Excess payment

I have been with budget for 5 years on my car insurance,paying an amount of R1600 everymonth .I have never made a claim eversince i took out the insurance. I was involved in an accident this week, I called budget insurance to inform them of the accident and they informed me that i need to pay an excess fee of R8000.I fail to understand how they decided i should pay an excess fee of such a large amount without them inspecting my car.I need an explaination because I feel i need to find another insurance budget appears to me to be inconsistent.I pay R1600 a month but they still want an excess fee of such a large amount from me?After finding out what i was told from budget,i made a call to other insurance companies and was informed that with the amount I am paying at budget,those companies would have assisted me without any excess or a lesser excess fee.