More than a third of motorists are left out of pocket after being involved in a road traffic collision that was not their fault, new research has revealed.
As many as 36% of drivers surveyed by the RAC said they had lost out financially following an accident.
The majority of these (21%) stated they had to pay their insurance policy excess while 8% said they had to fork out for travel expenses such as a hire car as a result of theirs being off the road or written-off.
Four per cent claimed to have suffered loss of earnings and 3% had to cover the cost of making a personal injury compensation claim.
The average amount paid out by motorists we surveyed to cover policy excesses in non-fault insurance claims is £215 – with 41% stating they had to pay between £150 and £349. Those who had incurred travel expenses after their collisions on average had to pay £588.
Those who had to fund their own personal injury compensation claims, paid over an average of £2,036, but the highest uninsured losses figure recorded was for loss of earnings at £3,091.