwrites this product and you meet the eligibility criteria of the cover, then we would be able to supply you with a new policy.

If you make a claim and there is no remaining benefit in the policy you can purchase a replacement policy.

Claims must be made as soon as possible and no more than 180 days after the incident for which you are claiming.

Policies bought after on or after December 2nd 2025

If you need to make a claim you can do so online by going to: https://www.ams-gap.com/claims-administration

You will need to provide the following information to the Policy Administrator so they can process Your claim:

• Evidence the Excess amount has been paid to Your Motor Insurer.
• Evidence that Your claim with Your main Insurer has been settled stating that You were at fault.
• Your Motor Insurer’s Offer letter / email.
• Certificate of main insurance Policy that You have paid the Excess on.

The Policy Administrator may require further information / documents to progress the claim.

If You need to contact the Policy Administrator regarding Your claim:

• Call AMS on: 01869 232563
• Email AMS at: support@ams-gap.com
• Write to AMS at: AMS Insurance Services, 52 Camp Road, Upper Heyford, OX25 5HD.

On all correspondence, please tell Us You are insured by Financial & Legal Insurance Company Limited for Motor Excess Insurance and provide the unique Policy number from Your Schedule of Insurance. This will help Us to validate Your Policy details and deal with Your claim as quickly as possible.

Policies bought after on or after April 29th 2024

Please contact the Claims Handler as soon as You become aware of a potential claim: –

• by emailing claims@defendinsurance.co.uk
• by visiting the website 
• by telephone: 01614514803

Return all required information to the Claims Handler: –

• Evidence the excess amount has been paid to your motor insurer following your claim
• Evidence that your claim with your main insurer has been settled stating that you were at fault
• Certificate of motor insurance policy that you have paid the excess on.
• The policy schedule of motor excess protection policy or documentation detailing excess cover

Please note that information the Claims Handler may reasonably require must be received within ninety (90) days. If it isn’t, the Claims Handler will attempt to assess Your claim however it may be difficult for them to investigate and settle your claim adequately.

Provided no claims have been made or are pending on the original policy and the replacement vehicle qualifies for cover, then we can amend the details on your original policy.

No, we do not charge an excess for any claim on this policy.

The policy can be purchased to cover comprehensive motor insurance policies for cars and light commercial vehicle not exceeding a gross Vehicle Weight of 3.5 tonnes.

The policy is unable to cover vehicles used for hire and reward, emergency vehicles, courier vehicles, buses, coaches, trailers, heavy goods vehicles, daily rental vehicles, breakdown and recovery vehicles; and vehicles used for road racing, track days (timed or untimed), rallying, pace-making, speed testing or any other competitive event any purpose in connection with the motor trade.

There is no initial exclusion period.

No, cover extends to the United Kingdom including Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

The premium quoted is a total amount for the full duration of the policy and includes Insurance Premium Tax. If you choose to pay by debit card, credit card or PayPal there will be no surcharges involved for the transaction.

Alternatively if purchasing with a GAP insurance policy you can choose to pay by Direct Debit over 10 months, however this will incur an interest charge.

Unfortunately, we cannot cover an incident or damage which has occurred prior to the policy being purchased.