Insurer AXA has warned drivers against pushing up levels of excess in order to reduce premiums as growing numbers struggle to meet payments.

The excess is the amount a policyholder will have to pay in the event of a claim and it can be anything from £50 upwards.

Over the past couple of years AXA has seen a growing number of customers unable to authorise repairs to their damaged cars due to lack of cash to pay for the excess. In 2011, this number climbed by 61% leaving people with potentially unroadworthy cars or at the very least with damage that will deteriorate due to lack of repair.

Research from the company shows that 29% of motorists do not have enough readily available savings to cover their excess if required. Nearly half the population (48%) has readily available savings of less than £500 and a third (34%) has less than £200.

Sarah Vaughan from AXA said: “As an industry we need to make sure motorists understand the level of excess they are committing themselves to when they buy their insurance and then to ensure it is at a sensible level for them. Around one in 10 will have an accident each year so there is a real likelihood that they will need to find the money at some point.

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“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.”